The Italian side grabbed a vital victory over Partizan in Round 28
Shavon Shields, Milan ready for thrilling end to the season: ‘Every game is a playoff game now’
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With just over a month of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season remaining and chances to advance up the standings starting to run out, the competition’s slogan of ‘Every Game Matters’ is more true than ever.
On Friday night, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan faced a must-win matchup against direct rival in Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, which gave the Serbian team the chance to move three wins clear and secure the head-to-head advantage with only six games remaining.
Shields, Napier came to the fore
So it’s not at all surprising that Milan star Shavon Shields, who played a major role in his team’s 85-83 victory by scoring 19 points, was in no mood to talk down the significance of the victory after a thrilling game concluded at a noisy Forum.
“Every game is a playoff game now,” said Shields. “And we’ve got to get it done down the stretch.
“I’m proud of everybody, everybody contributed. They're all team wins. We've got five players out there helping each other. We gutted it out and made plays down the stretch.”
The biggest of those plays was made by Shabazz Napier, who netted the game-winning basket with a long two-pointer – originally given as a three before being downgraded on review – with just 5 seconds remaining.
And Napier, having amassed 15 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals in a great all-round performance, admitted that the winning play didn’t pan out exactly as it was intended.
“It was a dribble play and we couldn’t get it into the guys,” he recalled. “I got it to the left side – it was kind of stagnant, kind of chaotic. I had to shoot a shot and it went in.”
Former Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade player Napier will have been extra delighted to seal a win over Partizan, but like Shields he was happy to pile the praise on his teammates, adding: “For me to be a part of this team, I’ve got to create for other guys. I was able to make some shots in the second half but that was set up because guys were scoring the ball so well and left things open for me.”
A tough stretch to finish the season
Milan still has plenty of work to do before it can advance into postseason action, probably needing to win four of its last six games to have a good chance of finishing in the top ten. And it’s a very tough schedule, with only two more games at home and five of the remaining opponents currently ranked in the top nine – including red-hot AS Monaco, in-form Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, an Italian derby against Virtus Segafredo Bologna and next week’s trip to another direct rival, Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.
But Ettore Messina’s men have shown themselves to be more than capable of matching up against the best, overcoming leader Real Madrid in its last home game and downing second-placed FC Barcelona twice.
And the veteran coach made it clear he was very proud of his players’ efforts on Friday night, again underlining the collective ethic as he concluded: “It’s been a team victory, I’m very happy and we go on. We passed the ball well and our two bigs, [although] their numbers don’t show it, they kept screening and created mismatches.”
Yet, it still needs players to take the opportunities that are created, and Messina also acknowledged the contribution of his star players as he noted: “It’s not easy to score 85 points against such a defense. You need to have players who can make a play, and we did it with Shields, with Shabazz, and [Nikola] Mirotic.”
And if those big names keep on making those big plays, Milan might yet end up in the top ten.