2020-21PlayoffsGame 1
AX Armani Exchange Milan 79
FC Bayern Munich 78
April 20, 2021 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

LeDay caps comeback as Milan stuns Bayern

In scenes of incredible drama, AX Armani Exchange Milan launched the second-biggest comeback in the history of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs, defeating FC Bayern Munich 79-78 with a buzzer-beating game-winner from Zach LeDay. Playing in its first-ever playoff game, Bayern surged ahead with a 2-17 run early in the second quarter and led by 19 shortly before halftime. Milan rallied strongly after the break, eventually tying the game at 74-74 in the last minute. James Gist appeared to have given Bayern the win from the foul line with 1.2 seconds remaining, but Malcolm Delaney and LeDay teamed up for an alley-oop layup to take the win with the final play. LeDay led Milan with 17 points and 7 rebounds, while Sergio Rodriguez was also instrumental in the comeback with all his 13 points coming in the last 11 minutes. Kevin Punter scored 11 points and Delaney added 10 for Milan. DJ Seeley starred for Bayern with 23 points, while Wade Baldwin IV and JaJuan Johnson both scored 10.

Delaney opened the scoring with a trio of free throws, answered by Nick Weiler-Babb from deep and Baldwin with a transition layup and one for a 3-6 lead. Vladimir Micov hit a triple to bring Milan level, before a low-scoring phase of play as both teams struggled for offensive rhythm. Jalen Reynolds and Jeremy Evans traded inside blows, before a hook from Shavon Shields was bettered by a triple from Paul Zipser for a 12-13 lead. Zan Sisko’s floater was followed by Johnson’s buzzer-beating long two, making it 16-18 after 10 minutes. Reynolds threw down a big dunk and Seeley hit a pair of triples early in the second quarter, stretching the lead to 16-26. Punter and Johnson exchanged long twos, before Johnson’s tip-in and Seeley’s mid-range strike made it 18-32. Punter’s jumper-and-one revived the hosts, but Sisko landed another floater and Johnson struck twice more to keep Bayern moving, 21-40. After Shields drove to score in penetration, Seeley answered with a triple-and-one, making it 27-44 at the break.

Punter opened the second half scoring from mid-range and Delaney’s three-point play pulled it back to 34-45. Johnson’s dunk settled Bayern, but Micov hit a triple and Kyle Hines scored inside to make it 39-47 after a 12-3 run. Sisko hit back with a three, which Delaney answered from deep. Punter’s driving score kept Milan hoping, but Seeley struck his fourth triple and Gist added a layup to give Bayern a 44-58 edge. Seeley scored 4 more points to keep Bayern fairly comfortable, 53-64, at the end of the third quarter. Rodriguez hit a step-back triple to start the fourth, but Vladimir Lucic answered with his first basket. Five fast points from Rodriguez and free throws from Luigi Datome made it 63-67. A huge dunk from LeDay made it a one-possession game, but Gist’s layup-and-one revived Bayern. Shields made a mid-range jumper, but Seeley responded from deep, sending Bayern ahead 67-73 with 4 minutes left. LeDay hit back with his own three-point play and Hines scored inside to make it 72-74 with 2 minutes remaining. LeDay netted under the basket for a 74-74 tie and Gist missed two free throws before Rodriguez hit a triple for a 77-74 lead. Free throws from Baldwin and Gist sent Bayern back in front, but LeDay had the final word of an incredible game.

Milan mounts second-biggest comeback…

Milan’s comeback from 19 points down was the second-biggest in playoff history. The only bigger comeback was Partizan Belgrade overturning a 21-point margin against Maccabi Tel Aviv in March 2010.

…as Bayern loses second-biggest lead

In contrast, the outcome also saw Bayern fall to defeat despite establishing the second-biggest halftime lead on the road in playoff history. The team’s 27-44 interval edge is only behind Olympiacos Piraeus's 32-50 halftime advantage at Asseco Prokom in April 2010.

Hosts leave it late – very late

Bayern led from the last minute of the first quarter until the last minute of the game, when Sergio Rodriguez’s three-pointer sent Milan ahead, 77-74. Overall, Milan was only in front for 2 minutes 25 seconds of the whole game.

Injury blow for Bayern

Another setback for Bayern was an injury blow for Nick Weiler-Babb, who landed badly on his right ankle midway through the second quarter and did not return.

Next game

The teams will meet again in Milan for Game 2 at 20:45pm CET on Thursday.

Zach Leday - AX Armani Exchange Milan - EB20
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: GARCIA, JUAN CARLOS; ROCHA, FERNANDO; HORDOV, TOMISLAV
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan16112626
FC Bayern Munich18262014
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan16275379
FC Bayern Munich18446478
AX Armani Exchange Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 PUNTER, KEVIN 26:34 11 5/9 0/4 1/1   3 3 1 1       3 3 8
2 LEDAY, ZACH 33:12 17 4/6 0/1 9/9 2 5 7 2 1       2 7 29
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 16:41 8 0/1 2/2 2/2   2 2   1       2 2 10
10 ROLL, MICHAEL 0:04                              
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 18:59 13 2/4 3/5     2 2   1 1   1 3 1 8
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 11:01 2 1/1     1   1 1   1 2   3   2
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 23:58 10 1/1 1/8 5/6 1 5 6 4   4     4 4 8
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 23:42 8 3/8 0/4 2/2   3 3 1       1 3 2 1
32 BROOKS, JEFF 5:30                              
40 EVANS, JEREMY 7:05 2 1/2       1 1           1   1
42 HINES, KYLE 21:54 6 3/4     3 3 6 1   2   1 3   6
70 DATOME, LUIGI 11:20 2   0/1 2/3 1 3 4           1 2 5
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 79 20/36 6/25 21/23 10 28 38 10 4 8 2 3 25 21 81
        55.6% 24% 91.3%
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
FC Bayern Munich
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WEILER-BABB, NICK 8:47 3 0/1 1/3     2 2     1     1    
2 BALDWIN IV, WADE 18:31 10 2/8 0/2 6/7       4   1   1 3 7 7
4 SEELEY, DENNIS 25:03 23 2/5 5/5 4/5 3 3 6 2   1       6 32
8 REYNOLDS, JALEN 18:11 7 3/8   1/2 2 2 4     1 2 1 1 1 5
11 LUCIC, VLADIMIR 30:03 6 0/2 1/4 3/3   3 3 1 2 2     1 3 7
12 FLACCADORI, DIEGO 2:18                         1   -1
15 AMAIZE, ROBIN 0:43                              
16 ZIPSER, PAUL 20:55 5 0/1 1/3 2/2 1 4 5 1         4 2 6
21 GIST, JAMES 21:04 7 2/4 0/1 3/5   2 2   1   1   3 3 6
25 JOHNSON, JAJUAN 15:34 10 5/9     2 2 4 1 1 1     3 1 9
31 SISKO, ZAN MARK 25:18 7 2/3 1/1   1 2 3 6         3 1 13
43 RADOSEVIC, LEON 13:33     0/2 0/2   2 2   1 1     1 1 -2
Team           3 3 6               6
Totals 200:00 78 16/41 9/21 19/26 12 25 37 15 5 8 3 2 21 25 88
        39% 42.9% 73.1%
Head coach: TRINCHIERI, ANDREA

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan

"The players did it. We were on a night where nothing was going our way. We missed shots and were on our heels for a great part of the game. We had heart, made some good plays, and down the stretch our defense was much better. I think Malcolm threw a great pass on the last play and Zach scored. Of course, you need a bit of luck and we had it. These days there is a word that everybody uses…resilient. Well, we've be resilient. And lucky."

"It was not our best night, they played a very good game in the first half when we were a little bit tight. We had no flow offensively and were hesitant, tentative defensively. It’s just one game, and it’s going to be a very long series. We have to get better because they will come back and play even better than today. We are playing a team that has won 21 games and we’ll see what happens."

TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
FC Bayern Munich
"Congratulations to Milan. We were short by one possession. We wanted to step into the series and I believe we did it in the right way. It’s the first game, Milan won, we need to do a couple of things better but I believe we played with great personality the whole game. But to me this is secondary – my thoughts go to Nick Weiler-Babb, who got an injury. At this time of the season when one of your players gets an injury like this, it’s sad."

Players

LEDAY, ZACH
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"Man, it’s crazy! Coach drew up the play and I just ran in, I just wanted to catch it and to finish it. Crazy game. We’ve got to bounce back and keep getting better in the series. We wanted to come out [after halftime] and play hard, we knew we didn’t play good in the first half so we wanted to bring energy and that ended up bringing us back into the game. Now we’ve got to capitalize."
RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"It’s a great feeling, but it’s just the first game. We cannot come like we did in the first half, being lazy with a lot of pressure. We have to play the game the way we’ve been doing the whole year. We showed heart, so from now on we have to keep going."
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