I mean, we are talking the first-ever Euroleague win on U.S. soil here, come on. Do you want more? Two years ago, Milano opened its Euroleague season in Moscow getting trounced 90-64 by the Russian team, then coached by Ettore Messina.

But luckily one of the great things about basketball is that it really relates to life: two and two do not always add up to four! Milano played a really tough game, exploited a lot of mismatches — especially with Stefano Mancinelli destroying bigger and then slower opponents — and won its most important game since 2005, when they made it to the Italian League finals. Also, Milano followed up on the weekend by beating Benetton, a dangerous Italian League opponent, proving that this season might really be different from the past. Now, they play Olimpia Lubiana in Week 2. If you want to take this game for granted, go ahead. Even before the Slovenians beat Efes Pilsen in the opener, I saw a lot of potential in them, especially at the offensive end. And yes, two and two is not necessarily four…

The Euroleague opener in Athens was an instant classic. If you judge the game by the final score without having witnessed it in person or on TV, you might get the (wrong) impression that it was an easy Olympiacos win. That is not the case at all, despite the Reds pulling away in the fourth quarter. The great news for Olympiacos coach Dusan Ivkovic is that he has quality in great quantity (just read the names comprising the roster). I want to point out Theo Papaloukas playing less than 19 minutes and still being the decisive factor against his former coach, Messina. The same goes for Rasho Nesterovic, another player coached by Messina in the past, who produced a lot in similar playing time (17 minutes). These guys have been there and have done that, so it's no surprise that each can play a key role. But if they really embrace the concept of playing less minutes to provide more energy and a spark, then Olympiacos could be ready to roll.

I'll be watching closely how Olympiacos does in Germany on Wednesday of Week 2, but will be even more curious to see the Spanish derby between Real and Unicaja. I liked a lot Real Madrid's energy in Athens, even if the team still seems to miss "the" guy, the one that takes over down the stretch. Now the "merengues" will play Unicaja, a team that just acquired in Terrell McIntyre one of those rare and precious guys. A guy who can make a difference, like he did in the opener, scoring 7 points and dishing 5 assists in more than 30 minutes — despite a nagging foot problem. Opening Week saw 7 games decided by 15 points or more, a trend I don't expect to be repeated any time in the next future. Actually, only two games were decided by single figures in Week 1. But that doesn't mean at all that you should be disappointed. Again, my advice is not to judge games by the final score or even the boxscore. This Game — yes, with a capital G! — is too good to live it through mere numbers. We are proud to be a sport that adds fuel to barbershop conversations and discussions with statistics, there is nothing wrong with that. I'm really very much into advanced statistics and quantitative analysis. But if you trust those stats too much, you can really be disserved by them. Especially if you think, even only for a minute, that anything can replace the sublime experience of watching a basketball game unfold in front of your eyes.