The Armani milan arrives in good time at Final Four of the Euroligto. The rival of Barça In the semifinals of this Friday (9:00 p.m.) he has won his last eleven matches of the Lega, the last two already in the semifinals of the highest Italian competition, in which he dominates the Reyer Venezia by 2-0.
The second game of the Italian league semifinal series, played on Monday, was a triumphant walk by Armani, who crushed the Reyer Venezia. The meeting ended with a resounding 99-65 favorable to the team of Ettore Messina, who was leading his 100th game in the Lega playoffs.
Malcolm Delaney he led the scoring of the clash with 20 points, all in the first half. The ex of CSKA and from Madrid
Sergio Rodriguez He was the helm of the Milanese team with 14 points and 7 assists.
With an initial set of 23-7, the pupils of Messina They turned their last appointment before the Final Four into a pure procedure, and they have traveled to Cologne knowing that they have the ticket to the final playoff of the Lega practically assured.
Much more complicated had been the first game against him Reyer, in which Armani needed a basket one second from the end of the former Baskonista Shavon shields to decant the balance on its side (81-79).
The Milanese team, which in the quarterfinals had easily gotten rid of the Dolomiti Trento (3-0), is the main seed of the Lega playoff after finishing first the regular phase with a balance of 22-6.
The Armani superiority in Italy, however, has to be taken with a grain of salt when it moves to the European arena. No one forgets the difficulties created by the Bayern Munich in the quarterfinal playoff that gave access to this Euroleague Final Four. The Germans missed the victory in the first match in Milan by conceding a basket to Zach LeDay after a throw-in with one second left (79-78). And then, after placing 2-0 in the series, the Milanese team saw their rival force the fifth game on them.
After 29 years without playing a Final Four, it will be necessary to see how Olimpia Milan mentally manages that situation. Both the technician Ettore Messina like several of his players (Hines, Rodriguez, Datome) They know what it is to win the Euroleague and others, such as the former Barça player Delaney, have already been in previous Final Four. But they are a fairly new team and their competitive DNA is yet to be seen at a top-level event.