EA7 Emporio Armani Milan used one of its main offensive strengths and limited one of its biggest weaknesses in picking up an important 92-76 home victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul.
Milan was hot from outside and limited turnovers to beat Efes
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Regular Season
Round 9 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Milan was lights out from long range, making 13 of 24 three-pointers (54.2%) and also committed only 10 turnovers in defeating Efes for its second win in three games to improve its record to 3-6.
Milan blew past its scoring average of 77.3 points per game - which ranked 14th in the league - for a season-high 92 points. The Italian side entered the game as the sixth-best three-point shooting team at 37.7% and its outside performance against Efes was well above its average.
One of the biggest keys for Milan was committing only 10 turnovers. Coach Ettore Messina’s team had struggled all season handling the ball, committing a league-worst 18.0 turnovers per game. The home side was helped however by Efes’s poor defense in that department. The Turkish team forced the fewest turnovers in the league at just 10.3 per game.
Another strong offensive factor in Milan’s win was the reserves as Milan received 31 points off the bench compared to just 15 from Efes. Devon Hall scored 15 points and Stefano Tonut delivered 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists - not to mention some much-needed energy to help the starters.
“The players played extremely hard - like they do all the time. Sometimes we play better, sometimes we have more difficulties. Today they kept fighting, they kept defending, they kept rebounding. That was very important. And the players from the bench really gave us a big push,” said Messina.
Defensively, Milan held Efes to a poor shooting night from the outside at just 28.0%. And while Milan only forced 8 Efes turnovers, the hosts limited Efes to just 5 offensive rebounds, another of the Turkish side’s weaknesses as it had averaged only 8.9 offensive rebounds per game coming in - the second-fewest in the league.