Milan, 25 May 2024 – Olimpia resists Brescia’s comeback attempt, as in the championship match in April at the Forum, and we take game 1, led by the protagonist you don’t expect: Voigtmann scores 19 points in the red and white stretch of the first 20 minutes and contributes to Milan’s escape, which finds itself at 61 points scored after 2 quarters despite Shields and Mirotic remaining almost completely dry.
Germani increases the defensive intensity only in the second half, but it’s late: Brescia arrives two possessions away and has the triple to make it -2, but it doesn’t go. 33 points from Della Valle are not enough, it ends 95-89.
That was the one from the first half one of the best Olimpia versions of the yearwith many protagonists and a good effort in the two halves of the pitch: after a balanced first quarter in which Tonut was the best on the pitch, the German took charge of the situation.
Milan reached the double-digit lead and he also found many positive things from his bench, without paying too much for the foul problems of Mirotic and Melli. The first half ended with a gap of 12 points between the two teams, with Brescia’s defense conceding 61 points to their opponents and unable to get into the rhythm: the discordant note of this first half of the match is a referee’s measure extremely fiscal and totally unsuitable for a playoff semi-final.
Germani can’t find it back-to-the-basket solutions with Bilan and Burnell and to contrast the physicality of the red and whites: this is evident both at half-time and at the final siren, when the score of rebounds will say 44-30 and the one for offensive rebounds will reward Milan with 15. In the first 20 minutes it is Massinburg who keeps his team there, but the defense is insufficient in 1v1s and on pick and rolls: one cannot think of competing at the Forum by conceding 60 points in a time.
The shock doesn’t even arrive in the second half, with Olimpia reaching +14 and expertly slowing down the pace while keeping the game in hand: the second unit also performed well in this situation, with Hall and Hines making contributions. A sensational Della Valle takes care of keeping Germani there, who no longer makes mistakes from beyond the arc: with two unexpected bombs Brescia is incredibly at -7 in the 30th minute. Milan seems to leave no openings at the beginning of the fourth quarterbut makes the mistake of stopping attacking too soon and Brescia takes advantage of this to attempt a final comeback.
With 2 minutes left Massinburg has a triple to make it -2 and Germani is there in contact: precious plays from Melli are needed to close the contest in Milan’s favor and counter ADV’s offensive prowess. Brescia reaches -4, then capitulates: it ends 95-89. It is certainly the start to the series that Milan was hoping for and with a victory in game 2 the Milanese would get their hands on the semi-final: but Brescia, despite having a clear disadvantage in terms of physicality, can compete and the second half proves it.
Armani Exchange Olimpia Milano 95 – Germani Brescia 89
Partial: 34-29; 27-20; 16-21; 18-19
Progression: 34-29; 61-49; 77-70
The report cards
Germani Brescia
Semaj Christon 5.5: he is not one of those who suffer the greatest defensive difficulties in Brescia’s ranks and in attack he shows himself with a couple of important baskets. Some errors, however, are red penciled: the ball lost on the counterattack in -8 is serious and it is difficult to explain the fact that he always attacks Napier head-on instead of taking him to the low post. Not terrible but a little too intermittently.
Amedeo Della Valle 8.5: after a first half with some difficulty shooting from outside and “only” 13 points, he becomes furious and scores 20 between the third and fourth quarters. Good at taking advantage of the referees’ fiscal measure and earning many free throws (12/12), he puts in the rest with his usual class in the making phase: he finishes with 33 points, 5/11 from 3.
David Cournooh sv: the other guards on the roster are in rhythm and David only plays 4 minutes.
CJ Massinburg 7: in the first half he was practically perfect and invented some long-range shots with which Brescia incredibly managed to remain “only” at -12 in the 20th minute. In the second part of the match he leaves room for Della Valle, who deservedly takes the spotlight: for the former Limoges player it is still a very positive match, even considering that he is not 100% physically. 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4/8 for him.
John Petrucelli 5.5: the defensive effort is of quality, despite a referee’s meter which does not benefit his aggression. Maybe a little less continuous than usual, but still good. Shields and Napier never get into the rhythm in terms of scoring and JP deserves some of the credit: on the other side of the pitch things go very differently. 0/6 from the field… but he was returning from injury and he wasn’t exactly in rhythm.
Jason Burnell 4.5: his game ranges from bad to very bad. He is unable to give that energy and that “competition” from the bench that would be useful in Brescia: he doesn’t make himself felt under the basket, he doesn’t take any rebounds in 9 minutes (Gemrani’s negative carom count can also be explained in this way) and he comes out of this race 1 with his head down. In 48 hours he will definitely play differently.
Nicola Akele 6: he starts in a quintet and doesn’t look out of place. He deserved this trust after the excellent series played with Pistoia and he did not betray it in the 11 minutes on the pitch: perhaps he could also have played a little more. Brescia’s choice to start with a quintet with 4 guards in the fourth quarter when Akele was ready to make his contribution was strange…
Kenny Gabriel 6: he pulls down important rebounds and, even if some closeouts on the perimeter are executed in a rather disjointed way, he makes himself felt enough in the two halves of the court. He hits 2 heavy triples out of 6 attempts, hits 7 caroms and is among the last to give up.
Mike Cobbins 5.5: a couple of jolts in the fourth quarter, when he dunks twice to try to keep Brescia in touch and makes an, unusual for him, 2/2 on free throws. But it’s a bit small: he has to give more energy and impose more physicality on him in the minutes on the pitch.
Miro Bilan 6: the numbers, as almost always happens, are not negative towards him. 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists: but, at least in attack, something was missing from the Šibenik native. As is normal, he is unable to dominate as in the series with Pistoia and his production when playing with his back to the basket is almost nil: considering that in defense he can struggle against Milan’s more mobile quintets, Magro relies on Cobbins in the quarter fourth.
Olimpia Milan
TONUT 7.5: in the first half he furiously attacks Della Valle, putting him in difficulty in attack, and attacks ADV, putting him in difficulty in defense. Then he goes down making some mistakes but becomes important again in the final
MELLI 7.5: first half spent on the bench affected by fouls, but no one noticed given Giovannone’s performance. In the second half he takes charge of every aspect of the game, from the defense on Bilan to the attack where he scores heavy baskets (with the gem of a crazy tap)
NAPIER 6: I liked his first time being tidy and not messy. In the second half there were the first symptoms of fatigue, in the end it derailed with 3-4 choices out of context (entire sectors of the Forum were fainting on the long ball like Bonucci)
RICCI 6.5: he plays little but has time to impact the game with the classic robbery basket and a nice rebounding help.
FLACCADORI 6.5: as soon as he sets foot on the pitch he is already forced to commit fouls to stop his opponents. He struggles to get going but then gets excited in the second half with a triple, Messina leaves him on the pitch and he does well.
HALL 7: at the beginning he too has the mission of piercing the Brescia defense, and he does it with purpose. However, he doesn’t get the shot from outside, and so he continues his work as if he were a Black & Decker, collecting trips to the line and distributing assists
SHIELDS 4: first action, back door by Akele with him distracted as if he were still warming up. A bit of a reflection of his game, always forcing the pick and roll or trying to create situations: against the Brescia defense however, he didn’t get a thing out of the hole
MIROTIC 4: someone of his caliber can’t have a technical whistle blown after a few minutes of the first quarter… he may have been right but he had to end it there… so the game was ruined, because when he came back he was left with nervousness. 3 points and 4 fouls in 8 minutes and Olimpia still won, a good sign.
HINES 7.5: always in the right place at the right time, it’s crazy, even if credit for his baskets also goes to his teammates who looked for him and found him
VOIGTMANN 9: he ends up with 21 points but it seemed like he had scored more, so much so did he dominate this match. He was already playing well as soon as he entered, then he went “in the zone”, as they say in America, and in the second quarter it seemed like he couldn’t make a mistake even if he shot from the subway station. A few physiological errors in the second half but definitely the best of the match.
