Virtus Bologna finished the Euroleague regular season in tenth place, still gaining access to the Play-In, even if now to reach the playoffs two away victories will be needed, the first on the Efes pitch. Unfortunately, the defeat, the seventh in a row, in front of their own fans in the direct clash against Baskonia 95-91 was fatal for Banchi’s team.
By beating the Spaniards, Virtus would have finished in eighth place and would have at least guaranteed themselves a possible second play-off at home, if they had not beaten Maccabi. Unfortunately another defeat came against Baskonia, with Bologna completely collapsing in the standings in the second part of the season.
Luca Banchi analyzed not only the matchbut also the Virtus season: “We are disappointed, certainly, but we must not divert attention from what we did this season. Now we need to regain our concentration for the Play-In.We collect less than we deserve at this time. Behind us in the EuroLeague there are teams with experience, very important budgets and despite everything we have many recriminations. To date, Virtus Bologna is a healthy, serious organization with an incredible fan base that deserved a victory.”
The Virtus coach then also harshly attacks the referees: “A clear foul late on by Howard on Abass, they wanted to make a clear foul without hiding, but it wasn’t whistled. Hackett, Shengelia were treated very badly by the referee. The mismatches on Howard were clear, they made scheduled fouls and didn’t blow the whistle. All this also generated frustration and nervousness in him and for them he conceded good and easy shots on the counterattack.”
In closing, a comment on the match in Istanbul against Efes: “We must transform bitterness into pride, conviction and play with confidence to win in Istanbul. We will need our best match against an Efes in great form.”
2024-04-13 08:37:01
#treated #badly #referees #attention
