The 33-year-old forward overcame a slow start to shine when the chips were down against Virtus
Nikola Mirotic rolled back the years in Round 7’s Rivalry Series game
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Regular Season
Round 7 of 34
Group Regular Season
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The Rivalry Series game in Round 7 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, the Derby d’Italia, appeared to be heading in a very different direction if the first quarter was anything to go by.
In the early going, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan looked set for some plain sailing against visiting Virtus Segafredo Bologna, despite the home team’s star forward Nikola Mirotic struggling from all over.
Milan, which won the game 99-90, was 21-14 ahead after the opening 10 minutes, however the 2021-22 EuroLeague MVP was 0 for 3 from deep and having trouble finding his range. Nevertheless, there was calm on the home team’s bench, with assistant Mario Fioretti standing in for ill head coach Ettore Messina.
The hosts’ lead then soared to 40-23 late in the first half and it must have left Fioretti purring with delight, even if Mirotic was still misfiring on offense, with the home side benefiting from dominating the boards and an ironclad defense.
“We made a very strong, aggressive start. Perhaps it was our best defensive quarter of the year,” Fioretti told reporters after the absorbing contest. “We deflected and stole the ball time and again. We tried to maintain that pace, but in the third quarter Virtus played really well.”
Out of nowhere, Virtus hit top gear and having closed the gap to 44-35 by halftime, the visiting team turned the game on its head to lead 49-55 on the back of a 9-32 run, which had Milan reeling and the visiting fans in full swing.
Mirotic was still showing no signs of emerging as one of the game’s top performers and Fioretti was getting increasingly uncomfortable as Milan was suddenly staring at what would have been a damaging home defeat against its traditional rival.
Then came the fourth quarter and the Montenegrin-born power forward, who featured for his adopted country Spain on the international stage, showed the traits which have made him a household name in the EuroLeague.
Mirotic nailed 12 points down the stretch as Milan regained the upper hand and he finished with an impressive double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds, helping the home team win the battle of the board 40-24 despite missing some of its big men through injury.
“We managed not to fall apart and overcame the difficult moment,” said Fioretti. “We played some very good basketball in the fourth quarter and in the end we were helped by some offensive boards, which were missing in the previous game at Baskonia-Vitoria Gasteiz.”
Milan, which ended a four-game skid with its win over Virtus, suffered a tough 88-83 loss at Baskonia and hence the Rivalry Series triumph came as perfect remedy ahead of a tough schedule, starting with next week’s home matchup with Real Madrid.
Fioretti, who wished his boss Messina a speedy recovery, acknowledged that bringing the best out of a new-look Milan outfit was a time-consuming process, having also singled out third-year guard Stefano Tonut, who shot the lights out from deep by going 4 of 5 on his way to 14 points.
“I believe that gritting your teeth in times of difficulty was a very positive sign,” he said. “With so many new players and especially some of them new at this level, we lack consistency.
“Tonut is a boy who works hard with a lot of energy and sometimes he is quiet and less involved on offense because of everything he does on defense, like in the Vitoria game against Markus Howard. However, he was very much involved against Virtus and he stepped up to the plate."