Bologna, October 8 –
Coach Luca Banchi spoke in press conference after the game with Varese: “A game that developed on expected rhythms, with expected difficulties due to the characteristics of our opponents who play a different basketball in terms of quintets and individual characteristics. We were consistent and continuous, aspects we need to necessarily work on in order to be able to compete every night, in the league and in the Euroleague, with more or less time to prepare the game. For long stretches tonight we were able to do that, against a team that has extraordinary ballistic effectiveness. Toko’s absence tonight prompted me to propose undersized quintets compared to our habits but we kept a fairly firm line. We file with satisfaction a game that presented several pitfalls. Varese is the only team that plays this type of basketball: this forces us to adapt, playing a high number of possessions. We often maintained a good flow of the game, without getting carried away. The Belinelli-Dunston axis tonight was valuable, especially Marco was able to lead the group as a constant reference but together with him we always managed to come up with solid quintets. Now let’s analyze some aspects to be polished.”
Everyone scored and Iffe came back: “Lundberg will have had reasons to be liked and loved, regardless of what happened. He is having a bit of a moment. Now there is a balance to be redrawn within a technical project that Iffe was not part of before. People’s applause testifies to the sense of belonging, which is not taken for granted even in a square like this. We have to try to make our values combine with basketball consistency: not every night will be like tonight’s, there will always be a fight. We take this win, Iffe’s debut and some signs that may come in handy. Let’s focus on this without going too far, we focus on the next two consecutive and challenging away games.”
