Olimpia Milano, historic milestone for Nicolò Melli
Nicolo Meli’s numbers
In the best offensive performance of the season that allowed EA7 Emporio Armani Milano to largely overcome Carpegna Prosciutto Pesaro in the match valid for the 25th day of Serie A UnipolSai 2022/23 staged at Easter, Nicolò Melli also supported the red and white cause by providing a contribution that, although minimal in terms of scoring, proved to be very significant for him.
The 5 points scored at Vuelle in the 102-70 final, in fact, do not represent and certainly do not even approach the maximum in his career (27 points) in the league sealed by the long Reggio Emilia who, however, with such a haul still managed to take the satisfaction of reaching on Sunday the milestone of 1500 points in Serie A becoming the 26th player, among those currently on the force in our first domestic league, to cross that figure.
Having started the climb with the 29 points he scored in his first half of the season spent under the Madonnina in 2010, the long 1991 class (9.3 point average with 67.8% shooting from two and 43.7 percent from three this year) then hoisted himself up toward the 1,500 mark by racking up 46 points in the second half of the 2010/11 season, 899 points with EA7 from 2011 to 2015 (winning the 2014 Scudetto in the process) and then, before reaching the fateful threshold last weekend, 529 points with Olimpia between last season and the current one.
Considering also the other statistical milestones achieved in the meantime in Serie A by the former Pelicans and Mavericks, it is worth noting that Melli on Sunday became the ninth player among those active in the highest tricolor tournament to combine at least 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds (1503 and 1058 to be precise) and the sixth to add to those values also, at least, 100 stoppages after Tyler Cain (1553 points, 1395 rebounds, 107 stoppages), Mitchell Watt (3065 points, 1387 rebounds, 237 stoppages), Davis Moss (3813points, 1674 rebounds, 107 stoppages), Jeff Brooks (1866 points, 1220 rebounds, 129 stoppages) and his teammate in Milan Gigi Datome (3044 points, 1114 rebounds, 110 stoppages).
