2017-18Regular SeasonRound 18
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 101
Unicaja Malaga 87
January 17, 2018 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

Goudelock leads three-point shooting show as Milan outguns Unicaja

AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan produced an offensive explosion to end a four-game losing streak with a 101-87 victory over Unicaja Malaga, which has now lost three straight and dropped to 7-11. Milan had several double-digit leads in the first half before Unicaja came back and briefly led in the third quarter, but the home team’s offense kept on rolling and pulled away in the fourth quarter to advance to 5-13, with four of those wins coming against Spanish teams. It was Milan’s highest non-overtime points tally since Round 5 of last season, and was based on 15-of-24 three-point shooting, 6 of which came from Andrew Goudelock, whose 18 points led the hosts. Backcourt mate Jordan Theodore registered a double-double of 14 points and 11 assists, while Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored 17, Vladimir Micov added 16 and Amath M’Baye 10. Unicaja was paced by 22 points and 6 assists from Nemanja Nedovic, while Jeff Brooks scored 19 and James Augustine combined 12 points with 7 rebounds.

A pair of baskets from Brooks started off Unicaja with a 0-4 lead, but Goudelock hit a triple and Theodore netted from close range for Milan’s first advantage. Kaleb Tarczewski, Kuzminskas and another Goudelock three-pointer made it a 12-0 run. Theodore’s coast to coast layup delivered a double-digit lead, but Nedovic cut the gap from long range. Layups by Micov and Theodore and a triple from Kuzminskas kept Milan’s offense flowing, and after Adam Waczynski and Augustine scored from close range, Curtis Jerrells beat the first-quarter buzzer to make it 31-22. Mo Soluade opened the second quarter with 5 quick points, either side of a corner three from Dairis Bertans, before Nedovic and Jerrells traded triples to make it 41-32. Brooks and Alberto Diaz netted two-pointers to get Unicaja closer, and although another pair of Goudelock three-pointers settled the home team, Unicaja finished the half strong with a buzzer-beating triple from Ray McCallum to make it 50-44.

The second half started with a triple from Nedovic and a pair of close-range scores from Augustine, giving Unicaja its first lead since very early. Micov’s triple ended a 0-12 run to get Milan ahead again, before another deep strike from Kuzminskas, who then added a three-point play. Brooks scored a jumper, free throws and a triple in quick succession to keep Unicaja close, while Theodore added a driving layup for Milan. The red-hot Brooks netted a turnaround jumper to make it 66-64, but Goudelock responded with his fifth triple. Nedovic and Dani Diez got Unicaja to within 1, but Theodore floated in a pair of baskets and Micov and M’Baye netted two more from downtown, making it 79-71 after three quarters. Giorgi Shermadini and Soluade dunked early in the fourth, but Jerrells hit a rainbow three to keep Milan rolling. Unicaja came back with baskets from Dragan Milosavljevic and Nedovic, but Arturas Gudaitis converted a couple of tough close-range finishes for an 88-79 cushion. Waczynski and Goudelock traded triples, before Theodore’s fastbreak score further stretched the lead. It was never in doubt from that moment and Milan cruised home.

Andrew Goudelock - AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan - EB17
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; PASTUSIAK, PIOTR; FRITZ, CLEMENS
Attendance: 6086
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan31192922
Unicaja Malaga22222716
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan315079101
Unicaja Malaga22447187
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
0 GOUDELOCK, ANDREW 30:22 18 0/2 6/8   1 2 3 3   1       3 22
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 21:40 16 3/5 2/2 4/4   1 1           1 2 16
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS 7:52           2 2 3   3     2    
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 20:44 7 3/4   1/2 1 5 6   1 2     2 1 9
19 KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS 23:49 17 2/4 2/3 7/7 1 1 2 3           4 23
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA 4:47               1   1     2   -2
22 CUSIN, MARCO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
24 M'BAYE, AMATH 16:11 10 1/3 2/2 2/2       1   1     2 2 8
25 THEODORE, JORDAN 27:21 14 7/8 0/2     2 2 11 2       4 4 26
45 BERTANS, DAIRIS 16:49 5 0/1 1/4 2/3         2 1     2 2 1
55 JERRELLS, CURTIS 11:09 8 1/3 2/3     1 1 1 2 1   1 1 1 7
77 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 19:16 6 2/3   2/5 2 6 8     1     2 3 10
Team             1 1     1          
Totals 200:00 101 19/33 15/24 18/23 5 21 26 23 7 12 0 1 18 22 120
        57.6% 62.5% 78.3%
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
Unicaja Malaga
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 OKOUO, VINY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3 MCCALLUM, RAY 20:37 3 0/3 1/2         2 2 1     2    
6 SOLUADE, MO 10:24 7 2/3 1/2         1 2 1       1 8
9 DIAZ, ALBERTO 19:34 3 1/1 0/2 1/2   1 1 3 2 1     1 2 6
11 DIEZ, DANIEL 16:30 3 1/3   1/2   3 3 3           1 7
12 MILOSAVLJEVIC, DRAGAN 12:37 2 1/3     1   1 1   1     3 1 -1
16 NEDOVIC, NEMANJA 29:36 22 6/10 3/7 1/2 1 1 2 6   5     2 5 19
17 SHERMADINI, GIORGI 12:56 6 2/5   2/2 2 3 5     1 1   3 2 7
21 WACZYNSKI, ADAM 10:42 5 1/1 1/2   1 1 2 1 1       5 1 4
23 BROOKS, JEFF 22:28 19 6/7 1/2 4/4 1 2 3     1     2 2 19
40 AUGUSTINE, JAMES 26:06 12 6/9     2 5 7 1   1     3   13
43 SUAREZ, CARLOS 18:30 5 0/2 1/1 2/2 2 2 4 3         1 3 12
Team           1 1 2     1         1
Totals 200:00 87 26/47 8/18 11/14 11 19 30 21 7 13 1 0 22 18 95
        55.3% 44.4% 78.6%
Head coach: PLAZA, JOAN

Head Coaches

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
“It was important for us to keep moving the ball in the right way, and we did that to get open shots, so it was a very good game for us. It was important for the players, they deserve this because many times we have played until the last minutes but then lost, and some seasons like this you can lose your confidence, especially on a team with a lot of new players. If you lose confidence, you can be in trouble, so this kind of game is very important for the players. They deserve it and now I hope we can recover a better position in EuroLeague.”
PLAZA, JOAN
Unicaja Malaga
“Congratulations to Milan because they deserved it more than us. The worst part of the game was our first quarter. If we followed on this way with our really bad defense, we would have finished the game 124-88. It is horrible that we were able to begin the game this way. Overall, they had 62% shooting threes, which is a great number, and it’s hard to win any game if you’re unable to reduce that number. In the rest of the stats we are almost tied, but when they’re making such high percentages on threes, it’s difficult to win. It looked like we were scared that somebody was going to beat us one-on-one for a layup. So we deserved to lose, and even when we got closer, we didn’t play smart enough.”

Players

THEODORE, JORDAN
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
“We have been working hard in practice to change our season around. We came out today and wanted to play hard defense for 40 minutes, and we accomplished that goal. We played with heart and will to win; we didn’t want to lose this one. We’ve had some tough ones all season, so to come out in front of our fans, they deserve this.”
DIEZ, DANIEL
Unicaja Malaga
“We had a bad defense today. They had too many open shots, and when they score 15 three-pointers, it’s going to be very difficult to win. We did well on offense, scoring 87 points, but on defense we’ve got to be stronger and the first quarter killed us.”