Bologna –
Let everyone decide whether the 1,500 points in a Virtus jersey or Coach Banchi’s “I’d like him to be a bit of an example for everyone, he’s an asset, hold on to him” weighs more.
Alessandro Pajola is both, a fresh 25-year-old here not by chance, not necessarily a mountain of muscle, not necessarily an infallible sniper but a boy turned man with a ‘winning tactical idea. He simply encapsulates today the figure who will have to pilot Virtus to glory, parading as the clean-faced anti-devotee who extends a hand when needed, no longer just in the back where he is often dispatched on the more explosive opposing guard, but also forward, unafraid of an assist, a percussion or a piazzato if the ball is hot.
Long levers of which he does not, however, abuse with only the weapon of anticipation, with no pretensions to minutes or balls, no arrogance in front of more experienced and seasoned colleagues, no prima donna instincts. But when he is needed, he is there. And when she is there, she can be felt. With Sassari sitting for the entire first half he was then called upon to solve a more complicated night than expected, immediately taking the team by the hand in doing all the right things: triples, rebounds, defense and assists. All the way to scoring the final shots. In his 10th season in the HCL, Pajola holds those keys in his pocket that no one else may have today at Arcoveggio in terms of knowledge of the environment.
He climbed the high road of the court, from the gyms of the A2 to that snapshot at the end of the game sitting on the floor at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp with a medal around his neck and Champions, before many others that will see him immortalized among Scudetto, Eurocup, Supercups and MVP titles, that is, the entry into the Rotary of basketball.
Becoming with Fenerbahce, last Nov. 20, the fifth player ever for appearances in a virtussina jersey, “Pajo” today represents the ideal spot for the entire bianconeri timeline branded Segafredo, once called to relieve the bigs, today the big is him.
