Johannes Voigtmann and Nico Melli this Thursday stopped a helpless Baskonia that fell in Milan 76-67 in a clash in which the Vitorians failed to overcome their bad start against a diminished Armani on the seventeenth day of the Euroleague.
Technical sheet
- 76 – Armani Miln (20+26+14+16): Flaccadori (14), Hall (-), Melli (21), Voigtmann (19) and Hines (8) – starting five – Poythress (5), Bortolani (5). -), Tonut (7), Baron (-), Kamagate (2) and Caruso (-).
- 67 – Baskonia (12+19+17+19): Miller-McIntyre (4), Marinkovic (10), Dez (-), Sedekerskis (12) and Kotsar (2) – starting five – Chiozza (-), Rogkavopoulos (6), Howard (7), Diop (3), Costello (9) and Moneke (14).
- referees: Mehdi Difallah (France), Gytis Vilius (Lithuania) and Josip Radojkovic (Croatia). They eliminated Costello due to personal fouls (min.39). They called out an unsportsmanlike foul against the visitor Howard (min.23).
- Incidents: Match corresponding to the seventeenth day of the Euroleague played at Mediolanum Forum in Milan.
The Italians managed to lead by 22 points after the break and although the Blaugranas managed to react with less common players, they barely managed to bring the difference below 10 points.
The low outside percentages and the defensive concentration were two factors that marked a match in which the Lombard leaders could not play. On the other hand, men like former basketball player Johannes Voigtmann, with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Nico Melli, with 24 rating credits, appeared to burst the paint of the Catalans, who only found sparks from some players.
The Lombard team entered the game much better with a 14-3 run. The errors of the Baskonistas followed one another on both sides with marking errors and three points in the first five minutes of a match marked by the absence of key players in the premises.
Ettore Messina’s men had more patience in the preparation, while the Blaugranas became obsessed with the triple until they reacted with the entry of Chris Chiozza, who began to distribute the game and Baskonia began to grow.
However, Johannes Voigtmann’s second triple left a 20-12 lead that stopped the push of a Baskonia that went in spurts.
The home team’s defense gave very easy points to a much more intense Milan, which again opened a gap in a start to the second quarter full of Basque errors, which were met by an active Stefano Tonut.
Diego Flaccadori burst in to lead his team in attack, Nico Melli took over and Armani gained more than ten points against a Baskonia that struggled to score and only added to the counterattack.
Vanja Marinkovic was the most inspired Baskonista and avoided a bleed from the locals, who even forgave their rival with errors in several free throws and went ahead with a 46-31, where external success and turnovers made the difference .
Going through the locker room didn’t change the game much. Milan continued to hit comfortably and surpassed 20 points behind on the back of an unleashed Nico Melli and a successful Johannes Voigtmann, who punished a deranged Baskonia again and again, unable to find solutions.
Everything also coincided with Markus Howard’s third personal foul, one of the Basque assets to try to start the comeback. In fact, the Blaugranas took a step forward in defense and posted a 0-12 run, which put them back in the game with ten minutes left, 60-48, with an atypical quintet.
But Baskonia could not maintain the intensity to defend its rim. He was a victim of his mistakes and was not able to close the leaks opened by players like Melli or Flaccadori.
Dusko Ivanovic continued to believe in the men who scored the points against the Italians and although they got closer to ten points again, they missed several clear opportunities to further tighten a score controlled by Armani, who although he lacked success to close the game, appealed to his defense to avoid scares and take the duel 76-67.
