Virtus Bologna beats Olimpia Milano in game-1: Shengelia narrates the decisive basket
It was Virtus Bologna that won, at home, the first round (best of five games) of the Scudetto semifinals against Olimpia Milano. The No. 1 seed in the playoffs beat Olimpia Milano 68-67 by a narrow margin, taking advantage of Zach LeDay’s 0/2 from the free throw line and Toko Shengelia″ s subsequent basket with 7″ left to prove decisive.
The Virtus Bologna team was the first seed in the playoffs to win the semifinal.
The Georgian himself, on the sidelines of the final buzzer, told all his excitement: “We won thanks to the team mentality, the ability to get back up after a difficult moment – explained Shengelia -. The victory is not thanks to me but to the team. However, we are only in the first game of the series, we have to keep playing well”.
Shengelia was the best scorer of the game with 18 points, to which he added 4 assists. Also in double figures in points for the Black Vu’s were Clyburn with 13, Akele and Mouhamet with 10. For Olimpia, Shields’ 14, Mirotic’s 12 and Flaccadori’s 10 were not enough. For the Red Shoes it is the first knockout after the two consecutive victories with Trento that allowed them to close the series worth the quarterfinals in their favor.
Virtus Bologna, on the other hand, arrived at the scudetto semifinals on the wings of the painful victory in game-5 against Reyer Venezia: also on that occasion Toko Shengelia took the cover, scoring 7 points in just 3′ of play, entering the decisive phase despite a physical problem. Virtus and Olimpia will face each other in game 2 on Monday, June 2, again at the home of the Felsinians.
