Milan leads 2-0 with Reggio, Poeta applauds his team’s cynicism

Olimpia Milano also made Game 2 of the LBA quarterfinals against Reggio Emilia its own 77-65. Among the hosts’ best were Shields with 19 points and Bolmaro with 11. After the game coach Peppe Poeta expressed his satisfaction, “I’m very happy especially with the performance on defense.”

“It was perhaps one of our best defensive games, then we allowed only 6 rebounds on offense, something we had talked about and that had hurt us in game 1. We struggled against the zone, we were stagnant, also a result of the 7/25 from 3 with which we were not opening the box. We need to move the ball more.”

Opponents were tenacious: “Reggio is showing why they had won 10 out of 12 games before the playoffs. We, on the other hand, managed to put in after -2 that cynicism that we often lacked, the lucidity to go to our key players. I want to emphasize, though, that we kept it there with defense.”

Race 3 will be the first in Reggio: “It’s going to be really tough, they’re going to sell their skin dearly. We struggled on offense today, but reacting defensively to safeguard the lead was something I really liked. Diop? He is a guy who plays the right way, as a team spirit,” are the words reported by realolimpiamilano.