It will be there Deco Metalferro Friends Abruzzo to play the Scudetto final of the Serie A 2022/2023 championship against UnipolSai Briantea84 Cantù, just like in last season’s epilogue. This is the outcome, the most unpredictable possible, of the semifinal that pitted the Abruzzo team led by coach Charles Di Giusto to the team that until two weeks ago had literally dominated the Italian season, the S. Stefano Kos Group: but the victory in game one on Giulianova’s field was the last sharp point of a team that suddenly found itself fragile as a battleship, stripped bare by the match plan and the intensity of the opponents up to the double clamorous home defeat in game two (59-63) and in match three on Saturday March 18 (55-65).
After thirteen consecutive victories then the S. Stefano stops right at the most beautiful, and the merit is all of one Deco Metalferro Friends which seemed destined for a year of transition, after the profound renewal in the roster and the farewell in the summer to some big names. The Abruzzese, on the other hand, grew week after week over a season already enhanced by the success of December in the Super Cup, until they then rose in tone in the playoffs after a limping regular season, eliminating first the Self Millennium of Padua as underdogs and then the only unbeaten up to that moment in Serie A.
Game three in Porto Potenza Picena was the synthesis of progress – both tactically and in terms of awareness of one’s potential, of a team that has become square, defensively prepared, organized in attack and brilliant from a physical point of view in all its key men : after the dominant race two, Matthew Cavagnini he continued to impose his presence under the basket with 17 rebounds captured and 7 very heavy points in the key moment of the match.
But it was above all the Israeli who rose to the next level in the post-season Barbie thing, indisputable mvp of game three with a monster game of 35 points and 12/21 shooting. S. Stefano tried to find the key to a skein lost in game two, but the impression, even during a long-lasting first half in terms of scoring, was that of a team a bit surprised by suddenly finding itself in difficulty : the shooting percentages of the main offensive references never rise (Miceli shoots 5/14, Giaretti 4/13) and when Amicacci puts in the arrow in the second half, even escaping beyond the double-digit advantage, S. Stefano struggles a lot to get back on track.
The game seems to reopen only in the middle of the fourth quarter, with a run of 9 to 1 which brings the hosts back to only one possession away; but just in the moment of maximum effort, a couple of colossal oversights by the defense of S. Stefano give fresh oxygen to Amicacci, who is then good at never looking back until she legitimizes the success with the final 65 to 55.
For S. Stefano now the Final Four of the Coppa Italia becomes the primary objective: appointment on 24 and 25 March in Porto Torres: for the Marches, the semi-final against Self Group Millennium Basket, while UnipolSai Briantea84 Cantù will face Dinamo Lab Banco di Sardinia.
The Scudetto final will instead start on Saturday 15 April at 3 pm with race one in Giulianova; race two on Saturday 22nd April at 2pm in Meda; eventual race three the following day.
Saturday was also played for placements from fifth to ninth place: away success for Self Millennium Basket 73 to 61 on Menarini Florence in race one for the final 5/6 place, while the Pellicanò Pharmacy imposes itself on the field ofSBS Montello 73 to 60 in the first chapter of the clash for seventh place. He finally comeback for the PDM Trevisowhich passes to Porto Torres 62 to 53 overturning the knockout in game one and closing the season in ninth place.
on the cover the Israeli Barbie thing (Amicacci) against the defense of S. Stefano Photocredits: Foto Capone
