Bologna –
At the end of the game against Givova Scafati, valid for the Round 20 of the LBA regular season, these were the words of coach Luca Banchi: “Congratulations to the guys for a game that hid pitfalls. Scafati put on the court especially in the first 10 minutes all their talent and will to rebel against the bad luck that deprived them of Alessandro Gentile on the eve of this game. They proposed extremely versatile and effective quintets, put us in trouble especially with 3-point shooting and proposing a physical game that allowed them to stay in their wake for a good part of the game. I think we managed to get a good performance from everyone, a few hours before the game against Monaco it was not at all obvious to be able to produce this intensity of play. We contained the lost balls in spite of the aggressiveness of our opponents and we slowly found that defensive intensity that we needed to control the pace and limit the advantages they were gaining especially inside the area. We archive this part of the season before break, Coppa Italia and FIBA windows with a success that allows us to look forward to the next commitments with confidence.”
On Dobric and Polonara: “Dobric still looks visibly limp and conditioned to me, I had seen some better signs in training than may have happened in the game. Games are different from training and for someone who has suffered injuries like his it is complex because keeping the joint active is not easy when you play minutes and then sit down. He needs to regain confidence in his movements; he is a player who makes mobility one of his key weapons. As for Shengelia it is a matter of slowly regaining match form, it seems to me there are flashes in which he shows he is on the right track. We look at these days between us and the Italian Cup, then we will have the National windows in which we will have 7 players committed. Not being in top condition is a moment I look at with concern.”
On feelings about the Italian Cup: “Experience teaches me it is a unique and unpredictable competition. We are coming to it with an experience that I hope will give us the knowledge that even if it is elimination in-and-out games we will have to put in the accumulated experience, mutual knowledge and balance that certain levels impose. It is a competition that comes out of any kind of prediction, I won it, lost it in the first round and also lost it in the final. Before we managed to win it with Siena despite dominating in the league we lost it twice before breaking the ice and winning it five consecutive times, four as an assistant and one as a head coach. Every moment is experienced on totally different situations, games that come out of all logic and predictions. You have to have the mental strength to handle emotional spikes. I trust in a healthy group, players who have a good knowledge of each other and who have gone through good and bad moments that I hope have helped build our DNA as a combative and courageous team, and with that bit of recklessness that is needed in these cases. You have to have the strength to approach every single match with humility and determination, we are focused only on Reggio Emilia now, an opponent that beat us badly and that I am convinced we will be able to face with the respect it deserves and the determination that must be part of the baggage of a team like ours.”
