Olimpia Milano withstands comeback and beats Olympiacos: Peppe Poeta explains key to success

In spite of 52 points in two from Peters (27) and Dorsey (25) and a mighty comeback attempt in the last period by Olympiacos (as many as 31 points scored in the final ten minutes), Olimpia Milano emerged victorious from the Assago Forum, with an 88-87 win that is worth its sixth win of the season in the Euroleague and its presence in the lot of teams in the play-in zone along with Valencia, Munich and Fenerbahce. Ellis was Milan’s top scorer, with 16 points.

Absent due to the flu Ettore Messina, it was his assistant Peppe Poeta who answered reporters’ questions at the end of the game: “I’m delighted, it was an incredible game – he said -. We shot well and moved the ball just as well, against one of the best defenses in this Euroleague. We were in an emergency, they tried to come back at the end but we were effective for the whole 40 minutes”.

“We needed a night like this – Poeta added -The atmosphere was decisive, the crowd was our sixth man. How did we prepare it without Coach Messina? We put the pieces together, he was there in connection during the preparation. I haven&#8217t called him yet tonight but they reported that he was overjoyed”.

For Olimpia Milano, Friday night&#8217s win was the fourth consecutive victory both overall and in the Euroleague. In European competition, the Red Shoes last lost on Oct. 28 to Barcelona, before winning two days later against Paris, on Nov. 7 at home to Anadolu Efes in overtime, on Wednesday 12 against Asvel and tonight against Olympiacos.

The team is now on the road to a fourth consecutive win in the Euroleague.