Ettore Messina: If we grumble when Shields plays uncertainly, we don’t help him or the team

Sunday was an important day for Olimpia Milano, with their victory over Dinamo Sassari securing first place at the end of the LBA regular season. Olimpia’s forward, Shavon Shields, is at the center of controversy for his reaction to the grumblings from the fans and the subsequent words of coach Ettore Messina.

Shields played for 29 minutes in the match against Dinamo Sassari, scoring 11 points with 4 rebounds and 4 turnovers. However, Shields’ condition is still evolving: the player was out from the third to the twenty-first matchday of the championship, only surpassing 20 minutes in the last seven games. Towards the end of the game with Sassari, some isolated grumbles came from the stands, to which Shields responded with a gesture to silence the fans in the stands.

In the post-game, Ettore Messina, while remembering the great support from the red and white fans during the most difficult phases of the season, wanted to defend his player: “If we grumble when Shields plays uncertainly or struggles, we don’t help him or the team. If we don’t recover him, our chances of winning are very low. We don’t help him, we must encourage him. If I keep him on the court, even more than expected, it’s because I have to do everything to recover him. I ask for cohesion between the team and the fans to understand the difficulties of this guy, after a very long injury. Helping this guy.”

Messina then addressed Shields’ current form, consistently playing over 24 minutes in the last five outings: “On the defensive side, he’s close to what he’s always been, I always give him the most dangerous player to mark. On offense, he lacks confidence because he’s missing explosiveness. He needs a good game. There’s still a week left before Game 1, we hope the series helps him.”