Both players had career-high efforts against Zalgiris, making the most of their extended playing time in an impressive road victory
Quinn Ellis, Pippo Ricci make Milan forget injuries in Kaunas
Informes de partidos
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 5 of 38
Regular Season
Zalgiris KaunasZAL
7889
EA7 Emporio Armani MilanEA7
Overview
l
l
w
w
w
w
l
l
l
w
Things were not looking good for EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, which arrived at Zalgirio Arena without three injured starters: Lorenzo Brown, Josh Nebo and Zach LeDay. Milan was coming off a tough road loss against FC Bayern Munich just 18 hours earlier, in which coach Ettore Messina’s team was held to just 53 points.
On Thursday evening, Zalgiris Kaunas forward Arnas Butkevicius came off the bench to score 17 points in six minutes, single-handedly giving his team a 29–13 lead early in the second quarter.
Most teams would have given up, but Milan chose not to. With some players seeing extended minutes due to the circumstances, Milan rallied to celebrate a 78-89 victory.
“I think the defense was very good throughout, and it grew in the second, third, and fourth quarters. Offensively, we were calm – I think that was important. We were very nervous at the beginning,” Coach Messina said after the game.
“We didn’t play a good game two days ago. That’s another example that, especially with this year’s schedule, you have to make an effort to move on from both good and bad performances.”
Milan’s comeback started with a 0–12 run in which four different players hit from downtown: Nico Mannion, Shavon Shields, Marko Guduric and Pippo Ricci, who was unstoppable from beyond the arc.
Ricci finished with a career-high 15 points, hitting 5 of 5 three-pointers. Coming into the game, he had been 2 of 7 from deep (28.6%) for the season, averaging less than 9 minutes over the first four games.
This time, he played 27 minutes and was instrumental in keeping Butkevicius scoreless in the second half.
Quinn Ellis was Milan’s decisive player down the stretch. He scored 9 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, hitting a jumper and a three-pointer to extend Milan’s lead to 64–70.
Ellis then found space for a wide-open layup, and Ricci knocked down a pair of crucial threes – the last of which sealed the outcome, 70–82, in the next-to-last minute.
Ellis had averaged just 2.5 points on 3-of-15 shooting (20.0%) and a PIR of 1.3 over his first four EuroLeague games with Milan.
In Kaunas, however, he made 7 of 9 shots for 15 points, adding 3 assists for a PIR of 18. After the game, Ellis credited his team’s defense for stepping up when it mattered most.
“I think we really, really turned it up in the second half on the defensive end with our aggressiveness. We got stops, and then the offense became easier with less pressure,” Ellis said, referring to the loss in Munich.
“We put that game behind us. We played again just two days later and are happy to get the win on the road, which is always important. Now we go back home next week and hopefully continue our streak.”
A balanced offense helped Milan get the win, with six players scoring in double digits – led by Ellis, Ricci, Shields and Devin Booker, each with 15 points.
After giving up 16 offensive rebounds over the first three quarters, Milan limited Zalgiris to just one in the final 10 minutes.
Milan also got a bit of sports revenge for a painful loss almost exactly one year ago. On October 17, 2024, Zalgiris beat Milan 82-85 despite trailing 64-37 with under 14 minutes left.
This time Milan produced a 27-point swing, turning a 16-point deficit into a double-digit road win that snapped a three-game losing streak.
