Serie A: Milan and Brescia reach the semi-finals

Bologna, May 24, 2025 – After Trapani Shark, EA7 Emporio Armani Milano and Germani Brescia have also earned their pass to the playoff semifinals of the Serie A basketball championship. Olimpia Milano took advantage of the first match point available and in front of their home crowd at the Unipol Forum, they obtained their second consecutive victory by defeating Dolomiti Energia Trentino 89-82 and closing the series at 3-1 . A victory that was signed by Shavon Shields, a former player of the evening who closed the game by scoring a personal haul of 27 total points, 9 of which were scored in the last 4' of the game . The Danish winger was supported by Leandro Bolmaro with 17 points and the duo formed by Armoni Brooks and Nikola Mirrotic, who scored 14 each. For Trento, who tried not to raise the white flag until the end, Jordan Ford's 19 points, Anthony Lamb's 16 and Myles Cale's 13 were not enough. The personal show of the hero of the evening Shavon Shields took shape already in the second quarter (at the long break he had already scored 18 points), when he began to hammer the opponent's basket together with Brooks and Mirotic, packaging the 28-15 break that was worth the red and white +13 at half time (48-35). Despite the gap to recover, however, Trento did not lose heart and, after the long break, it started grinding out play and baskets again and powerfully responded with a 29-15 sealed by Ford's overtaking basket (64-63 for Trento with 10' to go). The head-to-head then continued with overtaking and counter-overtaking until the final stages, where Shields took the stage again with 9 points in quick succession which, combined with those brought home by Bolmaro and Ricci, delivered the victory and the semifinal to Olimpia. Emotions and twists were not lacking at the PalaTrieste either, where Germani Brescia prevailed over Pallacanestro Trieste by 92-88 after overtime, closing the series at 3-1 . Dragging the white-blues to the semifinal were the magnificent performances of Miro Bilan – fresh winner of the championship MVP award and author of 20 points and 5 rebounds -, Demetre Rivers (19 points) and Jason Burnell (17) . With their backs to the wall after the defeat in game 3 and driven by the verve of Jeff Brooks (21 points) and Denzel Valentine (20), the Giulians tried to accelerate with an 11-0 run between the first and second quarters, in which they also reached a nine-point advantage, which became six at half-time (44-38). Brescia, however, held up to the pressure and, with Della Valle's triples and Rivers' muscular plays, closed the gap, finding parity at 55 and putting the arrow of the overtaking with 10' to go (61-59). Trieste then tried to escape with a 14-2 in the fourth quarter, but did not go beyond +8 with about 4' to go. Even the last attempts to bite the match by the home team were in fact blunted by an unleashed Valle team that scored the new tie at 77-77, which remained unchanged until the fourth siren in a surreal ending marked by a double blackout at the PalaTrieste lighting system. In overtime, however, Brescia had greater clarity starting strong thanks to Bilan and repelling the final assaults by Trieste with free throws by Burnell and Rivers.