2018-19Regular SeasonRound 23
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 87
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 83
February 21, 2019 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

Milan holds off Maccabi

AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan held on for a tough 87-83 victory over Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv on Thursday at Mediolanum Forum in the fashion capital. The win was Milan's fourth in a row, improved its record to 12-11 and saw it surge from ninth place into a share of sixth. Maccabi fell to 10-13. The game was close throughout and featured six lead changes in the fourth quarter alone. After Yovel Zoosman put the Israeli champs up 72-73 with 4 and a half minutes to go, Milan reeled off 10 unanswered points to take control for good. Mike James led the way with 19 points and 5 assists, Curtis Jerrells scored 16 off the bench, Jeff Brooks posted 15 points and 7 rebounds and James Nunnally scored 13. Scottie Wilbekin paced Maccabi with 20 points on 5-of-9 three-point shooting, Michael Roll added 16, Johnny O'Bryant tallied 14 points and 8 rebounds and Tarik Black had 11 and 7.

Kaleb Tarczewski made his impact felt early with 3 blocks in as many minutes, but O'Bryant netted a three-pointer and a three-point play to lift the visitors to a 4-6 edge. Brooks became the offensive reference for Milan and tied it twice, but Wilbekin heated up and O'Bryant reached 10 points in just 6 minutes for a 12-16 Maccabi advantage. Milan scored the next 6 points to take the lead on James's free throws, but back-to-back triples by Jeremy Pargo and Roll helped Maccabi to a 20-22 lead after 10 minutes. Milan did not make a single three-pointer in the first quarter, but threes by Nunnally and Jerrells lifted the hosts to 28-27. The lead switched hands as the teams kept the pace fast. James converted a basket-plus-foul to push Milan in front 42-39, but Wilbekin beat the halftime buzzer from deep to even the score once more, 47-47, at the break. Wilbekin stayed hot with a three to start the second half, but soon James sank 3 free throws and James dunked an offensive rebound in a 7-0 run that prompted a Maccabi timeout at 54-51. The visitors fell into a deep freeze on offense as James and Nunnally pushed Milan to 60-53. Black revived Maccabi with a slam and a layup. A three from Roll narrowed the gap to 64-62 through three quarters. Roll buried his fourth three 3 minutes into the fourth quarter to send Maccabi back in front, 68-69. The lead changed hands on five consecutive possessions at one point before Brooks connected from behind the arc and James scored inside for a 77-73 Milan lead with 3 and a half minutes to play. James beat the shot-clock buzzer with another triple and Alen Omic capped a 10-0 run with a hook shot for a 9-point lead with 2 minutes remaining. Wilbekin gave Maccabi hope with a three that made it 84-80 and another to get within 86-83 with 9.8 seconds on the clock, but Maccabi could not score again.

Game-changing sequence

After the lead changes hands on each of five consecutive shots – the last of which saw Jeff Brooks put Milan up 75-73, the game paused for a television timeout. Maccabi went cold at that point and committed 2 turnovers and missed 2 shots on its next four possessions. In that time, Mike James had 5 points, a steal and an assist on an Alen Omic layup to cap a 10-0 run that turned gave Milan control for good.

Important return

Kaleb Tarczewski returned from a hand injury that had sidelined him for a month and a half and produced immediately with 3 blocks in the game's first three minutes. His fighting presence helped Milan hold its own against Maccabi's bigger frontline. He finished with a career-high 4 blocks and a season-high performance index rating of 18 after scoring 8 points, collecting 4 rebounds and drawing 6 fouls in 24 minutes.

Stellar stat

Milan is not known for its defense, but through its 7 blocked shots as a team – 1 less than the club record – kept Maccabi off balance in the paint. The visitors made just 19 of 43 two-point shots (44.2%). If Maccabi had just shot its season average on twos of 53.6%, it would have made four more baskets and won the game.

Next week's games

Milan looks to keep its winning run going next week when it visits Khimki Moscow Region. Maccabi will look to get back on the winning track when it hosts Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul.

Mike James - AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan - EB18
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: RYZHYK, BORYS; GARCIA, JUAN CARLOS; PANTHER, ANNE
Attendance: 9610
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan20271723
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv22251521
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan20476487
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv22476283
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
2 JAMES, MIKE 30:46 19 4/6 1/3 8/9   5 5 5 1 3 1 1 2 6 26
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 29:20 4 2/2 0/3     4 4 3   1     2 1 6
9 BERTANS, DAIRIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 23:57 8 3/4   2/2 2 2 4 1     4   4 6 18
16 NEDOVIC, NEMANJA 16:09 4 2/4 0/1     3 3   1 2         3
19 KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS 15:47 4 1/2 0/2 2/2 1 1 2     1     1 1 2
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 NUNNALLY, JAMES 21:49 13 1/4 2/4 5/6   4 4     1   1   5 14
23 BURNS, CHRISTIAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
32 BROOKS, JEFF 24:13 15 4/8 2/2 1/2 2 5 7       1   2 1 17
55 JERRELLS, CURTIS 21:56 16 3/5 2/4 4/5   2 2 2 1   1 1 2 2 16
92 OMIC, ALEN 16:03 4 2/3     2 6 8 1 1 5     4   4
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 87 22/38 7/19 22/26 8 32 40 12 4 13 7 3 17 22 107
        57.9% 36.8% 84.6%
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
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 RAY, KENDRICK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1 WILBEKIN, SCOTTIE 21:21 20 2/5 5/9 1/2       3   2     2 1 12
2 PARGO, JEREMY 14:06 5 1/3 1/4     2 2 3   2   1 2    
3 O'BRYANT, JOHNNY 19:25 14 4/9 1/3 3/3 3 5 8 1         4 4 16
4 CALOIARO, ANGELO 21:27 2   0/3 2/2 2 2 4   1       2 2 4
5 ROLL, MICHAEL 20:46 16 2/3 4/11     1 1 2 1       1 2 13
7 KANE, DEANDRE 24:21 2 1/7 0/2   2 1 3 2 1 1   4 4 1 -8
9 TYUS, ALEX 18:03 4 2/3     1 1 2 1     2   2 1 7
12 DIBARTOLOMEO, JOHN 4:42 2 1/2     1 1 2 2 1     1 1 1 5
15 COHEN, JAKE 20:29 5 1/3 1/2     1 1   1         2 6
28 BLACK, TARIK 22:01 11 4/7   3/4 3 4 7 1 1 2   1 4 3 12
50 ZOOSMAN, YOVEL 13:19 2 1/1       2 2     1 1       4
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 83 19/43 12/34 9/11 15 22 37 15 6 8 3 7 22 17 76
        44.2% 35.3% 81.8%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS

Head Coaches

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
"We are not looking for the rankings now, we are looking for our project to be better, to keep fighting and it is not the moment for us because we have a very [tough] schedule, but for us it is important that with the changing the lineup or situation, my players showed their desire to compete. This is also important. We know that we have some problems in the big man position, but tonight everybody made an extra effort, especially in the second half. We know that we have to put inside James Nunnally, who is [with us] just three or four weeks. We need time for him to know his teammates, we need time also to recover 100% Nedovic, who made a great effort tonight to help us, but of course, needs some weeks more. But in this situation for us, we played a great game and this is so important. All the players showed their attitude, their desire, and with this we can keep building something. We knew that [Tarczewski] was in shape because he was running, so he was able to play many minutes, but he more or less never practiced with the others because he could not touch the ball with his hands until the last few days. He played with his hand taped. He played a great game."
SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
"I think that today was a big fight for the playoffs between two teams. It was a derby till the end of the game, and if you see the difference in every quarter you'll see that each team had 2 points in each quarter, Milan in three periods and us in one. It was very important that we had 8 turnovers and 15 assists; the almost double difference was important for us. We stayed in the game and tried to win at the end, but I think that 1-2 minutes that Armani got the lead 3-4 minutes before the end was crucial against us and helped them win the game. We fought really hard for this game and we have seven more games until the end to fight for our chances for the playoffs. I want to thank our 250-300 fans of us who came here from Israel and all over Europe to support us, the players and me want to thank them a lot for this sacrifice to come here and fight with us and we hope that next time we will give them the happiness of a win."

Players

JERRELLS, CURTIS
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
"It's pretty much been my role all year to come into the game and help where I can, whether it's offense, defense or wherever."
JAMES, MIKE
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
"We had a good game. I think we started off a little slow on defense, but we picked it up in the second half and played a good game."
O'BRYANT, JOHNNY
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
"It was definitely a shootout, both teams played well. I just think down the stretch we didn't execute good our plays. They made some big shots offensively to put the game away. I think we played overall great and we got a great future ahead of us. It's amazing to see the support Maccabi gets. It's just my first year, but the fan support has been great on the road and obviously at home. We got seven more games and hopefully, it continues."
ROLL, MICHAEL
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
"We fought really hard. A couple of minor details at the end of the game. We really fought and we just came up a little short. We let them go on a little run to take the lead and it was just a little bit too much for us to get back, maybe one more stop almost 5 seconds there at the end. If we get that, I think we'd win the game, but we were just a little short."