Italy-Turkey result 79-61 at the Trentino Cup, the Azzurri of basketball towards the World Cup – Corriere.it

by Flavio Vanetti

In the second test of preparation for the World Cup (from 25 August, in Manila against Angola) he will continue in Athens: on 9 August the match against Serbia, the day after against Greece.

After the almost successful suicide against Turkey, Italy in basketball played no jokes against China and, by winning the final 79-61, made the Trento tournament its own, the first act of the approach to the World Cup at the end of August in Far East (the Azzurri, we recall, will be in one of the groups in Manila, but the tournament in the qualifying phase will also take place in Indonesia and Japan).

Against the Chinese coached by Sasha Djordjevic, who managed to get expelled at the beginning of the third quarter for having collected a second technical foul, Gianmarco Pozzecco chose the path of experiments under the banner of young quintets. Then, rest shift for two permanent starters (Melli and Fontecchio), minimal employment for Spissu and direction largely delivered to Matteo Spagnolo (excellent in front of what is now his former audience, not staying in Trento next season) and on with exploring the various squad options.

In addition to Spagnolo, the best notes came from Caruso, immediately opposed to the wardrobe by Zhou Qi, an agile 2.16 with good hands (even if he died after a great first half), Diouf, the explosive Procida and, on the front of veterans, by Ricci. China, which thanks also to Wang Zhelin and Zhou Peng able to raise a wall under the basket, was insidious at the start (11-4 the maximum advantage) thanks also to the pace and good speed of execution. But as the minutes went by, Italy grew, working well in defense, and went as far as +17 (40-23, triple from Polonara).

China was no longer dangerous, not even with the experience of its NBA man, the naturalized Kyle Anderson of the Minnesota Timberwolves who is called Likaier on the tank top, and after a jolt (42-35) sank. Spagnolo was also the best Italian scorer (and of the match), with 13 points, followed by Diouf (12), by Caruso and Ricci (11 each) and by Procida (10).

At the end of the match Pozzecco let Riccardo Visconti go free: the player from Pesaro is the first cut in this group which drops from 15 to 14. Two more exclusions will be necessary, which will probably be made official after the match on 13 August in Ravenna, the last in Italy by Gigi Datome: the most suspected are Woldetensae and one between Severini and Procida, with the latter seeing his chances of flying to the Philippines grow.

Meanwhile, on the World Cup front, there is good news for Italy. The Dominican Republic, the second opponent in order of time in the Manila group, should not have two NBA players, Al Horford (Boston Celtics) and Chris Duarte (Sacramento Kings). But it seems confirmed that he will line up Karl Anthony-Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves) and this alone is a big problem, having said that there should also be Lester Quinones (Golden State Warriors) and Justin Minaya (Portland Trail Blazers). In short, the Caribbean national team promises to be a very tough obstacle.

August 5, 2023 (change August 5, 2023 | 23:05)

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2023-08-05 21:05:41
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