2018-19Regular SeasonRound 17
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 85
FC Barcelona Lassa 90
January 09, 2019 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

Hanga, Heurtel pace Barca to victory in Milan

FC Barcelona Lassa grabbed its fourth consecutive EuroLeague win by topping AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 85-90 in Mediolanum Forum on Wednesday night. Barcelona improved to 10-7 and sixth in the standings, while Milan dropped to 8-9 and is seventh. Thomas Heurtel led the winners with 21 points and 6 assists, Kevin Seraphin added 16, Adam Hanga 15 and Pau Ribas had 11 for Barcelona. Vladimir Micov and Mike James led Milan with 20 points apiece. James also tallied 7 rebounds and 8 assists. Arturas Gudaitis scored 16 and Jeff Brooks 11 for the hosts. Milan led 37-36 at halftime, but a great third quarter gave Barcelona the lead for good, 57-65. Milan kept fighting, but Hanga and Heurtel made the difference down the stretch.

James fed Gudaitis for a dunk and struck from downtown for an early 5-2 Milan lead. Ribas and Brooks traded triples, Ante Tomic dunked and back-to-back layups by Hanga gave Barcelona its first lead, 8-11. Heurtel capped an 0-8 run with a driving layup. Gudaitis rescued Milan with a jumper. James had 4 points in a 6-0 run, but Seraphin answered with a couple of close baskets for a 16-17 Barcelona lead after 10 minutes. Curtis Jerrells took over with a driving layup early in the second quarter and James downed a jumper, but Kyle Kuric did better with a bomb from downtown and Seraphin dunked twice to keep Barcelona in charge, 22-24. Seraphin scored again and Kuric added a rare follow-up jumper, but Gudaitis and James kept Milan within 27-28. Gudaitis stepped up for Milan and a close basket by Brooks gave the hosts a 34-31 edge. Victor Claver shined with a three-point play and Tomic added a jump hook, but a three-pointer by Jerrells fixed the halftime score at 37-36. Micov scored right after the break, but Heurtel followed a jumper with a three-pointer for a 39-41 Barcelona lead. Ribas swished a triple and Heurtel added a driving layup to cap a 0-10 Barcelona run. James answered from downtown and Gudaitis dunked again, but Heurtel and Ribas kept the guests ahead, 45-51. Chris Singleton buried a triple and collected a steal which allowed Seraphin to give Barcelona a 50-58 edge. Brooks buried one from beyond the arc and James added a floater, but Hanga and Pierre Oriola helped Barcelona keep a 57-65 lead after 30 minutes. Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored twice in the paint and Micov added a three-pointer to get Milan within 64-67 early in the fourth quarter. Tomic hit a jump hook and Hanga followed a dunk with a reverse layup that caused Milan to stop the game at 64-73 with 6 minutes left. Three-pointers by Hanga and Heurtel sealed the outcome, 68-80, as Milan did not fully recover in the final 3 minutes.

Pivotal performer

Adam Hanga is finally injury-free and showing he can be among the most active small forwards at both ends of the court. He was pure adrenaline for Barcelona, finishing the game with 15 points on near-perfect shooting – 5 of 5 on two-pointers, 1 of 2 from downtown and 2 of 2 free throws. He added 5 rebounds and 3 steals for a performance index rating of 20.

Game-changing moment

Milan got within 64-67 early in the fourth quarter, but Ante Tomic stepped up with a jump hook and an unstoppable Hanga dunked off a steal and added an acrobatic reverse layup in transition to make it a 9-point game and giving Barcelona full control.

Stellar stat

Barcelona committed only 8 turnovers, its second-fewest this season, and collected 6 steals. On the other hand, Milan only had 2 steals, a new season-low, and made 12 turnovers.

Did you notice?

Tomic fouled out for the third time this season. In 10 years in the EuroLeague, Tomic has only fouled out three times in each of the last two years. He previously fouled out in Barcelona's road games against Zalgiris and Panathinaikos. Last season, Tomic fouled out in three road games, too - Panathinaikos, Valencia and Zalgiris.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action on Friday. Milan visits FC Bayern Munich before Barcelona hosts Panathinaikos in a rematch of the 1996 EuroLeague championship game.

Thomas Heurtel - FC Barcelona Lassa - EB18
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: BOLTAUZER, MATEJ; JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; BISSANG, JOSEPH
Attendance: 8190
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan16212028
FC Barcelona Lassa17192925
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan16375785
FC Barcelona Lassa17366590
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
00 DELLA VALLE, AMEDEO 6:32 3 0/1 1/2                   2   -1
2 JAMES, MIKE 37:32 20 5/7 2/6 4/4   7 7 8 2 1     4 7 33
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 36:22 20 2/4 4/8 4/4 1 1 2 6         2 7 27
7 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 31:33 16 5/7   6/8 3 4 7     4 1   4 5 17
9 BERTANS, DAIRIS 3:38                   1         -1
13 FONTECCHIO, SIMONE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS 17:30 8 3/6 0/1 2/2 3 3 6 1   1 1   1 2 12
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA 13:49 2 1/2 0/1             2     4   -6
23 BURNS, CHRISTIAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
32 BROOKS, JEFF 22:30 11 1/2 2/3 3/4 2 1 3 1   2     2 2 10
55 JERRELLS, CURTIS 22:07 5 1/2 1/6   1   1 1   1   1 1 1 -1
92 OMIC, ALEN 8:27           1 1 1         2 2 2
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 85 18/31 10/27 19/22 12 19 31 18 2 12 2 1 22 26 96
        58.1% 37% 86.4%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
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 Barcelona Lassa
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 SERAPHIN, KEVIN 21:46 16 7/13   2/2 2 2 4     2   1 4 2 9
3 PANGOS, KEVIN 19:55 6 1/4 1/5 1/2   1 1 1 1     1 1 3 2
5 RIBAS, PAU 32:00 11 0/1 3/7 2/2   1 1 6 1 1     2 2 13
6 SINGLETON, CHRIS 27:07 3   1/1     1 1 1 1 1     2 1 4
8 HANGA, ADAM 26:46 15 5/5 1/2 2/2 1 4 5   3       3 1 20
9 BLAZIC, JAKA 3:29                         2   -2
13 HEURTEL, THOMAS 22:29 21 5/9 2/3 5/6   1 1 6   1     1 7 27
14 PUSTOVYI, ARTEM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 9:23 2 1/1     1   1           3    
24 KURIC, KYLE 11:05 5 1/2 1/4   1 1 2           3 1 1
30 CLAVER, VICTOR 7:46 3 1/1   1/1                   1 4
44 TOMIC, ANTE 18:14 8 4/5     1 7 8 1   1 1   5 4 15
Team           3   3     2         1
Totals 200:00 90 25/41 9/22 13/15 9 18 27 15 6 8 1 2 26 22 94
        61% 40.9% 86.7%
Head coach: PESIC, SVETISLAV

Head Coaches

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
"Of course, we know that, in this moment, Barcelona is better than us. To win this game, we needed to play something extra and we didn't. I think we played a good game. My players stayed in the game plan, built open shots, but to win this game we needed to score more because they closed their defense with their pressure. We built good shots and played much better than we played over there, but we needed to have different percentages, especially three-pointers, to open their box. We also had turnovers - we had 4-5 turnovers which allowed them to score easy points in the open court, which decided the game because, in the end, the difference was small."
PESIC, SVETISLAV
FC Barcelona Lassa
"We played two different games tonight. In the first 20 minutes, we followed situations and didn't have initiative. I wasn't happy with how we played on defense and offense. It was a new game in the second half. We understood that it is important to start to play defense and to take the initiative and press the ball, because to play against Milan is not easy for us. Their guards are very, very good ballhandlers and this is, of course, what gives us problems in matchup situations. Anyway, we started the third quarter and took the initiative. If you analyze very simple statistics, we scored 17 points in the first quarter, 19 in the second, 29 in the third and 25 in the fourth; that is the product of our initiative on defense. With defense, you improve your aggressiveness, mentality and your confidence on offense, and everything is easier to finish the game. In basketball, if you want to change rhythm, to play transition or position, you cannot change rhythm on offense, but on defense, then you can take initiative on offense and play fast break, controlled basketball or long plays."

Players

HEURTEL, THOMAS
FC Barcelona Lassa
"It is a very important win for us. We knew we would play against one talented team. We played great defense, even if they scored 85 points, but the victory is what's most important for us. We don't want to give up. This is a good victory for us and on Friday we have an important game against Panathinaikos. Hopefully, we are going to win and play the same game as tonight."
HANGA, ADAM
FC Barcelona Lassa
"Every game is different, I guess. I had some good steals today and had some foul trouble in the first half. I didn't play a lot of minutes in the first half, but in the second half, I got into the rhythm. Not just me, I think the whole team played pretty good on defense. I think we controlled the game the whole time and these are really important games for us because our goal is to be in the top four and this kind of win can help us get there."