The Italian side grabbed an 88-87 victory despite missing six players and their head coach
Quinn Ellis steps up as depleted Milan stuns Olympiacos
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 11 of 38
Regular Season
EA7 Emporio Armani MilanEA7
8887
Olympiacos PiraeusOLY
Overview
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Injuries and illness forced EA7 Emporio Armani Milan to take to the Unipol Forum floor on Friday night without as many as six players.
Zach LeDay, Shavon Shields, Josh Nebo, Nate Sestina, Ousmane Diop and Lorenzo Brown were all sidelined, with head coach Ettore Messina also missing out through illness for the second game in a row.
Hence, Milan needed to dig deep in its bid to beat an Olympiacos Piraeus side that came into the clash on the back of five victories in their previous six games. And dig deep they did.
Using a nine-man rotation, assistant coach Peppe Poeta saw his players hit the ground running by netting 27 points in the first quarter against one of the stingiest defenses in the league. An exchange of blows in the second saw the hosts retain a 47-43 cushion at halftime, having gone 12-for-17 from inside the arc and 7-for-14 from deep.
“[Milan] came out with a blast, playing with amazing physicality, speed and, of course, confidence,” Olympiacos boss Georgios Bartzokas admitted in the post-game press conference. “In the first half, they shot 80% on twos and 50% on threes and had 5 offensive rebounds.”
And then came Milan’s dominant third quarter. The hosts again started fast, going on an 11-1 surge inspired by a red-hot Armoni Brooks, who drained one from behind the rainbow to make it 61-48. Led by Alec Peters and Tyler Dorsey, Olympiacos slightly trimmed the deficit to 67-56 heading into the fourth quarter.
Then a 2-9 run by the guests saw Dorsey bring his team within 75-72. Enter Quinn Ellis, who came to the fore when it mattered the most, making some clutch buckets to help Milan maintain the lead. Back-to-back pull-up triples from Ellis made it 81-74, before Olympiacos again fought back and turned it into a one-possession game (84-82) with 47 seconds left.
But a smart cut from Ellis left Dorsey behind, with the Milan guard receiving an excellent dish by Leandro Bolmaro to net inside for an 86-82 cushion.
“This kid [Ellis] is shining so much and he just deserves it the way he works hard, the way he does things,” Poeta told EuroLeague TV. “He deserves to play at this stage, this level. He is just an amazing kid.”
After Ellis’s burst of scoring, Stefano Tonut and Marko Guduric scored from the charity stripe to practically put the game to bed, clinching a huge 88-87 victory against all odds. Ellis stood out with a career-high 16 points, 9 of which were scored in the closing quarter. He also registered 5 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 block in a complete outing.
“The guys were amazing,” Poeta added. “They played an unbelievable game against probably one of the top three teams in the league. We shot with confidence, we played at a good pace, we led for 40 minutes and we were clinical at the end, when they hit some tough shots, by not panicking and keeping on playing.”
Milan also outrebounded Olympiacos 32-29, recording 11 offensive boards and grabbing 12 second-chance points. Hustling for every ball on both ends of the floor, they also had 5 steals and outscored the visitors 14-2 in fastbreak points.
“We played a tough team like Olympiacos, but we stuck together, we played for 40 minutes, stuck to the game plan,” Ellis told EuroLeague TV. “We fought for every rebound, hustled on defense and everyone had each other’s back. That was the key to the game.”
Milan is expected to gradually welcome back players from injuries as they take on Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv next week. But regardless of who plays, looking to extend their winning streak to five games, the Italian side just needs to approach every game with that same mentality that helped defeat Olympiacos despite key absences on Friday night.
