The shorthanded Italian outfit produced its best performance of the season to defeat Panathinaikos
Milan showed mettle in the face of adversity to down the champions
Članak
3 Min čitanja
Regular Season
Round 24 of 34
Regular Season
EA7 Emporio Armani MilanEA7
8775
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
Overview
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EA7 Emporio Armani Milan put behind a pair of crushing defeats in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague to produce one of its best displays in recent history and sink the competition’s reigning champion, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens.
Milan was missing top scorer Nikola Mirotic, influential guards Diego Flaccadori and Fabien Causeur, energetic forward Ousmane Diop, and long-term casualty Josh Nebo, but Zach LeDay carried the home team by tying his career high of 33 points and a season-high PIR of 39 as he lit up the contest from start to finish.
LeDay, who also racked up 8 boards, shot 12 of 17 from the floor (5 of 7 from downtown) and 4 of 4 from the line as he took full advantage of the absence of Mathias Lessort and Omer Yurtseven, the visiting team’s big men who are also sidelined by injuries.
Having scored 5 points in the first quarter, LeDay turned on the heat in the second when he sank 12 and then added 16 in the second half as Milan steamrolled the Greens on the back of airtight defense which paved the way towards a memorable victory against the champs.
In his postgame comments, LeDay confirmed that Milan was inspired by the occasion as much as he and his teammates were stung by the 70-90 home defeat Partizan followed by the 110-66 drubbing at Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the previous two rounds.
“I wanted to pick up my warrior mentality and pass it on to the rest of the team,” LeDay said in a courtside postgame interview. “The EuroLeague champs came here tonight, they are a great club with a great coach, one of the best of the decade and in the history of the competition.”
Center Freddie Gillespie, who joined Milan in November after a short stint with the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian National Basketball League, was one of Milan’s unsung heroes in the resounding win over Panathinaikos.
Gillespie racked up 11 points and 4 boards to underline the home team’s dominance in the paint and revealed that the painful defeats in the previous two rounds had led to some soul-searching in the locker room ahead of the clash with the defending champion.
“We had some honest conversations [after the Efes debacle], we came together and focused on what we needed to get better at,” said Gillespie. “We knew that we wanted to come out with a lot of energy and heart tonight. The work ethic at his club is incredible and I feel that I am growing as a player and as a person here.”
The outcome also put a big smile on coach Ettore Messina’s face as one of the EuroLeague’s senior tacticians heaped praise on his men. The 65-year-old, who has won four titles in Europe’s elite club competition, also thanked the home fans whose fervent support put extra wind in Milan’s sails on a memorable night.
“I feel so proud of my players as they were marvelous and played hard for 40 minutes,” he said. “It’s a great win and we are very thankful to the fans for creating an amazing atmosphere.
“We played with a lot of heart but we also played some very good basketball. LeDay had an incredible game, his scoring and rebounding was superb and the team had a lot of confidence in him.”
Next up for Milan in the upcoming double-round week are visits to Bayern Munich and Zalgiris Kaunas, while Panathinaikos is at home to Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Real Madrid in a pair of blockbusters.