It will be a semi-final of the Italian Cup with considerable basketball content and the accounts still to be settled the one that will confront Bertram Derthona and Virtus Bologna tonight (duo at 21, live TV on Rai Sport HD and Eurosport 2, streaming on Discovery +).
In fact, among the teams that have performed so far and victorious from the parquet of the Vitrifrigo Arena, the newly promoted led by Marco Ramondino and the battleship directed by Sergio Scariolo have proved to be among the most brilliant in terms of performance, for almost all the 40 ‘and in every area. of the game.
However, the third match of the season between the lions and the black “Vu” will not only be an interesting challenge in strictly technical terms. Precisely by virtue of its seriality, there will also be a pinch of healthy sporting rivalry to animate the hostilities in Pesaro.
Bertram (still without Wright and probably Tavernelli) will be pleased to make up for the rudeness suffered in the previous match from inside or outside against the Bolognese (the quarter-finals of the Super Cup). On the other hand, Tortona’s name evokes the most recent blow to Casale in the first leg of the championship, a defeat that coach Scariolo kept reminding his team shortly after beating Brindisi in the quarter-finals (“We have great respect for them , they gave us a nice refresher a few months ago “). “It is clear that a very high level commitment awaits us, perhaps the highest in the Italian panorama together with that of Olimpia Milano”, thus presents match coach Ramondino. “When confronted with it, a large part of the work consists in concentrating on one’s game, which for us means moving the ball in attack involving all the players and maintaining a certain defensive balance – continues Ramondino -, knowing that a team like Virtus it can never be turned off completely. We have to accept some limits that we can suffer in terms of physical mismatch and style of play ».
The many merits of Tortona’s assertion on Trieste are still well engraved in the memory: the offensive effectiveness of Sanders, Macura and Daum, the ability to regain their defensive solidity in the area and the best rebound reactivity after a contracted start to the match, the impact of the men who came off the bench. Equally fresh in the minds of the fans are the qualities expressed by Scariolo’s troop against the Happy Casa: Belinelli and Teodosic on the shields with their mix of talent and experience, the long Sampson and Jaiteh essential with their defensive work near the iron, Weems universal for productivity throughout the field, Pajola and Alibegovic with precious complementary contributions to the Segafredo cause. “It will be a very different team from that seen in previous matches, even if only by virtue of the players present on the scoresheet today, at the time instead absent or in a different physical condition”, explains Ramondino, and again: “They are evolving and have many faces that they can show during the match, depending on the interpreters on the pitch ». “Virtus’ luNghi are excellent players, very physical, but I don’t think our game plan changes according to this or other aspects – says the Tortona center Tyler Cain – we are built to be a team that moves the ball well and opens the defended from one side to the other, attacking in various ways and with numerous guns ».