EA7 Emporio Armani Milan completed a perfect week on Friday night, as it followed up its triumph at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul by beating FC Bayern Munich to improve to 14-16 in the regular-season standings. Finding a go-to guy in Shabazz Napier definitely helped Milan's cause.

Shabazz Napier rounded off fantastic week in style

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan completed a perfect week on Friday night, as it followed up its triumph at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul by beating FC Bayern Munich to improve to 14-16 in the regular-season standings. Finding a go-to guy in Shabazz Napier definitely helped Milan's cause.

Napier finished the week strong, helping Milan beat Bayern 99-74 in Round 30. He led his team with 20 points on 5-of-6 three-pointers, while he also added 4 assists, 2 steals and 7 fouls drawn for a PIR of 27. When Bayern trimmed its deficit from 36-11 to 50-40, Napier fed Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot for a layup, before adding a couple of three-pointers to restore a 60-43 lead. The guests' comeback had been stopped for good.

Shabazz Napier averaged a PIR of 26.5 in his team's back-to-back wins against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and FC Bayern Munich.

Napier leads Milan to consecutive wins

In a postponed Round 24 game on Tuesday, Napier led the way with 26 points on 4-of-5 two-pointers and 5-of-8 three-pointers, in addition to posting 2 rebounds and 5 fouls drawn for a PIR of 26. Despite a slow-ish start to life in Milan, Napier is averaging 15.7 points, 4.1 assists and a PIR of 17.0. Plus, in four of his team's last five games, he has had a PIR of 24 or higher. Moreover, Milan is 8-1 since Napier joined the team, with its only loss in that period coming on the road at Real Madrid, 91-84, in Round 29.

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EA7 Emporio Armani Milan v FC Bayern Munich (2023-03-24T20:00:00.000Z)

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul had to battle incredibly hard to down Zalgiris Kaunas 87-79 at Ulker Sports and Event Hall on Friday evening. But, fortunately for the hosts, Johnathan Motley and Tonye Jekiri stepped up to ensure that their team registered an important victory.

Jekiri, Motley combined to lead Fenerbahce past Zalgiris

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul had to battle incredibly hard to down Zalgiris Kaunas 87-79 at Ulker Sports and Event Hall on Friday evening. Fortunately for the hosts, Johnathan Motley and Tonye Jekiri stepped up to ensure that their team registered an important victory.

Things did not look good for Fenerbahce when Motley picked up his second foul and went to the bench early in the second quarter with the game tied at 12-12. However, Jekiri came off the bench and his effectiveness, both on mid-range jumpers and around the basket, allowed the hosts to balance their offense. He scored 10 points in the next eight minutes, hitting all 4 of his two-pointers in addition to making a pair of free throws.

Tonye Jekiri and Johnathan Motley each had 13 points to lead Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul past Zalgiris Kaunas in Round 30, 87-79.

Jekiri and Motley balance Fenerbahce's offense

Motley returned to the floor at the start of the third quarter and helped Fenerbahce keep a safe margin with 7 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in the next seven minutes. He also had a couple of dunks in the final two minutes to put the finishing touches on Fenerbahce's victory. Jekiri finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-6 two-pointers and 3-of-3 free throws, adding 5 rebounds and 2 assists for a PIR of 18. Motley had 13 points, 4 rebounds and a PIR of 12. Both players joined forces at the 5 position to make sure Fenerbahce celebrated a vital win in Round 30.

Jekiri, Motley led Fenerbahce past Zalgiris

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul v Zalgiris Kaunas (2023-03-24T17:45:00.000Z)

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan kept its hot streak going by thrashing FC Bayern Munich 99-74 at Mediolanum Forum on Friday night. Milan improved to 14-16 in the standings after an all-round outstanding offensive performance.

Milan's offense caught fire to down Bayern

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan kept its hot streak going by thrashing FC Bayern Munich 99-74 at Mediolanum Forum on Friday night. Milan improved to 14-16 in the standings after an all-round outstanding offensive performance.

Milan was effective from all angles and, despite finishing the game with 17 assists, it buried enough shots to control the game for 40 minutes. It hit 21-of-33 two-pointers (63.6% 2FG), shooting over 60% inside the arc for the fifth time this season. Ettore Messina's team had a similar percentage from beyond the arc, burying 12-of-19 three-pointers (63.2% 3FG).

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan sank 12-of-19 three-pointers against FC Bayern Munich in Round 30. Here they are, all of them.

Milan buried 12 threes in Round 30

That is the second-highest percentage in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague this season. Olympiacos Piraeus did just a bit better (63.3% 3FG) in a 102-74 home victory, also against Bayern, in Round 28. What's more, it ties the third-best mark in club history, as Milan went 13-of-19 (68.4% 3FG) from beyond the arc twice before: in a 105-92 home win against Anadolu Efes Istanbul on November 10, 2016, and in a 93-102 road victory against Khimki Moscow Region on December 8, 2020.

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul grabbed a crucial win in its bid to make the playoffs, as it downed Zalgiris Kaunas 87-79 on Friday evening. Great shooting in the first half and some adjustments allowed Fenerbahce to secure its 18th victory of the season.

Fenerbahce started strong, adjusted against Zalgiris

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul grabbed a crucial win in its bid to make the playoffs, as it downed Zalgiris Kaunas 87-79 on Friday evening. Great shooting in the first half and some adjustments allowed Fenerbahce to secure its 18th victory of the season.

Fenerbahce shot the ball really well in the first 20 minutes, which helped it build a 46-35 lead. Dimitris Itoudis's team buried 10-of-13 two-pointers (76.9% 2FG) and 8-of-12 three-pointers (66.7% 3FG), while it also dished 11 assists and committed just 5 turnovers. Zalgiris improved its defense after the break, but Fenerbahce still finished the game with solid percentages (58.3% 2FG, 50.0% 3FG), doing better than its opponent (50.0% 2FG, 47.4% 3FG).

Not everything was perfect in the first half, however, as Zalgiris pulled down 8 offensive rebounds. Since Fenerbahce grabbed 8 defensive boards, that meant Zalgiris grabbed 47.1% of all rebounds under the hosts' basket. Things were different after the break, though. Fenerbahce allowed Zalgiris to get 4 offensive boards and it got another 9 defensive boards. That percentage went down to 30.8% after the break. Fenerbahce limited its turnovers to just 7, a new season-low.

Olympiacos Piraeus suffered an abysmal three-point shooting night of almost historic proportions on Friday night, which contributed significantly to a 90-75 defeat at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. As a result of this loss, the Reds are still waiting to seal home-court advantage in the playoffs.

Awful three-point shooting haunted Olympiacos at Partizan

Olympiacos Piraeus suffered an abysmal three-point shooting night of almost historic proportions on Friday night, which contributed significantly to a 90-75 defeat at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. As a result of this loss, the Reds are still waiting to seal home-court advantage in the playoffs.

In front of a packed Stark Arena in Belgrade, the below-par visiting team incredibly missed its first 15 shots from beyond the arc, taking more than 31 minutes to finally strike from deep through Shaquielle McKissic. Another accurate shot from McKissic and a triple from Kostas Papanikolaou somewhat redeemed the final figures, as Olympiacos finished with 3 conversions on 20 attempts from beyond the arc.

Despite that late flurry, it was by far the worst long-range shooting night of the season for the Greek giants, which had made at least 6 triples in every previous game. And the total of 3 three-pointers was the lowest made by Olympiacos in the EuroLeague since March 2019, when the team shot just 2-of-16 from deep in a loss at EA7 Emporio Armani Milan.

Among the culprits was league MVP candidate Sasha Vezenkov, who missed all 3 of his long-range attempts to snap a streak of nine straight games with at least 1 three-pointer made. Giannoulis Larentzakis also missed 3, while Thomas Walkup fared even worse by failing with all 4 of his three-point attempts.

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade v Olympiacos Piraeus (2023-03-24T19:00:00.000Z)

Real Madrid used some excellent three-point shooting and its advantages in transition to defeat Virtus Segafredo Bologna 79-96 in Italy on Friday night.

Real Madrid beat Virtus from the outside, in transition

Real Madrid used some excellent three-point shooting and its advantages in transition to defeat Virtus Segafredo Bologna 79-96 in Italy on Friday night.

*Los Blancos* made 15-of-30 three-pointers for 50.0% in Bologna, which was a marked improvement on the 35.3% that the team was shooting coming into the game. In fact, that 35.3% ranked Real 11th in the league from beyond the arc.

Mario Hezonja went 8-for-11 from three against Virtus, Guerschon Yabusele hit 4-of-7 triples and Rudy Fernandez knocked down 2-of-4 shots from long range as part of a comfortable 17-point win.

Real also did a good job of using its defense to create more offense. Both Real and Virtus committed 10 turnovers each, but Real outscored the hosts 15-5 in points off turnovers.

Virtus Segafredo Bologna v Real Madrid (2023-03-24T18:00:00.000Z)

AS Monaco became the fourth team to qualify for the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs after defeating Valencia Basket 90-79 on Friday night. The home team managed to amass a 17-point advantage midway through the third period and, despite Valencia reducing the gap to 4 points early in the fourth, 73-69, Monaco sealed the outcome much earlier than the final buzzer after holding the visitors scoreless for the next four minutes.

Perfect trio sent Monaco to playoffs

AS Monaco became the fourth team to qualify for the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs after defeating Valencia Basket 90-79 on Friday night. The home team managed to amass a 17-point advantage midway through the third period and, despite Valencia reducing the gap to 4 points early in the fourth, 73-69, Monaco sealed the outcome much earlier than the final buzzer after holding the visitors scoreless for the next four minutes.

Monaco made the most of crucial possessions and was more effective when it mattered most. In particular, the effectiveness of players such as Donta Hall, Jaron Blossomgame and Matthew Strazel helped Monaco get over the line.

Strazel was the solution for Monaco’s struggles from deep, going a perfect 3-for-3 on three-pointers. Blossomgame was also perfect from two-point range, hitting all 3 of his attempts inside the arc en route to 14 points in the game. And finally, Donta Hall registered an enviable stat line after shooting 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line, while he also added 13 boards.

Hall finished as the MVP of the game with a PIR of 26, and he was pretty satisfied when the game was over. “Honestly, after a win, we feel great," he recognized. “We knew, coming into this game, what we needed to do, what kind of energy we needed to bring, and I think that we burned it tonight. I do my thing, I come out and fight, like the other 12 or 13 guys do, no matter what.”

AS Monaco v Valencia Basket (2023-03-24T18:00:00.000Z)

### Ettore Messina, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan head coach 

"I think we got some really good individual performances. Of course, Shabazz \[Napier\] was again very, very good, but everybody else played well. Everybody participated, and the good news is that we had 16 good minutes from Shavon Shields, who looks to be coming close to the real Shavon. I am very happy, we played a good game. Now, we are just focused on one game at a time, and we will see."

### Andrea Trinchieri, FC Bayern Munich head coach 

"Milan was better. We had a second and third quarter that were OK, but then we were short on energy."

### Shabazz Napier, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan guard 

"It was a team effort. A lot of guys came in. Bayern is a great team, we did a lot of things to just try to interrupt them, and we just tried to score the ball as much as we could. Everybody wants to think about it \[the playoffs\], but it's one game at a time. And hopefully, we have a big road trip coming up next well, and hopefully we can take one game at a time to get a win and go from there."

### Stefano Tonut, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan guard 

"No, we are not thinking about that \[playoffs\]. We are thinking about going game by game, for sure. Today, we played another complete game for 40 minutes, and we followed the game plan very well. We are happy for this, but we keep going. We have many players who can play, so everybody has to go game by game. It is hard, but it is also easy to play, to learn from the staff and enjoy."

Ettore Messina, Milan: 'Everybody participated'

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan registered its sixth consecutive home victory and got closer to the playoff places by downing FC Bayern Munich 99-74 at Mediolanum Forum on Friday night. Milan improved to 14-16 in the standings and is 8-1 in its last nine games. Bayern dropped to 11-19 and, with this loss, it is mathematically eliminated from the playoff race.

Shabazz Napier paced the winners with 20 points on 5-of-6 three-point shots. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot added 14 points and Brandon Davies had 12 for Milan, which had six other players score 6 points or more. Andreas Obst led Bayern with 27 points. He buried 7 three-pointers to match Bayern's club record. Zylan Cheatham added 17 for the guests.

Obst got Bayern going with a mid-range jumper. Melli had three close baskets, including a dunk, in a 13-2 run that Johannes Voigtmann capped with a three-pointer. Voigtmann sank a floater, Shavon Shields followed Kyle Hines's jumper with a triple and Billy Baron's three-point play boosted Milan's margin to 25-8 after 10 minutes. 

Baron struck from downtown, then Luwawu-Cabarrot followed a three-pointer with a jumper as Milan pulled away, 36-11. Obst struck 4 times from downtown, getting help from Cheatham to give Bayern hope, 49-36, at halftime.

Cheatham and Obst managed to bring Bayern as close as 50-40 soon after the break. Milan did not panic and found a go-to guy in Napier, who found Luwawu-Cabarrot for a layup and added a couple of three-pointers to restore a 60-43 lead. Shields kept pacing the hosts and Deshaun Thomas soon made it a 21-point game, 69-48. Freedie Gillespie and D.J. Seeley got Bayern a bit closer, 72-54, after 30 minutes. 

Napier buried back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to keep Milan out of trouble, 78-59, soon after that. Nothing changed in the final seven minutes, as Milan kept a safe margin all the way until the final buzzer.