


EA7 Emporio Armani Milan produced easily its best performance of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season on Friday night as it beat leader Olympiacos Piraeus 83-62 at Mediolanum Forum. This win rekindled Milan's hopes of reaching the playoffs as it tasted victory for the fourth game in a row and improved to 10-15, while Olympiacos saw its seven-game winning streak snapped as it dropped to 18-8.
Billy Baron was particularly impressive for Milan, scoring 18 points. Nicolo Melli chipped in with 10 points and 5 rebounds, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 9, while Brandon Davies and Giampaolo Ricci netted 8 each. The visitors, meanwhile, misfired all evening and committed a staggering 19 turnovers, conceding 31 points in the process. Thomas Walkup and Sasha Vezenkov paced the Greek side with 10 points each, and Kostas Papanikolaou and Kostas Sloukas scored 8 apiece.
Milan raced into a 10-5 lead early on before Olympiacos briefly turned the tables and led 14-15, but that was as good as it got for the visitors on a night when they struggled to find any offensive rhythm.
Milan kept hurting Olympiacos with simple set plays, with its guards driving through the lane and passing the ball out to open perimeter shooters. That is where Baron did most of his damage. The 32-year-old used the screens to devastating effect, nailing 4-of-6 shots from beyond the arc and going 2-of-2 from two-point range. Ricci and six other players also joined the three-point shooting party against a static Olympiacos defense.
The Greek side looked lethargic on offense, too, with Kyle Hines outmuscling his counterparts in the paint as he collected his 300th career block in the EuroLeague, becoming only the third player to reach the rare milestone behind Walter Tavares (342) and Bryant Dunston (321).
Milan took a slender 35-32 lead into the locker room at halftime, as Olympiacos showed occasional signs of its trademark resilience, which saw the competition’s pace-setter pull off more than just a few escape acts this season.
It wasn’t to be this time, however, as Milan found another gear in the third quarter and extended its lead to 61-46 before the final 10 minutes, with Baron ruthlessly sinking his long-range shots.
The lead soared to 20 points early in the fourth quarter, 70-50, and although Olympiacos launched one final onslaught with a 0-8 run, the visitors were unable to turn the tide as Milan found another gear in the home stretch and swept aside its more fancied opponent.