Virtus, second in the standings, begins their tour de force at the beginning of the year well with yet another test of character in front of 10,000 fans at the Segafredo Arena. Without the injured Mickey, Dobric and Cacok, coach Banchi makes the debut of the Croatian pivot Zizic and keeps the other new addition, the Latvian guard Lomasz, on the bench.
Bayern coach Pablo Laso finds Ibaka again, who was decisive in the match a month ago in Bavaria. The great protagonists of a very balanced first quarter are on one side Hackett with 3/3 in triples and on the other Edwards with 4/4 from two. We go to the short break at 22-24. Shengelia and Ibaka also have hot hands, while Belinelli fights with the basket and in the second quarter the guests rise to +6 (25-31). Lundberg disagrees and alone makes the counter-overtaking 7-0. But Edwards remains unstoppable and is already at 16 at halftime at 42-46 with 10 rebounds to 20.
Despite waking up under the scoreboards in the third period, the Black Vu slipped to -9 due to the great shooting precision of Obst and his teammates. Bologna remains in the game thanks to the usual immense Shengelia and the entry into the match of Belinelli. At the last stop the bright scoreboard reads 65-69. Monaco escapes again at +8, a gap mended this time by Hackett, and so we go to a final with heart patients. Cordinier scores the equalizer with a triple and the +2 with a tap-in smash at sidereal height 3 minutes from the end.
From then on the black Vu never looked back and nipped the last comeback attempt 5 seconds from the siren with Lundberg. It ends 85-83 with 18 points from Shengelia, 16 from Belinelli, 15 from Hackett, 11 from Cordinier and 9, but very heavy, from Lundberg. Edwards’ 22 and Ibaka’s 18+13 rebounds are not enough for Bayern. With the ninth victory in a row at home, a coriacea Virtus maintains the solitary second place and flies to Berlin on the wings of enthusiasm.
2024-01-03 21:52:24
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