After 24 days the ranking doesn’t lie, even if it hurts to look at it. There Basketball Forlì 2.015 is third to last, in cohabitation with Ruvo di Puglia e the margin for error is now reduced to a minimum. It is not just a question of results, but of signals that are repeated with worrying punctuality. The latest defeat, the one on Saturday in Milan against Urania, was yet another photograph of a team in difficulty when the physical level rises.
Forlì is an experienced team, built to play with order and reading, which pays the price if it has to play three games in eight days. The roster’s deficiencies emerge in moments of greatest intensity; he holds out as long as his energy holds up, then the difficulties become evident and, when the game goes badly, one thing comes back regularly: Too little comes from the bench.
If in the first part of the season the main problem seemed only to be the lack of athleticism under the boards – partly masked by the arrival of Deshawn Stephens – today the biggest problem seems to be another: the low incidence of second lines. Gazzotti, Aradori, Masciadri and Pinza, for different reasons, almost never manage to change the inertia of the races. The points are few, but their contribution in terms of energy, pace and aggression is even more limited. In summary: when the starting quintet takes a breath, Forlì often loses ground.
If the scenario were to be that of the playouts, we would play every three days against teams that may be less elegant, but more used to fighting to survive: teams that are based on deeper rotations, made up of more hardened players, used to playing dirty games. In that context, the current limits would risk weighing like rocks.
Sunday’s match at home against Cento and the following trip to Pistoia represent two crucial pointsnot only for the ranking but for the perception of the future.
The calendar is like an hourglass that flows inexorably. The season enters its toughest phase and Forlì, as it is, can no longer afford to remain breathless.
