The four hits to the buzzer beater launch TvB in the middle of the playoff area. Chillo: “We gave the decisive paw”
/ TREVISO
De ‘Longhi has learned, or is very close to understanding it, the way in which you manage to win games at the last minute. Up to this point in the championship there have been four successes up to five points: against Trento 84-80, against Brescia 94-91, against Varese 80-79 and against Cremona 86-85. On the other hand, the defeats in the same way are as many: against Sassari 93-97, against Trieste 79-84, against Venice 88-86 and against Milan 77-82. Eight in total are not very few, it means that the team still manages, for better or for worse, to get to the end of it. Among the four successes, three arrived after a sudden opponent’s comeback, an increasingly clear sign that De ‘Longhi is unable to maintain conspicuous advantages, even higher than 20 points, gaps that should allow to experience less convulsive and dangerous finales for the coronary arteries. of the fans. Equally clear is that the team is used to doing a certain basketball with a lot of transition and quick shooting, if the pace drops and is forced to play in the middle of the field the maneuver suffers and sometimes it just jams. «Let’s say that in Cremona we put a bit of spice – Matteo Chillo smiles – a great heartache to win at the last second. The fact is that at a certain point we lose fluidity: good for them, of course, but we have become contracted in attack with poor ball circulation, we have stubbornly on certain solutions. Sunday was an extreme episode, other times we were the ones to recover, such as against Reggio Emilia and Fortitudo. In the end, however, the important thing is to win ».
On +23 normally the game must be managed.
“But we don’t have the team capable of managing it. The first half was pretty loose, we played in speed, that is, in the way we like best, and everything was fine, then when Cremona started to make two or three baskets in a row we unconsciously lost confidence, however the ability to give the paw conclusive we had the same ».
Two Americans score 2/12 on the roll, yet you won the same, a sign that you have different resources.
“Logan comes from recovering from an injury and had little training in his legs. He scored the first bombshell but then proved that he still didn’t have the right pace and the necessary confidence. But with someone like him on the pitch, the opponents are still forced to make some adjustments, it works a bit as a deterrent. As for Lockett, he came running, then he was hit by Covid and he too needs time. But he is a guy that I like very much, he always has a positive attitude, in the gym he tries to involve all his teammates, you can see that he is an expert. They will both have to be patient and us with them, it is not easy to recover quickly. In any case we have won three in a row, despite making many mistakes: I would say that things are going quite well. Now we need to work on the problems we have ».
Trieste arrives on Sunday, same points as yours, 22. Playoff playoff?
«Well, we’ll see. I remember the first leg, our bad game, we played really badly. For me on Sunday it would be enough to win even by one point, then if we win by you are even better … ». –