Bologna –
Virtus Segafredo Bologna vs Happy Casa Brindisi. Tip – off, Saturday, May 13, 2023, 8:30 p.m. Virtus Segafredo Arena.
Nove, Eleven Sports and Radio Nettuno Bologna Uno.
Referees: SAHIN T. – ATTARD B. – BORGO C.
Daniel Hackett and Milos Teodosic are among the players summoned.
Tickets online. Ticket office in Constitution Square from 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, May 13.
These are the words of Sergio Scariolo in the pre-game press conference: “We start the play offs coming a bit of a run-up from a physical point of view, but with excellent feelings after this week of work with the team: I believe we are ready. We will have to be, but also aware that there will be a lot of difficulties to overcome, also because there is this very bad sports culture of thinking that things are always easy and taken for granted and that the best team must necessarily win: this is not taken for granted, since if that were the case we would have to withdraw from the championship because theoretically we are not. We have this will to compete at our best but the awareness that we also have physical conditions that still need to be improved is there and will increase as the games go on. Tomorrow the 12 we consider most fit will take the field, although we have made it clear to the team that nothing is set in stone: there may be adjustments due to injuries, hoping there are none, but also of technical and tactical choices based on our form and opponents. We started with a clear definition of roles, rotations and appearances but I reserve the need and the right to make adjustments.
Teodosic? He will be there, although he will obviously have limitations on his employment, but he has such superior intelligence that he will immediately fit into the team dynamics: physically we will have to dose him. His teammates will also have to get used to having him on the court again, and at first maybe it won’t be so easy to be at his pace because we played two months without him: they will have to be ready and also able to cover his weaknesses.
The future? Personally, I am so focused on these playoffs. Rarely have I had so much desire to compete and to win even though we are very conscious of being chasing and we are with all the humility of those who are chasing, so we will face the games one by one: without a doubt we will face each game with maximum concentration and only then think about the next one. When we feel that it is coming back, that we are training well, we will have to have in our heads the knowledge that we cannot fly too high and that difficult moments will come. We will face them with class, maturity, experience and above all as a team because that is the fundamental principle.
Brindisi? A team with a clear vocation in the speed game, second team for the speed and frequency of its possessions, attacks the counterattack well and is excellent in 1v1s both in front of and behind the basket as well as being one of the best offensive rebounding teams. They are also very strong mentally, capable of overturning an outcome as we bitterly remember. They also have great scorers capable of very effective shooting streaks, coached excellently, with some balance inside and out, with roles now well defined so very fearsome.
Our condition must be evaluated more on a collective discourse. Someone in addition to the best form must also recover the best rhythm as for example Isaia who is a player we have missed the most, because he has been out more than anyone else and his absence has been devastating, physically he is well, but he still has to understand well when to accelerate and when to brake: I prefer that he understands when to brake, because a player who gives us so much when he is at his best, that we can tolerate a circumscribable number of errors. Maybe having an extra day to rest helps certain players, but it’s hard to say whether it’s an advantage or a disadvantage, whereas from a tactical point of view you prepare the game in one day. We have been doing games all year long from Friday to Sunday or Thursday to Saturday. But I think the best advice is to think about the first game then if you have two days, one day you can do therapies, work on a tactical level and on the second day have a little bit more energy in training because you have a little bit more gas in the tank.
Other clubs? I asked and informed the club about this interview with the Raptors. The Raptors asked permission from Virtus to carry out this meeting, they arrived yesterday, left this morning. It was a good talk, almost with friends because I won a title with them-I think things were done correctly and in the light of day. Virtus certainly gave their okay, in the NBA no one would ask this kind of question, so high is the habit of professionalism and ethics of each one. I told my players just today that on the day of the European final until just before the game I was following Virtus’ training, sending corrections to my assistants, so my concentration is at its highest here, with great desire and motivation. I feel a good connection with the team, I’m happy with the week and it’s time to have fun, I enjoy competing, I enjoy the moment when you play something, it’s always been my moment, it’s what you want to live for and now it’s here. The future for me is tomorrow, game 1 vs Brindisi.
Centers have given comforting signs, the choices are these, especially between Jaiteh and Mickey we will evaluate tactically and evaluate based on our other four and our opponents, especially in the role of five. I have confidence in Bako, younger with less experience but very useful when called upon. It is not definitive, he is the starting choice, but if he should divelt it means that both have continued to give us good feelings.
About Madrid? I am not saying anything because there is nothing to say.
The general perception? We accept our size with humility and a sense of reality. The size of the rosters is very different and that makes you understand why they are the defending champions, with merit, and why they won the regular season, with merit, and why they are the favorites and why they start ahead of everyone. We have to be very humble and understand that we are starting from behind, with a mountain to climb if we get there, because it seems to me naive and completely out of place, taking into account that you still have to get there so I wouldn’t take everything for granted and already done: I am aware that our head is on Brindisi and I hope it is for the fans as well, who came to motivate us yesterday in a very affectionate and motivating way. Let us very humbly accept, as did our leaders, and I congratulate them, what our size and reality is. After that, let’s focus on Brindisi.
The title? Another title but never another title. Every trophy motivates you: I have won many, but the path to get there is what motivates me. I want the team, to be prepared, to be compact, to be clear on roles, for the team to express beautiful basketball as they did for long stretches of the season, especially when the physical conditions allowed them to do so, and it also motivates me that the players convey confidence in what we do, these are the important things, how you get there. When the time comes we know very well and logic says it, if you are the second team in everybody’s judgment, you have to get to the finals and a dimension that belongs to us, we recognize it, we accept it. After that when we are there, things will be completely different and we will think about it if we have been so good, maybe we are bad or well used to think that it is almost a given, it will not be. It’s all about winning the first game, then the second game and the third game. And then thinking about possibly winning the semifinals.”
