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Italian League Finals, Game 2: June 15, 2007 |
Monster defense over three quarters gave Montepaschi Siena an 86-65 road victory against VidiVici Bologna in Game 2 of the best-of-five Italian League finals that on Friday, leaving the winners a victory away from the title. Montepaschi leads the series 2-0 after blasting open a close game after halftime. Rimantas Kaukenas hit 10 of 11 two-point shots on his way to 23 points for Montepaschi, while four of his teammates followed him in double figures. Joseph Forte scored 16 points, Romain Sato had 10 rebounds to go with his 13, the same amount that Benjamin Eze scored, while Lonny Baxter added 10. Terrell McIntyre spread around 9 assists for the winners. For VidiVici, Guilherme Giovannoni had 15 points, but only 4 after halftime, while Fabio DiBella added 13 and Dusan Vukcevic 10. Montepaschi can clinch its second-ever league title at home in Game 3 on Sunday.
Montepaschi set the defensive tone by racing to an 11-18 advantage after one quarter in which Eze, Romain and Forte were the early protagonists. Montepaschi's lead reached a high of 13-26 early in the second quarter before VidiVici stormed back with Di Bella as the catalyst. Christian Drejer, Giovannoni and Vukcevic joined the rally, then Brett Blizzard and Di Bella hit last-minute triples that shot VidiVici in front 36-34 just before halftime. After that, it was practically all Montepaschi, however. Eze and Sato shared the first 6 points after the break, making it 36-40. After Giovannoni scored for the hosts, Eze added the next 5 points for a 38-45 lead. Kaukenas took over and increased the difference to 51-62 after three quarters. When he and Baxter combined for a 0-8 run early in the final quarter, the outcome was clear at 53-70. Montepaschi's defense took care of the rest. Neither team shot well from long distance, but VidiVici's 3 hits for 25 attempts hurt much more than Montepaschi's 3-for-11. The visitors also outrebounded VidiVici 28-33 and dished almost three times as many assists, 6 to 15.
ITALIAN LEAGUE: Final Playoffs, best of 5 games |
| Record | Team | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | 2 | Montepaschi Siena (1) | 81 | 86 | June 17 | June 19* | June 21* | 0 | VidiVici Bologna (3) | 71 | 65 | - | - | - |
Final Playoffs Games | | Game 1 | Montepaschi Siena vs. VidiVici Bologna | 81-71 | June 13 | | Game 2 | VidiVici Bologna vs. Montepaschi Siena | 65-86 | June 15 | | Game 3 | Montepaschi Siena vs. VidiVici Bologna | - | June 17 | | Game 4 | VidiVici Bologna vs. Montepaschi Siena | - | June 19* | | Game 5 | Montepaschi Siena vs. VidiVici Bologna | - | June 21* |
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Friday, June 15, 2007
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Euroleague.net |
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