2020-21Regular SeasonRound 21
AX Armani Exchange Milan 75
FC Bayern Munich 51
January 21, 2021 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

Milan's defense stifles Bayern

AX Armani Exchange Milan led from tipoff to buzzer in a 75-51 rout of visiting FC Bayern Munich on Thursday night at Mediolanum Forum. In so doing, Milan extended its win streak to four games and improved to a 13-7 record, good for fourth place. Bayern dropped to 12-9 but held on to sixth place for the night. Milan opened the game with a 16-2 run and never looked back. Behind their relentless defensive effort, the hosts held a 22-point lead at halftime that ballooned to as many as 29 points in the third quarter. Sergio Rodriguez paced Milan with 14 points and Kevin Punter netted 12. Riccardo Moraschini had 11 while Zach LeDay collected 10 points plus 8 rebounds in victory. Jalen Reynolds was the only Bayern scorer in double figures, with 12 points.

LeDay and Malcolm Delaney combined to score the first 6 points of the game. Nick Weiler-Babb hit a mid-range jumper that proved to be Bayern's only points in nearly 7 minutes against Milan's mix of man-to-man and zone defense. Meanwhile, Moraschini hit a corner triple and Punter converted a three-point play among 7 points to make it 16-2. Paul Zipser's triple snapped Milan's 10-0 run and Weiler-Babb followed a three-point play, but Milan had Bayern doubled-up at 20-10 after 10 minutes. Bayern kept struggling in the second quarter, needing more than 7 minutes to score its first field goal. Luigi Datome, Rodriguez and Kyle Hines each scored before Punter's nexT three-point play meant a 31-13 lead. Leon Radosevic scored a put-back for Bayern but LeDay and Rodriguez lifted the lead to 36-16. Wade Baldwin IV's triple didn't prevent Hines inside and Rodriguez from the outside making it 42-20 at halftime.

Hines combined with Moraschini to lengthen the lead to 47-20 right after the break. Reynolds hit a pair of jumpers and James Gist battled inside to give Bayern's offense a little spark, but Milan did not let the control slip away. Delaney drove for a three-point play, and after Baldwin and LeDay traded jumpers, Rodriguez scored 7 points, including a three-pointer, for a massive 63-34 gap late in the third. Bayern scored the first 8 points of the fourth behind Reynolds and Diego Flaccadori. But Delaney hit a triple and with baskets coming few and far between after that, Milan cruised the rest of the way.

Trend reversed

The previous three games in Milan between these two teams were decided by a combined total of 5 points. The biggest win by any team in the series had been 14 points before this game.

Outstanding defense

Bayern couldn't buy a bucket in the first half, when Milan's defense held the visitors to 4-for-17 two-point and 2-for-9 three-point shooting. Bayern had just 1 assist to 13 turnovers and managed just 20 points in the first 20 minutes.

Important sweep

Milan swept the regular season series with Bayern, having won their Round 1 game in overtime 79-81, too. With both teams sitting on 12 wins before this game, this victory counts double for Milan against a fellow playoff contender.

Uncelebratory records

Never before had Bayern scored fewer than 55 points in a EuroLeague game, made fewer than 3 three-pointers, or had a team PIR lower than 38. In this one, Milan held Bayern to club-record lows in all of those categorieS: 51 points, 2 three-pointers made, and a PIR of 32.

Next week

Both teams will be on a double-duty next week, and it will start on Tuesday of Round 22 when Bayern visits Khimki Moscow Region while Milan welcomes Olympiacos Piraeus.

Sergio Rodriguez - AX Armani Exchange Milan - EB20
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: PUKL,SASA; PEREZ, EMILIO; NIKOLIC, UROS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan20222112
FC Bayern Munich10101516
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan20426375
FC Bayern Munich10203551
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 26:46 12 4/6 0/3 4/4   2 2 3 1 3     1 4 13
2 LEDAY, ZACH 32:29 10 2/8 1/1 3/4 1 7 8 2 1     1   6 19
3 MORETTI, DAVIDE 3:30 2     2/2                 1 2 3
9 MORASCHINI, RICCARDO 20:49 11 1/1 3/3     2 2 1 1       3 2 14
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 21:17 14 4/4 2/3     2 2 3 1 2     2   15
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 14:50 4 1/4   2/2 3 4 7     1 1   4 1 5
19 BILIGHA, PAUL 8:27 2 0/3   2/2 1 4 5     1 2   1 1 5
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA 6:37     0/2             1     1 1 -3
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 25:12 8 2/2 1/5 1/1   1 1 4 1 3     3 2 6
42 HINES, KYLE 21:48 8 4/7   0/2   2 2 2 1 3 1   1 4 9
70 DATOME, LUIGI 18:15 4 1/3 0/1 2/2 1 2 3           3 1 2
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 75 19/38 7/18 16/19 6 28 34 15 6 14 4 1 20 24 90
        50% 38.9% 84.2%
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 18:37 5 2/4 0/2 1/1 2 1 3 2   4     3 2 1
1 GEORGE, JASON 1:16                         1   -1
2 BALDWIN IV, WADE 17:06 6 1/3 1/3 1/2   3 3 1 1 5     2 2 1
4 SEELEY, DENNIS 25:03 4 1/3 0/2 2/4   3 3     1     5 3 -2
8 REYNOLDS, JALEN 22:33 12 5/12   2/2 1 4 5 1 2 2 1 2 1 4 13
11 LUCIC, VLADIMIR 20:36   0/2 0/1   2 1 3     3     2 1 -4
12 FLACCADORI, DIEGO 15:19 8 2/5 0/2 4/5 1 1 2 2       1 1 3 7
16 ZIPSER, PAUL 18:51 3 0/3 1/3     3 3 1 2 2     1   1
21 GIST, JAMES 18:13 6 2/3   2/2   3 3   1 2   1 3 1 4
25 JOHNSON, JAJUAN 12:59 3 1/2   1/2 2   2           1 2 4
43 RADOSEVIC, LEON 20:43 4 2/7     3 2 5   1 1     3 2 3
44 GRANT, SASHA 8:44     0/1     3 3   1       1   2
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 51 16/44 2/14 13/18 13 25 38 7 8 20 1 4 24 20 32
        36.4% 14.3% 72.2%
Head coach: TRINCHIERI, ANDREA

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"I think we played a very good game. As you know, we are very short-handed and we played against a very good team, and honestly, we played with great focus, very humble, and I think my players were extremely focused in attacking their switches. In this, Kyle Hines was the player of the game for me because he gave us that depth inside the paint, attacking the switch every time and making plays that basically helps us to get the lead. But when you allow 20 points in two quarters, and 35 in three, you have to congratulate the team and just love them a lot because they work like crazy."
TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
FC Bayern Munich
"Congratulations to Milan, they deserved to win. They were better in every aspect of the game. In concentration, in approach, in toughness, and in understanding in what the game required to be played. We didn't show up, it was a very bad night, we embarrassed ourselves, but it is too easy now to point the finger. In a season like this, this can happen. It should not happen, but it can happen and we need to find again as quick as possible a way to play the right way."

Players

RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"We were ready. We knew we were playing against a very good team that has been doing a very good job this season, so our defense was great, especially in the first half, and we dominated that aspect of the game. We are still in January, there is still a long way ahead, but we are staying focused on what we are doing every day."
LEDAY, ZACH
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"We just wanted to come out and get stops. We knew that they play hard, they've been winning all year. We wanted to protect our home floor, get stops, and it ended up helping us cruise to the win. It is good to be 2-0 against Bayern, but we got more work to do. There are a lot of good teams out there, and we got to keep on working every day and keep on getting better."