Armani Milan made it three wins out of three in the early stages of pre-season friendly games as EuroLeague sides across Europe build up momentum ahead of the restart.
The Italian giants defeated Cantu 101-71 on Thursday night in the LBA Supercoppa 2020 Thursday night in Milan, having previously bested Dinamo Sassari and Umana Reyer Venice.
Kevin Punter paced Milan with 17 points. Luigi Datome and Kyle Hines both chipped in 14 points and Davide Moretti had 11.
The bigger picture, however, is the fact that basketball is back in Italy. Having been one of the worst hit nations of the coronavirus, it is great to have the return of basketball and sport in general. And with more sport coming back, you can now benefit by taking advantage of the various promo codes at betfair.
CSKA Moscow opened its slate with a 102-67 victory over Runa Moscow in the Russian capital on Wednesday evening.
The reigning EuroLeague champs unleashed two of their newest stars with Nikola Milutinov scoring 20 points and Toko Shengelia 14.
Mike James was also in top form with 17 points, while Will Clyburn made his return to action after missing most of last season with a torn ACL and produced 9 points and 6 rebounds.
Later Wednesday, FC Barcelona outscored MoraBanc Andorra 24-9 to start the fourth quarter en route to an 90-82 victory in Encamp, Andorra.
It was Barcelona’s first preseason game of the season and the first chance to see Coach Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team in action.
Barcelona debutant Nick Calathes scored 15 points to lead the charge, returnees Nikola Mirotic and Brandon Davies added 11 points each and Rolands Smits scored 10. Haukur Palsson paced Andorra with 19 points.
One EuroLeague side that didn’t fare too well was Bayern Munich, who lost 82-74 to Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana.
Valencia take on Joventut Badalona and Baskonia face San Pablo Burgas in today’s (Friday) friendly games with ASVEL vs Elan Chalon facing off in the French League All-Star game.
Fenerbahce get their campaign rolling on September 1, when they square off against Besiktas behind closed doors at an unannounced venue in Turkey.
The EuroLeague season was halted in March and declared void due to the coronavirus pandemic. All the teams that competed in the EuroLeague last season will play in this upcoming campaign.
The new EuroLeague season is set to commence on October 1 with Barcelona vs CSKA Moscow, Olympiacos vs Zalgiris and Bayern Munich vs Armani Milan the pick of the opening round match ups.
