Euroleague, endless crisis for Olimpia Milano: Ettore Messina blurts out

Ettore Messina tough after yet another knockout in Euroleague

Olimpia Milano’s consecutive Euroleague losses become nine, after Tuesday night’s knockout at the Forum against a Maccabi Tel Aviv team capable of coming back from -10 in the third period to win 77-71.

At the press conference, Ettore Messina used rather harsh words to explain yet another bad night in a continental season so far below expectations: “Once again, we played a large portion of the game well and then threw it all away. The three things that killed us were fumbles, free throws and avoidable defensive errors in terms of communication, going behind a block against a shooter or conceding an offensive rebound. They are the best team in EuroLeague in offensive rebounds, in that sense in the first half we had done a good job, but not in the second half.”

“We will continue to work to improve,” Messina added. “We have to do that because, even to win in Italy, we will have to do better, we will have to limit turnovers, put up free throws and avoid trivial defensive mistakes. What we are doing in the EuroLeague is not what we do on Sundays in the league, for obvious reasons but it is also true that I see a different team there, one that plays with more confidence. We have a team of mature players, who have never been in such a serious, almost surreal situation, in which of course even the public at the end is disconsolate because at home we haven’t won a game yet.”

“We all have to help each other, knowing that the responsibilities are everyone’s, including our own because we cannot say that we prepare everything well and then the players make mistakes. We are all in the same boat. There will be no interventions, this is the team, sooner or later I hope to see it with Shavon Shields and Kevin Pangos, but right now there is no point in standing around wondering if and where we made mistakes in the construction phase. At the end of the year we will see. I still believe that we can do well, even in the EuroLeague, even if the situation is what it is. On the future? I thought that running away from the boat would not be useful to anyone. We have to keep working, improve, continue the path in Italy, improve in EuroLeague,” concluded the Red Shoes coach.