Italian League Semifinals, Game 2: May 24-25, 2008
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Defending champion Montepaschi Siena and Lottomatica Roma improved to 2-0 in the best-of-five Italian League semifinals with road wins over the weekend. Montepaschi beat Armani Jeans Milano 69-82 Saturday behind Bootsy Thornton's 20 points and Roma bested Air Avellino 78-85 Sunday as David Hawkins netted 19. For Montepaschi, the win was the club's 11th in a row in the playoffs dating back to a semifinal loss against Roma last season. The game was very close for the first half, during which neither team ever led by more than 4 points and the score was 41-42 at halftime. However the third period opened with a 2-14 charge as Ksistof Lavrinovic drilled a pair of triples to take control for good. Lavrinovic added 18 for the winners, Rimas Kaukenas scored 11 in 22 minutes and Ben Eze had 10. Danilo Gallinari led Milano with 18 and Casey Shaw posted 12 off the bench. Montepaschi will have a chance to wrap up the series in Siena on Monday. Meanwhile Roma fell behind 26-12 in the opening period, but Ibrahim Jaaber scored all the visitors' points in a 3-11 run that brought his team back. Roberto Gabini soon stepped up, first tying the game from the line and then drilling a three to put Roma ahead. Hawkins made it 38-40 at halftime and back-to-back threes by Roko Ukic and Hawkins increased the advantage to double figures en route to victory. Ukic scored 18 for Roma, Erazem Lorbek added 14 points and 9 rebounds, Jaaber had 13 and 9 and Gabini finished with 12 points. Marques Green recorded 17 points and dished 10 assists in defeat.
| Semifinal Playoffs, best of 5 games |
| Record | Team | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | | 2 | Montepaschi Siena (1) | 75 | 82 | May 26 | *May 28 | *May 30 | | 0 | AJ Milano (5) | 71 | 69 | - | - | - | | 2 | Lottomatica Roma (2) | 68 | 85 | May 27 | *May 29 | *May 31 | | 0 | Air Avellino (3) | 63 | 78 | - | - | - |
| Semifinal games | | Game 1 | Montepaschi Siena vs. AJ Milano | 75-71 | May 22 | | Game 1 | Lottomatica Roma vs. Air Avellino | 68-63 | May 23 | | Game 2 | AJ Milano vs. Montepaschi Siena | 69-82 | May 24 | | Game 2 | Air Avellino vs. Lottomatica Roma | 78-85 | May 25 | | Game 3 | Montepaschi Siena vs. AJ Milano | - | May 26 | | Game 3 | Lottomatica Roma vs. Air Avellino | - | May 27 | | Game 4 | AJ Milano vs. Montepaschi Siena | - | *May 28 | | Game 4 | Air Avellino vs. Lottomatica Roma | - | *May 29 | | Game 5 | Montepaschi Siena vs. AJ Milano | - | *May 30 | | Game 5 | Lottomatica Roma vs. Air Avellino | - | *May 31 |
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