Messina after upsetting Game 3: 'Good offense always beats good defense' / News - Basketnews.com

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AX Armani Exchange Milan might be the team that finished the regular season as one of the most efficient defenses of the Euroleague, but sometimes, even that could not be enough.

Player of the Game EFF 24 Shane Larkin Points 16 Accuracy 5-9 Rebounds 4 Assists 5

Decimated by the late injuries, the Italian team has no other option but to win the next game against Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Istanbul to stay in the playoff series.

Milan's head coach Ettore Messinalamented about the opportunity they missed to make a remarkable comeback for their Final Four prospects.

"We made the same mistakes we did last week," the Italian coach started his post-game speech.

"We came back, we gained momentum, but then in the last minutes, we turned the ball over too much. We created the shots, we were open but we shot with terrible percentages," the legendary specialist explained.

"Shane Larkin and Vasilje Micic made important plays to clinch the win. At the end of the day, good offense always beats good defense," Messina concluded.

The coach gave rather unusually pessimistic statements after the second game about his team’s future in the series but it was clear that Milan will not leave the playoffs without giving a fight.

Now falling 1-2 behind, does the Italian coach still believe that his team stands a chance?

"It is very hard for us to recover from this situation, that’s still the case. I congratulated my team in the locker room because they made a tremendous effort," Messina explained. "In this situation, we needed all of us to be excellent. Less than that would not be enough."

"My team deserves a win," he continued. "I hope that in the next game, we’ll give the same effort and this time, we will not falter in the crucial moments and hit some 3s."

AX Armani Exchange Milan / Schedule

AX Armani Exchange Milan Anadolu Efes Istanbul73-66 Anadolu Efes Istanbul AX Armani Exchange Milan77-65 Anadolu Efes Istanbul AX Armani Exchange MilanThu17:30 AX Armani Exchange Milan Anadolu Efes IstanbulMon21:00

Milan's roster was shortened before the departure to Istanbul, as Nicolo Melli and Malcolm Delaney were ruled out for the series. Besides, Sergio Rodriguez and Luigi Datome were not fully cleared to play.

Unlike Datome, who had to leave the court after a brief cameo appearance, the Spanish veteran guard managed to stay on the court for an extended tenure. He was not efficient though, hitting only 4 out of 12 shots on the field while shooting 1/7 from the three-point zone.

"Chacho [Sergio Rodriguez] gave a great effort. He played 27 minutes today, although he was not the Chacho that you would expect, because of his injury," Messina told the media. "I hope that today’s work will not make his case worse."

"Regarding Gigi Datome, we can only see in tomorrow’s practice whether he can play on Thursday. He only played for 2 minutes, I could not keep him on the court for any more minutes due to his condition," the coach explained.

Despite the good defensive effort, there were only two players in Milan's team to reach double-digit scoring withDevon Hallscoring 16 points andJerian Grantproviding 11. The team will have to find additional firepower in order to take down the fiery Efes offense.

Game 4 of the series is scheduled to take place at 21:00 CET on Thursday in Monaco.

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