Here are Luca Banchi’s full statements after Virtus Bologna’s defeat against Baskonia at the Buesa Arena: «Congratulations to the players, coaches and clubs of Baskonia. They played a great game tonight. But as far as I’m concerned, I think it’s also important to congratulate my players because we got to play this match after a very long season, increasing our team identity, showing that we can really compete. Everyone, on every pitch, against every opponent.
I’ll let everyone judge how much we deserved to be in the top eight. But tonight Baskonia made a superior effort, a better performance, especially in offensive rebounding. And on three points, most of the shots generated from an extra possession were a big regret.”
We move on to the statements in Italian: «The effort produced in the first 20 minutes perhaps deserved an advantage that we were unable to materialize because the signals were already the same, despite the scoring percentages, Baskonia scored many baskets following second opportunities, giving the feeling of being extremely aggressive defensively. It was imaginable after a match where you concede one hundred and thirteen points and a defeat like the one in Belgrade. But we managed to deal with these errors which I hoped we would be able to resolve after the break. Instead, the opponents entered with even more determination.
We perhaps exaggerated their merits with a few too many lost balls and by not being able to control trajectories in these loose ball or rebound situations that could have allowed us to have better opportunities. It’s a bit in their characteristics, they have extremely versatile quintets, very athletic players. I think we did an excellent job on Howard, most of the baskets he scored came from rebounds in which we unfortunately lost contact.”
The path remains: «It’s a fair analysis, yours, which goes beyond the bitterness and tonight’s defeat, which analyzes the path of an entire season, I would like to say the two Euroleague seasons. In my experience, it is rare in my memory to find a program that has been capable of climbing so quickly to the top of national and continental basketball in such a short period of time.
Just look at Virtus’s list of successes, whose current management history dates back only six years, and think that this is the second year of the Euroleague. Yet we are here complaining about not having reached the top eight after 34 regular season games. Then we look back and see which teams we were able to leave behind and for a good part of the season there were still many more. I believe it is right to underline that this is a growing, ascending program, all of this must be a driving force for a club that is making huge sacrifices to try to keep the team at these levels. Remaining among this elite will be crucial.”
The issue of financial fair play was also highlighted: «The club has also demonstrated that it is virtuous in this respect. In short, all the details that seem to project this club onto a continental level.”
2024-04-19 20:57:42
#exaggerated #merits #congratulate #team
