At the end of the match against Germani Brescia, valid for the 8th day of the Lega Basket Serie A, these were the words of coach Luca Banchi: “We close this match with great satisfaction for the inevitable difficulties we will have encountered in facing such a ferociously determined and very well prepared opponent, who immediately tried to direct the match along tracks of great athleticism and physicality. We were able to respond, found resources with good continuity beyond some legitimate errors linked to tiredness and lack of clarity, credit must be given to the opponents who played extremely aggressively in a match that was perhaps not easy to referee but also quite difficult to interpret underneath the profile of the referee’s yardstick. A match that was certainly physical and hard-fought, balanced but which we were able to control with good discipline so we close with satisfaction, moving our attention to the next Euroleague match with Fenerbahce.”
On Dunston’s playing time and Lundberg as a point guard: “As for Iffe, I think it’s part of his characteristics, the way he has always played. It may be as it happened against Efes that he, thanks to the emergency of Daniel’s absence, had to play as an alternative to Pajola, but generally he is always supported by one of Alessandro or Daniel. He works as a second ball carrier, this allows us to lighten the pressure and the load on the other two, you have seen the treatment Petrucelli has reserved for our players and therefore have a second setter like him, a role that Smith struggles a bit to interpret because perhaps he is not up to speed both in technical and physical terms but in Iffe’s case this is one of the things he does best. Very valuable in attack for the ability he had to take advantages, a quality that is recognized in him, but his defensive work is not negligible. For good reasons in the match he took care of the wingers who you saw what kind of danger they have on the perimeter, from the talent of Christon and Della Valle to the physicality of Massinburg, Cournooh and Burnell. There was work to do and Iffe did it admirably. As for Bryant, it wasn’t planned that he would have to play but thanks to Jordan’s injury we have some rather obvious rotations. The match, and above all Bilan’s playing time and Cacok’s foul problems convinced me to keep him on the pitch. For us he is a point of reference, I know it’s been many minutes but I saw him prancing around in the locker room, he was ready to change on a pick and roll after the shower. We enjoy the fact that he is a player who is also giving clear signals to his teammates on how we must stay on the pitch to have a future during the season. There will be days in which he will play a little less, now we are in an absolute emergency situation and therefore he, Abi and Toko are called to work overtime.”
On the referee’s yardstick: “For coaches it’s not a particular problem, it certainly complicates everything a bit. I had the opportunity to say it during the break, when the head coach approached Daniel Hackett apologizing for the obvious mistake he made in the third foul. You blew the whistle on him, there’s no point in apologizing. I would like them to become aware of the seriousness of a whistle like that which risks compromising the game of a player who on the other hand has shown incredible solidity, because with three fouls against him he still managed to play a consistent game in the second half, a situation which risks influence you because maybe getting a technical for that foul is the most obvious thing that could happen. I think we need to reflect, tonight on the pitch there were the two teams that shared first place in the standings and the result was a tough, physical and edgy match, and as you underlined with indecipherable refereeing to the detriment first of all of the game, even out of context with what should be the criteria with which we try to protect the game and the players. You have to realize that everything changes, for the coaches it is complex but the most important aspect is for the players, they must be put in a position to express their full potential, we are at the service of the players, not above them. The fact that tonight, in the two teams that shared the place in the standings, we are here talking so much about refereeing is a negative sign. Tonight it was right to talk about Brescia’s great performance, the maturity and physicality with which they played, the match of Massinburg, Petrucelli, Iffe, Dunston and Abass. Not talking about the refereeing would have been the best compliment.
On the team’s clarity in the most difficult moments: “We give credit to the opponent, who, as mentioned, played with great aggression and physicality. We have not always had an adequate quality of execution, we are on the path to types of matches that will be repeated. Here was a Super Cup won on their pitch with a very wide margin, imagine the emotional load and the desire for revenge they had, that match was an episode in itself with many days to prepare for it. It’s not easy, they were tactically very ready to try to limit our game. We found ideas with good continuity, this is the second double week of the season, we came from a match with Milan and Panathinaikos and now we have beaten the top teams in the table, let’s be satisfied.”