Olimpia Milano, double award for Nicolò Melli
Nicolò Melli, double award
The litmus test from number 9, an authoritative performance useful to start the return leg on the right foot. Nicolò Melli (EA7 Emporio Armani Milano) takes home both the palms of best player and best Italian of the sixteenth round by overcoming in the order Mfiondu Kabengele (Umana Reyer Venezia), Demetre Rivers (Givova Scafati Basket), Achille Polonara (Virtus Segafredo Bologna) and Davide Denegri (Vanoli Basket Cremona).
There are games already written, whose script è consists of a series of plays seen and reviewed, then there are others that keep you glued to the screen from the first to the last second and you wish they would never end. The challenge between EA7 Emporio Armani Milano and Bertram Derthona Tortona clearly gave the second feeling both to the audience seated at the Medionalum Forum and to the TV viewers; all this è could happen thanks to a series of protagonists able to equally divide the space on the stage, giving life to the most beautiful and entertaining match of the weekend. The one who dressed the role of the main character in this pièce è was Nicolò Melli, called upon to open a partial or to close an opposing one, attacking, defending and taking advantage of his tirelessness that inevitably led to victory. In the 25 minutes in which è was employed by coach Ettore Messina, the captain of Olimpia Milano proved his experience, but above all his immense talent: 23 points shooting 10/11 from the field (9/10 from two and 1/1 from three) and 2/3 on the shot clock; to the offensive efficiency he combined the usual defensive substance collecting 8 rebounds and recovering 3 balls in order to total a 36 in the evaluation voice, the highest figure recorded in the sixteenth day of Serie A UnipolSai.
Although the winning basket fell to teammate Devon Hall with a full-speed penetration in the traffic generated by the Piedmontese defense, the 1991 class scored a triple from the pick and pop – on a brilliant assist by Shabazz Napier – in one of the most heartfelt moments of the game, erasing (partially) the guests'umpteenth attempt to get back into the game. It's wrong to be surprised by Melli's prowess, but in a context like Milan in which all players are called upon to raise the bar of their performance, the strong forward originally from Reggio Emilia sets the level of difficulty with which opponents must measure themselves at a level all his own. In Sunday’s contest è he was simply unstoppable against any player defending on him: obliged to play in the low post, he è came out smartly by scoring two points; with the defense totally lined up he è had no problem penetrating and finishing at the iron, sometimes even earning shots from the charity line;; served by the elbow he answered present, as well as he performed with extreme precision moreù defiladed and was ready in tap-in on his teammates’ mistakes. In a no-holds-barred duel concluded in the final seconds, the captain responded present by dragging his team to success, thus confirming fifth place in the standings.
The game against Bertram Derthona Tortona è was for Nicolò Melli the best of his career as far as the evaluation figure is concerned, as the 36 recorded on Sunday represents a new personal best for the class of 1991. In addition to this career high, for the number 9 of the EA7 Emporio Armani Milano è came the best performance of the season in the datum of points scored (23), in the number of shots made and attempted (9/10), in the percentage from the field (90.9%) and in steals (3). This is the fourth game closed in double figures this season, but the first in almost two years (if you count only the regular season) in which he has climbed over 20 points: the last time it happened was on Feb. 5, 2022, when Melli made his career high against Dolomiti Energia Trentino. The Reggio Emilia native is confirmed as the only player of the meneghini to have always started in his 15 league appearances this season, in this span he is recording the following averages: 8.0 points (60.9 percent from two and 42.4 percent from three), 5.7 rebounds, 3.7 fouls conceded, 1.9 assists, +4.2 plus/minus and 12.0 rating in 23.8 minutes per game (fifth most used player of Olimpia Milano).
