2020-21Regular SeasonRound 34
AX Armani Exchange Milan 98
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 75
April 09, 2021 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

Milan routes Efes to get home-court in playoffs

In a regular season finale for two playoff-bound teams, AX Armani Exchange Milan rose to the challenge and downed Anadolu Efes Istanbul 98-75 to clinch fourth place in the standings and lock up home-court playoff advantage on Friday night. Milan opened a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter and never allowed Efes closer than 7 points the rest of the night, making sure it will open the playoffs on its home floor. Shavon Shields led Milan with 19 points and Kevin Punter scored 18. Zach LeDay added 15 points, while Vladimir Micov and Jeremy Evens had 10 apiece. Rodrigue Beaubois had 15 points for Efes, Chris Singleton scored 12 and Tibor Pleiss added 11 in a defeat.

The teams traded blows from the start, with Pleiss and Micov each sinking a triple before LeDay and James Anderson did the same. A corner three from Adrien Moerman put Efes up 8-11, but the Micov and Punter answered to put Milan ahead. A triple from Micov, Shields knocked down a pair of mid-range jumpers and Sergio Rodriguez fed Evans for three dunks, including one to end the first quarter 29-19. Shields scored 6 points in a 7-0 Milan run that gave the hosts 36-21 advantage early in the second. Singleton and Bryant Dunston fought for baskets inside and Micic had a pair of layups that cut the difference to 38-29. Punter and Micov restored Milan’s double-digit margin before another dunk from Evans made it 46-31. Efes finished the first half with back-to-back threes from Singleton and Pleiss, making it 49-39 at halftime.

Micic scored twice and served Beaubois for an open corner triple to get Efes within 55-48 after the break. Punter responded with 6 points, including a triple, to get Milan’s margin back to 13 points. Sertac Sanli hit a long jumper and Beaubois had another triple for the visitors, but back-to-back threes from Shields and Rodriguez, followed by a fastbreak dunk from Shields, made it a 20-point game 73-53. Jeff Brooks beat the buzzer to end the third quarter and make it 78-56, before Milan extended it to 26 points early in the fourth. Dogus Balbay and Tolga Gecim cut into the deficit, but LeDay scored 10 consecutive points to extend the margin to 30 points 98-68, before Efes scored the last 7 points of the night.

Home-court clinched

Milan entered the game knowing it needs a win to clinch home-court advantage in the best-of-five playoffs, and delivered by scoring 98 points, tied for the team’s season-high on its home floor.

Key contributor

Sergio Rodriguez did not score until the third quarter, but he did a great job of running the Milan offense, dishing 7 assists in the first half as the hosts took control. Rodriguez finished with a season-high 10 assists, and also had 7 points and 3 steaks in 20 minutes on the floor.

Efficient Milan

Milan finished making 27 of 46 (58.7%) two-pointers in the game and 10 of 20 shots from three-point range. Its 27 two-pointers made tied the team’s season high.

Milan returnees

Just in time for the playoffs, Milan got back Malcolm Delaney and Jeremy Evans. Delaney had 7 points in just under 17 minutes after missing seven games due to a knee surgery. Evans had 10 points plus 7 rebounds in 16 minutes after missing the last three games.

Next up

The next time both of these teams take the EuroLeague floor, it will be for Game 1 of the playoffs which both teams will hosts. Efes as the third seed will face Real Madrid and Milan as the fourth seed will host FC Bayern Munich.

Shavon Shields - AX Armani Exchange Milan - EB20
Friday, April 9, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; VILIUS, GYTIS; CLIVAZ, SEBASTIEN
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan29202920
Anadolu Efes Istanbul19201719
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan29497898
Anadolu Efes Istanbul19395675
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 22:42 18 6/10 1/3 3/3   1 1 2 1 1   1 2 1 13
2 LEDAY, ZACH 24:55 15 0/2 3/5 6/6 3 3 6 1   2 1   2 4 19
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 22:13 10 2/4 2/4   1 2 3   1       1 1 10
9 MORASCHINI, RICCARDO 8:09   0/1           2 1 1     1 1 1
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 20:03 7 2/3 1/2     1 1 10 3 1   1 2 1 16
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 17:00 4 2/5     2 1 3 1         2 1 4
19 BILIGHA, PAUL 6:56 2     2/2           1     1 1 1
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 16:46 7 2/3 0/1 3/5   2 2   1       1 5 10
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 20:37 19 8/9 1/2     2 2 2 1       2   20
32 BROOKS, JEFF 16:50 6 0/2 2/3   1 3 4         1 1   5
40 EVANS, JEREMY 16:04 10 5/5     3 4 7     2     1 1 15
70 DATOME, LUIGI 7:45   0/2       2 2 1         1    
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 98 27/46 10/20 14/16 13 23 36 19 8 8 1 3 17 16 119
        58.7% 50% 87.5%
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
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 LARKIN, SHANE 20:23 6 2/3 0/3 2/2   1 1 1   1       1 4
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 20:16 15 2/4 3/5 2/2 2 1 3 5 1 1 1   2 3 21
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 20:35 12 2/4 2/3 2/2 1 2 3       1   3 4 14
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 10:24 4 1/1   2/2 1 2 3     1     2 1 5
8 GECIM, TOLGA 11:57 2 1/2       1 1     3     1 1 -1
15 SANLI, SERTAC 7:37 2 1/2 0/1         1   1     1   -1
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 19:25 5 1/4 1/2 0/2 2 3 5             1 5
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN 14:26 2 1/1 0/5   1 2 3 4 2       2   4
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 22:42 11 2/5 2/3 1/1   1 1     1     2 1 6
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 22:01 8 4/5       1 1 4 1 3   1 1 4 12
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 20:33 6 0/2 2/4     4 4 2 2 1     1 1 9
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 9:41 2 1/2     1   1       1   1   2
Team           3   3               3
Totals 200:00 75 18/35 10/26 9/11 11 18 29 17 6 12 3 1 16 17 83
        51.4% 38.5% 81.8%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan

“This was a strange game. They probably had less motivation than us because they could not move up in the standings, but we played a good game. Even when they put all their starters in the third quarter and they ran with their starters for 10 minutes, we managed to increase the lead. It is something important because we did not have Kyle [Hines]; we played without him for the first time in the EuroLeague. We had Jeremy [Evans] coming back and showing he can really help us. That was the greatest news of the night, together with the comeback of Malcolm [Delaney]. With Malcolm back, everybody goes back to his position. Chacho [Rodriguez] can come off the bench and change the tempo of the game, Malcolm can set the defensive tone at the beginning of the game. All small things go into place, and let's hope this will carry on in the playoffs, which we want to face with poise. Nothing is done. We have a chance, like everyone playing in the playoffs, but that's not enough. It will be very interesting to get back to the playoffs and play.”

“It's been a really good regular season finishing fourth. In such a competitive league where it was necessary to win 19 games to stay in the top eight, it's a great thing. We have to continue to work and hopefully be healthy and ready for the playoffs.”

ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
“I think it is very difficult for us to play basketball with less motivation. And when I saw that with the team, I tried to give more chance to the players that play less minutes in the latter part of the EuroLeague because we had many strong games. Of course, the difference between the teams is Milan had a goal to win the game and secure fourth place, and they played really strong, real basketball. We started very soft in the fourth quarter; they scored 29 points. And the whole game was the same. We played without motivation, we played without defense, and also we played without any organization on offense, completely different than the basketball we played the last three months.

Players

SHIELDS, SHAVON
AX Armani Exchange Milan
“We still have long ways to go, but one of our goals was to get home-court advantage, which we accomplished. So, we move on to our next goal, winning the playoff series.”
EVANS, JEREMY
AX Armani Exchange Milan
“It feels great. That's why I am here, to try to make this team better. To help them get stops and win games. It feels great to beat Efes. It's the last regular season home game, they are a great team, and we just want to build on this for the playoffs.”