The playoffs of the Italian basketball championship kick off today, with two matches scheduled, the final phase of a tournament that has never been balanced and uncertain like this year, with most of the teams forming a large group for almost the entire season a handful of points. Suffice it to say that between Trento, the eighth qualified, and Bologna, last and relegated, it ended up with only 4 victories difference (last year, for example, the distance was 7) and Venice (5th), Pistoia ( 6th) and Sassari (7th) finished all three just two points above Trento. Balance and continuous changes of position which, however, in the end decreed that the same eight players who, after the end of the first leg, had taken part in the Final Eight of the Coppa Italia (later won by Milan) and five were also present to the playoffs of last season (the three novelties are Avellino, Cremona and Pistoia).
Among these, the big favorite, as for three years now, is still EA7 Milano, called not to fail, after the disaster of twelve months ago (one of the three cases in the last ten years in which the first of the regular season at the end did not triumph) and, in particular, even after the wasted opportunity to go all the way in the Eurocup. Milan, which should soon fully recover Alessandro Gentile, is therefore the team to beat and it is really difficult to think of a rival that can overcome them in a best-of-seven series (as they will be in the semi-final and final, while this first round is at the best of five), this despite having played a regular season without ever managing to escape and having finished it yes in first place, but with only one victory more than the second, Reggio Emilia, unlike the furrow it had created in the last two championships (last year +8 over Venice and the one before even +10 over Siena).
These are the pairings of the first round in which the best eight of our Serie A will compete: in the upper part of the board Milan (1)-Trento (8) and Cremona (4)-Venice (5), in the lower part Reggio Emilia (2 )-Sassari (7) and Avellino (3)-Pistoia (6), four crosses to follow, among which the new face-off between Olimpia and the black and white eagles after the Eurocup quarter-final stands out, and the remake of the 2015 championship final between the Emilian and Sardinian teams.
The first to hit the parquet will be the players from Avellino and Pistoia at 18.15pm today, then at 20.45pm it will be the turn of Reggio Emilia and Sassari. In the first pairing, the favorites of the forecast are on the side of the Irpinia team, clearly the best formation in terms of performance from January to today (13 wins in the 15 matches of the second round), who can count on the home factor (and also for this figure they got 13 home hits in 15 games) and a roster with higher offensive quality, in which James Nunnally stands out, the twenty-five-year-old American fullback voted best player of the regular season (ahead of Pascolo from Trento and Simon from Milan), with over 18ppg . On the other hand Pistoia, in its second participation in the postseason in just three years of the top flight, which after an excellent start to the season, suffered a decline and had to certify its landing on the last day by winning in Capo d'Orlando (result later proved superfluous given the contemporary ko of Varese). The fate of the Tuscans will depend a lot on the plays of their pivot Alex Kirk, but also on the difficulties of the opponents in conquering the PalaCarrara (in May 2014 Milan lost twice, before winning game 5 and continuing the ride towards the tricolor).
The other quarter-final that begins tonight is certainly the most intriguing and probably also the hardest-fought of this first round on paper, with the two protagonists of last season's final act, perhaps the most beautiful of the last decade, immediately facing each other. Reggio Emilia, which on the last day by winning the derby against Bologna condemned Virtus to relegation, has achieved a historic second place in the regular season and presents itself in these playoffs as the main candidate to reach a hypothetical final against Milan, but for do will have to immediately overcome the most insidious obstacle that could happen to her. The Emilians have had a more regular path and will have home factor on their side, where they have the best record in the league (14-1), so far the player with the best performance has undoubtedly been Pietro Aradori, but for these playoffs they have been recovered from the various physical problems also all the other most important men of the roster, such as Stefano Gentile and the terrible old men Kaukenas-Lavrinovic, ready once again to make available their fundamental talent and experience for Reggio when it starts to get serious. The reigning Italian champions are returning from a fluctuating, almost schizophrenic, regular season to say the least, with 4 wins in the last 5 matches that served to avoid Milan (beaten in a daring way a few days on the siren) in the first round, but the worst classification apart from Venice and Pistoia, arriving with the same points as the Sardinians, will force Dinamo already into a small business, with even the home factor against, if they want to try to defend the historic title conquered twelve months ago. The Sardinian formation this year had such an irregular trend that describing its true potential is risky, it certainly did not show reliability as its strength, but Dinamo in recent years has accustomed us to anything and, led by Logan and with the best attack in the whole championship (over 88 points per game at home), it wouldn't be surprising to see them playing it to the end again this time. Last season the two teams gave us an exciting, almost epic series, the chances that it will be like this again (even without the title up for grabs) are all there.
Then on Sunday it will be the turn of Milan-Trento, for the occasion in Desio at 18.30 (and also game 2 and the eventual game 5 will be played in Brianza, with the Forum first occupied by the party for the 25th anniversary of the trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo and then for the Muse concert) and afterwards we won't move much, given that at 20.30 the other Lombard, Cremona, will host Venice.
Usual great expectation for the debut of EA7, forced to go all the way (but how many times has it been said in the last three years…) and to redeem the European elimination which arrived precisely at the hands of Trento. Olimpia finished the championship with a few defeats too many in the last month, missteps that highlighted some unsolved problems of the red and whites but did not compromise their leadership, and Batista was wisely preserved in the last match, a fundamental element given the shortcomings of Milan under the basket. On the other side there will still be Trento, which in recent days has seen its promising young Flaccadori awarded as the best under 22 in the championship, protagonist of a splendid European adventure that faded to the climax, but which only got the pass for these playoffs at the last day, despite the knockout on the Caserta field (and thanking Cantù who, by winning the derby against Varese, ousted the latter from the games). After the risk of ending the season early, and it would have been unfair given the quality of his basketball, Wright and his teammates will try to ruin Milan's plans again, aware that they have the right weapons. Certainly the Dolomites will fight and sell their skin dearly as they always have, but it is clear that another elimination would be unthinkable for EA7 and with the roster full again it starts under the odds.
Finally, Cremona against Venice, which is the biggest surprise of this championship, with its 38 points, and another which up to now has played a season of 6, with the mathematical qualification only reached on the penultimate day, but which for a few weeks has the coup de force for this final phase has dropped, i.e. the signing of Jeremy Pargo. In fact, if at the beginning of the year we would have given Venice all the favourite, now the forecast is very balanced, with Cremona having the field factor on its side, but it could be the latest arrival to tip the fates on the side of the lagoon, the former NBA and protagonist in Europe with the shirts of Cska Moscow and Maccabi Tel Aviv, finished in China, but now ready to make a difference for Reyer (and from the first outings he has already shown what he is able to do). Two years ago a similar operation with the signing of Vujacic didn't take Venice far, this time the music is different and the prospects for these playoffs with an extra Pargo have changed considerably, but there is a team to overcome that, after starting at the beginning of the year to save herself, having reached this point she has nothing to lose and, having received praise and compliments, she can play with all the serenity of this world.
Playoff scoreboard which, as mentioned, had to wait for the results of the last round, last Wednesday, to be completed, both as regards the exact grid and for the last two places available, which therefore went to Pistoia and Trento, to the detriment of Varese, with the Lombards who a few days earlier had seen the Europe Cup slip from their hands, which went to Frankfurt after an incredible comeback that culminated right at the last minute. A strange season for Varese, but in the end certainly less negative than that of the rivals from Cantù, which even after the arrival of the folkloric new owner Gerasimenko have not been able to change gears. A quiet season, but without peaks, that of Brindisi, while for Pesaro, for a few days bringing up the rear, the arrival of Austin Daye in the middle of the tournament, NBA substitute in San Antonio but absolute star of our last Serie A, was decisive. came to lend a hand to the team where he had played, winning two league titles, his father Darren. Pesaro who managed to save themselves with one match to spare, like Capo d'Orlando, who however finished level on points with the other three teams who fought for permanence in the top flight in the last 40 exciting minutes, with the situations it has changed several times. In the end, Caserta won, thanks to the victory over Trento, and Turin, which only a month ago seemed to be in the worst shape of all, but with the success over Pesaro celebrated a very painful salvation.
The detached ranking has unfortunately doomed Virtus Bologna, the only Italian club that so far had never been relegated on the field (in 2003 it had been disbarred due to financial problems, but two years later it had quickly returned to Serie A) and with 15 league titles on its bulletin board , but who for a few days has had to live with the idea that next year he will play in the minor leagues, even if there is already talk of enrollment problems in Caserta and a possible repechage (Caserta in turn had been repechaged at the beginning of this season due to the bankruptcy of Virtus Roma, but it's not like Bologna's corporate future is much clearer). Virtus Bologna who in the next season could return to play the derby with Fortitudo in A2 (even if the cousins these days are busy in the playoffs trying to climb), a blow to the heart for what was once Basket City and on parquet were the various Rigaudeau, Abbio, Sconochini and Danilovic.
