2020-21Regular SeasonRound 4
AX Armani Exchange Milan 78
Real Madrid 70
October 16, 2020 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

Rodriguez's career night lifts Milan past Real

AX Armani Exchange Milan stayed undefeated at home by downing Real Madrid 78-70 at Mediolanum Forum on Friday. Milan improved to 3-1 and broke a 14-game losing streak against Real, which dropped to 1-3. Sergio Rodriguez led the winners with 25 points, and Shavon Shields added 19. Trey Thompkins led Real with 15 points. Alberto Abalde scored 14, while Usman Garuba pulled down 11 rebounds for the guests. Real led by double digits at half-time and later used a 0-8 run to get within 66-65 in the final quarter, but Shields and Riccardo Moraschini both struck from downtown in crunch time, allowing Milan to successfully defend its home court.

Carlos Alocen got Real going with a mid-range jumper and Abalde added a three-pointer. Kyle Hines stepped up with a jumper and Malcolm Delaney followed that with a driving layup, but Abalde struck twice from downtown for a 4-11 Real lead. Rodriguez downed a stop-and-pop jumper and fed Moraschini for a dunk, but Thompkins downed back-to-back triples before a buzzer-beating layup by Kaleb Tarczewski fixed the score at 10-19 after 10 minutes. Sergio Llull followed a corner triple with a layup but Tarczewski dunked twice and Luigi Datome scored down low to make it 18-24. Thompkins buried a turnaround jumper and Walter Tavares added an alley-oop slam, before Jeffery Taylor improved Rodriguez's layup with a triple. Shields downed a jumper but Thompkins and Taylor got help from Nico Laprovittola to make the hosts call timeout at 24-38. Datome and Shields tried to change things for Milan and Rodriguez buried one from way downtown to bring Milan closer, 31-42, at halftime. Hines scored down low right after the break, Shields nailed a triple and Rodriguez capped a 7-0 run with a reverse layup, before Facu Campazzo stepped up with a jumper. Moraschini and Abalde traded baskets and Rodriguez got the hosts within 44-46. Abalde scored again but a red-hot Rodriguez struck twice from beyond the arc to complete Milan's comeback, 50-49. Taylor and Laprovittola answered from downtown but Roll and Rodriguez kept their team as close as 54-55 after 30 minutes. Shields took over with a three-point play early in the fourth quarter, before Datome buried consecutive turnaround jumpers to make it 62-55 after a 10-0 run. Thompkins scored around the basket but an unstoppable Shields boosted his team's lead to 66-57. Thompkins and Campazzo fought back with consecutive triples, then Gabriel Deck dunked for a 66-65 Real deficit, after a 0-8 run. Rodriguez and Shields quickly answered, extending Milan's lead to 71-67, and Moraschini sealed the outcome with a corner triple.

Pivotal performer

Sergio Rodriguez had to take extra responsibility against his former team after Malcolm Delaney left the game in the first quarter due to injury. He not disappoint anyone, finishing with 25 points on 4-of-5 two-pointers, 3-of-6 three-pointers and 8-of-8 free throws. He added 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 8 fouls drawn for a PIR of 37 – a new career-high!

Game-changing moment

A three-pointer by Nico Laprovittola gave Real its last lead, 52-55, late in the third quarter. Then Michael Roll beat the third quarter buzzer with a jumper and right after that, Shields got a three-point play and Luigi Datome buried identical consecutive turnaround jumpers in a 10-0 run that gave Milan the lead for good. Three minutes of good defense and excellent offense allowed Milan to shift the game's momentum.

Stellar stats

Milan limited its turnovers to just 8 and Real had almost twice as many, 15. Milan shot much better inside the arc, hitting 22-of-45 two-point shots (48.9%). Real only made 11-of-27 two-point shots (40.7%).

Did you know?

Sergio Llull became the seventh player to reach 3,000 points in EuroLeague history. He entered the game with 2,997 points and buried a corner triple early in the second quarter to reach that milestone. Llull joins a club that already includes Vassilis Spanoulis, Juan Carlos Navarro, Georgios Printezis, Nando De Colo, Paulius Jankunas and longtime teammate Felipe Reyes.

Next game

Milan visits Zenit St Petersburg next Thursday in Round 5, and a day later, on Friday, October 23, Real plays this season’s first Clasico against FC Barcelona at Palau Blaugrana at 21:00 CET.

Sergio Rodriguez - AX Armani Exchange Milan - EB20
Friday, October 16, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: JAVOR, DAMIR; VYKLICKY, ROBERT; KOWALSKI, MARCIN
Attendance: 886
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan10212324
Real Madrid19231315
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan10315478
Real Madrid19425570
AX Armani Exchange Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 LEDAY, ZACH 24:39   0/4 0/1   2 2 4     2   1 3 1 -6
9 MORASCHINI, RICCARDO 24:46 7 2/4 1/2 0/3   2 2   1       2 3 5
10 ROLL, MICHAEL 25:34 4 2/5       1 1   1       2 1 2
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 24:54 25 4/5 3/6 8/8   4 4 7 1 1     3 8 37
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 9:54 8 3/7   2/2 1 2 3     2     3 1 3
19 BILIGHA, PAUL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 4:51 2 1/1 0/1                   1    
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 32:16 19 4/7 2/4 5/5   7 7 2 2 1 1   2 6 29
32 BROOKS, JEFF 3:50                              
42 HINES, KYLE 29:23 4 2/6     1   1   2 2   2 2 2 -1
70 DATOME, LUIGI 19:53 9 4/6 0/3 1/1 1 2 3           2   5
Team           2 3 5               5
Totals 200:00 78 22/45 6/17 16/19 7 23 30 9 7 8 1 3 20 22 79
        48.9% 35.3% 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
Real Madrid
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 CAUSEUR, FABIEN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 13:50   0/1 0/3         1   1     1   -5
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 14:19 14 1/2 3/4 3/4   4 4 1   1   1 3 4 15
7 CAMPAZZO, FACUNDO 22:43 5 1/2 1/4     2 2 3 2 2     5 6 7
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 12:13 7 0/1 1/1 4/4   2 2 1   2     3 5 9
12 ALOCEN, CARLOS 5:04 2 1/1 0/1   1   1 2   2       1 3
14 DECK, GABRIEL 18:21 2 1/3 0/1         1         2 1 -1
16 GARUBA, USMAN 23:03 2 1/2 0/1   3 8 11 1 1 2     1 1 11
22 TAVARES, WALTER 27:37 6 2/4   2/2 1 7 8 1   2 3   1 1 14
23 LLULL, SERGIO 20:41 8 1/5 2/6     1 1 2   2     2   -1
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 27:10 15 3/5 3/6   2 2 4 3         2 1 16
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 14:59 9 0/1 3/3     1 1     1     2   6
Team           2 2 4     2         2
Totals 200:00 70 11/27 13/30 9/10 9 29 38 16 3 17 3 1 22 20 76
        40.7% 43.3% 90%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan

"It was a perfect end, the Cinderella story. We missed three important players and I think the team made a tremendous effort. They have to be extremely proud of themselves. They did it on both ends, taking responsibilities on offense and, I think, passing the ball much better, finding good shots. Our defense was much better. We really had a lot of energy in the second half. What can I tell you? I am extremely happy, like a kid! But I think [Malcolm] Delaney's sprain is serious. He will miss some time, for sure."

"Of course, it is a very important win, a great comeback. I think we started very shy, very insecure, and losing Malcolm put everybody a little bit of depression. But the players have been amazing and I told them in the locker room they have to be extremely proud of themselves and take all the credit for this win because they did it all to beat, of course, one of the strongest candidates to win the EuroLeague."

LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"Congratulations to Milan for the victory. When you look at the stats, I think it is very clear that our turnovers killed us. There is not team that can win with 17 turnovers and that is something we have to improve. We moved the ball well and 16 assists but our ratio is not that good because we turned the ball over too much. I am, for sure, disappointed because we lost the game, but at the same time I saw a lot of good things that the team did, despite those 17 turnovers that were crucial for the result."

Players

RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"We are very happy for the fans, for everybody. We are working well. Big news at home! We are going to have another child, a 'mini-Chacho', so I am very happy. I want to thank my wife for the incredible work she is doing, and happy birthday , Ana - 31 tomorrow! Ciao!"
SHIELDS, SHAVON
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"We just played really well in the second half and showed that we can play with anybody. We need to try to forget the first half and take what we did in the second half into the rest of the season."
GARUBA, USMAN
Real Madrid
"We come away with the taste of defeat but we have to know it is a long season. We have to keep working and think about the next game, which will be tough. We have to keep working and improving every day to reach our goals."