Nutribullet, Europe sweetest Company in Piraeus: it is in the Top 16

TvB qualifies by winning in Greece even without Sims and Soko. Russell directs, Dimsa and Akele punish, Jones is an octopus

PIRAEUS (Greece)

Winning in the silence of Eirinis kai Filias that saw the best of champions, playing for forty minutes in each zone and without two decisive foreigners can provide the sensations useful to turn a season in the positive. It is too early to affirm it with certainty, but if Nutribullet was looking for answers from herself after the bad somatic and mental language of the defeat suffered in Bologna just a few days earlier, well in the land of Greece she may have found a small solution to her problems. And not only because the 2-0 against Lavrio Megabolt is worth the passage of the round in the Champions League but also (or above all) because for once the team reacted unanimously, compacting, with players completely involved in defensive games even before in offensive ones. After all, the Hellenic enterprise is all here.

Simple to say, much less in practice. Without one of the most dangerous pivots (but only in attack) of the whole Basketball Champions League and without the usual metronome and glue between the departments it was very difficult to predict a favorable result for the Treviso colors. Instead the feat happened, just as the fans hoped it would happen. Indeed, perhaps surprising those who until a few hours before invoked the cut of Aaron Jones who instead in that sports hall that is the copy of the former San Siro Palazzone has shown every known quality: intimidating, present on the passing lines, rebounder, able to exploit the pick’n’roll with friend Russell to sink both hands into the iron. A whole different thing compared to Sims but in a positive way, since Jones is not only the inspirer of the initial break (12-22 with six points in a row by the former Merlins) but he is also the one who double-handed the TvB area forcing the dreaded Kaklamanakis to turn at least five meters offshore.

We needed clear, simple, effective answers from others as well. From Dimsa for example, which had been disastrous in Bologna. And then here he is, bomb on bomb, percussion on percussion, to counter the attempts of the hosts to get back into the score and into the game. And then Imbrò, already the least guilty of all at the Segafredo Arena, which is divided between a thousand areas of the field: he too triple but also assists and defensive rebounds (8 plus one on the opposite side: an enormous amount) to contain Mouratos’ outbursts and the former Trieste Sanders. And obviously Weezy Russell, the little human rocket, impregnable for the Megabolt guards who can only stop him with terminal fouls like that of Williams who at the beginning of the recovery launches the first, overbearing extension of TvB: net unsportsmanlike, two free play and penetration of Dimsa for +14 (38-52).

Obviously woe to be distracted, even if the scarcity of rotations looms and if fatigue appears sooner or later. Sanders and Geromichalos, a 4 perimeter but with the size of a rugby player, seem to reopen the games in three minutes (55-59). It could be the critical moment, the signal of an imminent failure, instead Dimsa invents another bomb, the one on the siren of the third quarter that freezes the already cold atmosphere of Peace and Friendship. It is not the last: in the fourth fraction the Lithuanian still shoots from a distance (61-72), then it’s up to Imbrò (66-77), finally the ball is in the hands of Russell who, free after free, increases self-esteem and safety of the whole Nutribullet. The emblem of the victory, however, arrives at 38 ‘: +11 guest, Jones fails a shot from below but there is an offensive rebound by Dimsa with an attempt by Imbrò from the arc, followed by another error and a smanaccia ball by Jones for Russell who remedies yet another do it in favor. Two out of two by Weezy, +13, game over.

The basketball Champions League for Nutribullet will therefore continue. And it cannot be said that it is not an exceptional result for a company that will celebrate its tenth birthday in July, which was in A2 three years ago and which is based on a consortium system strengthened by sponsors. Now, however, it is among the Top 16 of the competition, arriving among other things through the preliminary round. We cannot stop to enjoy an ephemeral laurel like the scalp of the Lavrio: on Sunday Milan will arrive at Palaverde for another impossible mission, probably still without Sims but perhaps with the recovery of Sokolowski. It would therefore take another miracle to relaunch and move away from the relegation zone: will there be a repeat? –

Federico Bettuzzi