Two lessons might be drawn from Armani Jeans Milano's 88-76 victory over Virtus Bologna on Saturday.

Olimpia's Massimo Bulleri, the veteran who was crucial to Italy's bronze medal win at EuroBasket 2003 and silver medal triumph at the Olympics in Athens one year later, had a game-high 19 points in the win.

He could be returning to the kind of form that once made him one of the best point guards in Europe and figure in Italy coach Carlo Recalcati's EuroBasket 2007 plans.

"I took advantage of everything that the defense gave us," said Bulleri.

Bulleri, 29, did not play at the FIBA World Championship for the Italians last year.

The other lesson - and Virtus' EuroCup Final Four opponents Azovmash may believe this if they scouted the game - is to stop Travis Best, the Bologna team's veteran American playmaker.

Best played 18 minutes and scored just one point.

"We marked Best out of the game," said Milano coach Aleksandar Djordevic.

"That was our plan - target him from the start and that mission was given to (Kiwane) Garris.

"Best committed two fouls in the first minutes and we managed to stub out the key to Bologna's game plan."