Messina: We earned the right to play the European champion face to face and to enjoy the game

Third is a charm. Olimpia extended its winning streak by beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 83-72. The first half was when the game was conquered because Olimpia, with a 17-2 run, led by as many as 22 points and then never looked back. The first half was impressive, the defense took away pretty much everything from Maccabi, with the exception of some inside plays by Jalen Reynolds and Mathias Lessort, but the league leading scorer entering in the game, Scottie Wilbekin, was limited to two free-throws points. The offense was sharp, too, a lot of players helped, ball movement was excellent and resulted in wide open looks. Malcolm Delaney played a two-way first half: he contained Wilbekin at the defensive end of the floor, set up his teammates and scored 10 points at the other end. Dinos Mitoglou scored 16 points for the night including four threes. Devon Hall built over his consistent play: it was his third straight double figures game to begin his EuroLeague career. Olimpia wanted to control the boards and move the ball and play defense. It did all of this in a commanding first half. “It was the first time we found ourselves with a huge lead at the half – Coach Ettore Messina said – We didn’t handle it very well, we started the second half a little flat, but the defense was there and when we moved the ball we created good shots. It’s good win.” Olimpia improved to 3-0 and now is facing the defending champions of Efes Istanbul on a red-hot Friday night contest. “It’s good we don’t have to worry about how well they are or they aren’t playing, we come off a Final Four experience and we earned the right to play the European champion face to face and to enjoy the game. It’s beautiful,” Coach Messina added.