It is a visibly saddened Walter De Raffaele who comments on Cantù’s knockout at the PalaRadi against Vanoli Cremona. The coach, with his usual clarity, recognizes how his team played a good game for long stretches, showing clear ideas and careful preparation, but also admits that some missed passes carried more weight than they should have and ended up costing them dearly.
«There is a lot of bitterness on our part – explains De Raffaele – for a match which, I must say, we played well for long stretches. We implemented things that we had prepared with great diligence, trying to impose our pace and respect the strategies tested during the week. Then, however, there were decisive moments that penalized us: errors, bloody turnovers, moments of inattention that Cremona was able to exploit with great determination.”
The coach identifies the watershed moment of the match on the +11 accumulated by Cantù: «I think the match turned right there. We gave away three balls in a truly naive way and Vanoli found confidence. They believed in it until the end, and they deserve all the credit for how they were able to stay in the game and turn it in their favor.” According to De Raffaele, at that juncture Cantù would have had all it takes to close the match, but the lack of cynicism and control in key moments ended up influencing the final outcome: «More clarity and reliability were needed from more players. Instead I struggled to find points of reference until the last minute.”
The coach underlines how the match was balanced, with constant reversals: «Honestly, it was a match that we won, lost, won again and then lost again. We had important opportunities, but in the end Cremona was very good at reading the game and finalizing the key moments.” De Raffaele also highlights the last possession, fundamental and decisive, which could have changed everything: «We took the last shot trying to exploit Green. It could have gone a thousand ways, but unfortunately it happened that way. These are episodes that weigh on us, but they are part of the game.”
Despite the bitterness over the result, the coach invites the team to draw positive lessons from the match: «We must roll up our sleeves and focus on what went well. There were moments of great intensity, good offensive and defensive solutions, and we must take note of this. At the same time, it is right to also keep the anger for a match that could have ended differently. It’s a push to work even harder and improve in decisive situations.”
De Raffaele closes his speech by underlining how the defeat, although painful, can become a stimulus to face the next matches with greater attention and determination: «When matches like this happen, where everything seems to go against one another and the details decide the result, you have to know how to make the most of what went well. Yes
