The 2015 Serie A basketball playoffs begin tonight and it begins immediately with the super-favorite Milan hosting Bologna at 20 pm, while forty-five minutes later Trento and Sassari will take to the field. So the hunt for EA7 begins, dominating the regular season as predicted and practically "forced" to repeat last year's success, but which several times in the last 12 months has shown that it stops when it's time to put a trophy on the showcase .
In fact, Olimpia fans would have gladly exchanged the 33 consecutive victories at the Forum in the regular season or other records obtained recently with at least one of the three cups (the last two Italian Cups and the Super Cup at the beginning of the season) kindly left in the hands of Sassari (Milan killer on each of the three occasions), but which on paper should instead have ended up fleshing out the Milanese bulletin board after years of lean. Instead, EA7 comes to these playoffs with "only" last year's championship in their pocket (and even in that case they came very close to losing it), but with the confidence of having finished the championship with only 4 defeats (those the opponents would have to inflict them to eliminate her in the semi-final or in the final, when the best of 7 games will be played, and this seems really unlikely) and with all the forecasts in favor to reaffirm the supremacy of the Armani company in Italy.
Woe to underestimating the opponents, however, between confirmations and surprises, some of which come back from a regular season played above expectations and who will face each other in this first round of the playoffs, very balanced and interesting on paper. Of the quarterfinals, the only one with an already written outcome (probable 3-0) should be precisely the one between Milan and Bologna, the match between the two teams with the most championships in Italy (26 for the Lombards and 15 for the Emilians), with Virtus, back in the playoffs after three years of absence (and this is already a great achievement given the initial expectations) which, however, does not seem to have the right weapons to try to counter the battleship of Banchi (which in the last month has added another point guard, Jonathan Tabu, on his roster).
The other three intersections, on the other hand, have every appearance of being exciting and uncertain and could easily take five races to solve. Starting from what the challenger from Milan should come up with in the semifinal, namely the one between Trento and Sassari. The bianconeri, the biggest and most pleasant surprise of the season, in their first experience in the top flight managed to get straight to the playoffs, driven by an amazing Tony Mitchell, elected Mvp of the regular tournament, and thanks to the success against Bologna on the last day they have guaranteed the home factor, which could be decisive in all three challenges of this first round.
Sassari, arrived on equal points, to try to play the role of spoiljoy for Milan again, must therefore first overcome an obstacle that should not be underestimated and this after a less brilliant championship than the last two. Dinamo, which could eventually make use of the experience of matches inside or outside accumulated in recent seasons, in any case will close another memorable year in terms of results, having already won the first two trophies of the season, Super Cup and Cup Italy. The other two quarters, whose first acts will be staged tomorrow evening at the same time, see Venice-Cantù and Reggio Emila-Brindisi facing each other.
The first seems to be the most balanced and unpredictable coupling of all, with Reyer protagonist of her best result in the league since the post-war period (after Milan, first among the others) and who to demonstrate her very serious intentions gave herself an Aradori plus just for the start of these playoffs. But on the other side you will find the former team of his new purchase (later moved to Galatasaray and Estudiantes) and perhaps the toughest that could happen at the moment, Cantù.
The Brianza players went through more than one negative period during the season and, after a good comeback, they had to wait until the last day to detach the pass for the postseason, an objective also achieved (and in some games above all) thanks to the panda's friend , alias Metta World Peace (well, Ron Artest), the former Lakers who arrived three months ago amidst curiosity, doubts and a lot of marketing, but who in the end proved to be a serious athlete and still a decisive player at least at these levels. A really good battle is expected with the home factor which in the end could tip the balance towards the lagoon players.
Home factor that could also be decisive for the last quarter, the one between Reggio Emilia and Brindisi, with the red and whites starting as favourites, having respected the expectations of the beginning of the season and finished in third position, while the Apulian team repeated the super championship of the last year, but now it will be necessary to see how much more he will have and if he will be able to assert his greater athleticism against a team that, in any case, has a longer and more quality squad.
