right against the most important page of its past, the Reyer Venezia. It won’t be a debut in Desio like others for Walter De Raffaele – he talks about it at length in his conference – and it certainly won’t be a match like others for Cantù.
After the victory in Reggio Emilia, which interrupted a dark streak of nine consecutive defeats, the bar is definitely raised. And this, no need to go around it, is a hexamone. But “impossible” matches, Cantù will be forced to win them. A bit like Varese did in the last round in Milan: who expected it? Here it is: Cantù now needs to take a scalp from a big team, a match to put behind them – maybe not definitively – two months of very thin cows.
At PalaDesio today – a free kick at 8pm – a bandaged Reyer arrives (Nikolic and Bowman out, Horton seems destined for other shores and didn’t play in the EuroCup on Wednesday), but she doesn’t lose ground. Fourth in the standings, they were rested on Sunday, while on Wednesday they won against Cedevita Olimpia Ljubljana, demonstrating that – despite changing skin – they know how to maintain a winning structure.
A sign of the great work done, not since yesterday, by coach Neven Spahija and of the excellent game system built in recent years.
Venezia is in fact the team with the best attack in the championship, the first in terms of average rating and the one that shoots from the field with the highest percentage. Add to these records also the two second places in others in the assists and rebounds ranking.
Cantù seems doomed, but beware of underestimating the energy that an important victory like the one in Reggio Emilia can give. Whether it was the “sliding door” of the season, only time will tell. Certainly, the hand of the new coach has been partly seen, and after a week of work there is a few more grains to be expected. Highly anticipated, more than others, is Grant Basile who – after asking his girlfriend for her hand on the lakeside in Lugano – and after a week of hard training, must show progress. And it cannot fail to be the challenge of Andrea De Nicolao, who will have his brother Giovanni in front of him. He played in Venice from 2017 to 2024, a club where he is second all-time for appearances with 380 games played and the best assist-man in history with 648 successful passes. With Venezia, he won the 2019 Scudetto, the 2020 Italian Cup and the 2018 Europe Cup.
Also former, but with less history, is Riccardo Moraschini, in Venice in the 2022/23 season, averaging 5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 28 appearances.
Meanwhile, the match between Cantù and Venezia, which will open the eighteenth matchday today with Tortona-Udine, will be the ninety-first match between the teams. Cantù is ahead 56-34 overall, but Reyer has won the last three matches: Cantù’s last home success against the lagoon players dates back to six years ago (81-77). Finally, the head-to-head match between the two coaches, Walter De Raffaele and Neven Spahija, sees the coach from Cantù ahead 4-2.
