Magic by Kamar Baldwin 2″ from the siren! Trento scores a big hit and Olimpia Milano cold 85-84 in game 1

ASSAGO FORUM (MI) – With ten seconds on the clock and a point to recover, Trento chooses to go all-in from its great offensive leader. Just like, a few moments earlier, he had done Milan by savoring a fleeting overtaking with a 2/2 from the line by Shavon Shields. Olimpia would still have a foul to spend. But he chooses not to. Fearing, perhaps, mockery in shooting action. The 1v1 defense of Stefano Tonut it is masterful. But, you know. A great offense always beats a great defense. And theand-one with which Kamar Baldwin burns the retina with a pull-ups artistic from four meters is worth overtaking, game and 1-0 in the series.

Trento exits the Forum with the first shot of the post-season. He does so by erasing the gloomy 0-3 in the previous seasons with Milan. And he does it with merit. Demonstrating that under the embers of the two knockouts in the championship, gained at the end of hard fought and close matches, there was a team capable of undermining the reigning champions. Also with a completely emptied front courtwithout Grazulis, Udom and Niang, and patched up with the last-minute signing of Daulton Hommes.

Trento wins with the man you don’t expect. A Derek Cooke from 21+8 rebounds off the bench, his best performance of the season hands down, very low. His nailed on alley-oop they awaken the Eagle from -13 collected at the end of the first quarter. And his cuts from the weak side, combined with briefs of cunning, they expose serious distractions and disharmonies of a defense that has very little of the real Milan.

Olimpia concedes 69 points in the first three quarters. Gloating about the 32-21 with which he seems to take control of the match thanks to the dazzling shot 5/5 from the arc starting. But, in the next three periods, the heavy shooting only produced 6 more points. Fruit of a ravine 2/19. Making the team sink back into the now atavistic difficulties in the construction and implementation phase. Even with the return of Billy Baron, hidden until the end, but revealed – as expected – to be a purely psychological move and an end in itself. If not destabilizing for a team that never (practically) had him for the entire season.

The intensity of the Messina team is low. So much so that, for a good thirty minutes, it’s hard to realize that you’re facing a playoff game. Trento, back in the wake of Cooke’s play, also finds rhythm on the outside. From the always heroic Toto Forray (10), to a few scattered shots of Prentiss Hubb (10+6 assists), to isolations from hero ball Of Kamar Baldwin (17).

The quality rate of the game is low. But Trento flies on +7 spearing a lame and broken Olimpia insideas demonstrated by the violent disagreement between Kyle Hines, strangely lost, and Ettore Messina. Yet Milan, on the verge of sinking, turns it around with a counterbreak of 9-0 built entirely in the bezel. And, from there, it’s point-to-point until the end. Almost systemless, without game construction. Milan is at a standstill. Self-limited in putting the ball in Shields’ hands. Trento doesn’t do much better. But she survives on a couple of flicks of singles, from Baldwin to Hubb. Including what the winning basket 2″ from the siren is worth.

• Milan: Tonut 8, Melli 8, Napier 14, Shields 27, Mirotic 13; Baron 5, Ricci, Flaccadori, Hall 5, Hines 4. Ne: Bortolani, Caruso. All.: Messina.
• Trent: Alviti 6, Forray 10, Biligha 7, Mooney 3, Baldwin 17; Ellis 6, Hubb 10, Conti, Cooke 21, Hommes 5. Ne: Diarra. All.: Galbiati.