The visitors led from start to finish against a disjointed home team which never got into its stride.
Shorthanded Milan stunned Barcelona as Devon Hall, Shavon Shields shined
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Regular Season
Round 14 of 34
Group Regular Season
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EA7 Emporio Armani EA7 Milan celebrated a stunning 86-90 win at FC Barcelona in their Round 14 clash on Friday, with the visitors improving to 5-9 while Barcelona dropped to 10-4 after a lackluster performance.
Although Milan missed a stack of key players sidelined by injuries, it got off to a flying start and kept pulling away from Barcelona after effervescent long-range shooting put the visiting team in a commanding position early on.
Johannes Voightmann got the thee-point shooting party started, before Shavon Shields followed in his footsteps and Devon Hall put the icing on the cake for Milan, whose veteran Nicolo Melli made his experience count at both ends of the floor.
Devon Hall got Milan over the line
Player of the game Hall, who tied his EuroLeague personal best of 21 points, heaped praise on his teammates afterward. “We were able to move the ball and defended at a high level, which is always going to open up opportunities to win games,” Hall said in a flash courtside interview as he walked off the court.
“We feel good about this win because this is a very tough place to come to and get it done.”
Hall made a barrage of crunch shots when the chips were down, as Milan kept Barcelona at bay whenever the home team looked capable of turning the tide. It was a welcome break for Milan head coach Ettore Messina, who was delighted with the outcome.
“We had a very good start and a very good first half,” said Messina. “Obviously we suffered in the third quarter when they started being aggressive, but ultimately we had some good plays at both ends of the court. I am very happy for my players as they fought and deserved this win.”
“We beat some very good teams this term and we need to keep competing with the same attitude. We could also do with a bit of luck on roster depth,” he added.
A crucial win for Milan
Milan did a particularly good job of making light of Nikola Mirotic’s absence, as the versatile forward was the club’s star signing from Barcelona during the offseason. The visitors also missed livewire playmaker Maodo Lo, but the injury-hit roster produced Milan’s best performance of the season at one of the toughest road venues in the 18-team competition.
The outcome snapped Barcelona’s eight-game home winning streak and Melli was over the moon. “We did a really good job as we were very solid throughout the game,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a very tough game, but we came with the right approach.”