It's Tortona again against Virtus Bologna: for Bertram there is the "classic" before diving into the Italian Cup. De Raffaele's words
In four seasons of presence of Bertram in Serie A it has become a great classic of the top championship. Tomorrow, Sunday 9 February, at 19:30 at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato the 22nd challenge in history will take place against Virtus Segafredo Bologna, valid for the 19th day of the Serie A Unipol. The balance is 16-5 for the Virtussini, but some of Derthona's victories have had a significant specific weight, such as in the semi-final of the Coppa Italia 2022 in the absolute rookie year of the Leoni or the two home victories in the playoff series of last season that scared the then number 1 seed on the grid taking it to the decisive game-5. Even in the first leg at the beginning of November in Bologna, the men coached by Walter De Raffaele tried to make their voices heard, having the chance of the overtaking shot with less than ten seconds to go after a great comeback, only to then surrender 85-81 to the current third force in the tournament. With 26 points, Virtus has a 6-point advantage in the standings over Tortona, called first of all to strengthen its eighth place that is worth the playoffs with the 4-point margin over the ninth occupied in tandem by Treviso and Venezia, both of whom will face at home in the return match.
FIELD FACTOR With the help of over three thousand home fans announced, in the presence of a Euroleague team, the Bianconeri from Tortona want to interrupt the streak of 4 defeats between the championship and the Champions League, challenges in which even luck has turned its back on them with a series of point-to-point finals that have rewarded their opponents and with the knee injury that has sidelined Arturs Strautins for the rest of the season, a starter with 11 points and 5 rebounds in 22 minutes on average in the championship. The response that his teammates gave in the midweek Champions League challenge on the field of AEK Athens, lost in the final minute after a long balance, gives encouraging signs of the team's resistance for the challenge against Virtus and for Turin's imminent adventure in the Final Eight of the Coppa Italia, which will be inaugurated precisely from Tortona with the quarter-final next Wednesday at 18 pm against Brescia, with the winner awaited in the semifinal by one between Olimpia Milano and Virtus Bologna.
BOLOGNA The Emilians of the new coach Dusko Ivanovic, who took over from Luca Banchi in December, are also coming off a busy week, characterized by the double home round of the Euroleague against Partizan Belgrade and Paris Basketball, both challenges lost. In the last one against the French on Friday night there was the debut of the newcomer Justin Holiday, a veteran born in '89 with 700 NBA games under his belt, who temporarily took the place of the injured Will Clyburn, who will be absent tomorrow along with the Croatian center Ante Zizic.
STATEMENTS “Virtus certainly needs no introduction, it is a deep team, with Euroleague size”, says coach De Raffaele. "I can't say the similarities and differences between the version with Banchi and the one with Ivanovic, as a basic system I think it has remained more or less the same, Shengelia remains the beacon and an untouchable champion, as we have seen, surrounded by many other great players. And on top of that, now there is the arrival of Justin Holiday. It is a team that defends very hard, that gives you little, for us it will be important to impact in terms of energy, physicality and presence on the rebound, having the stimulus of having great champions in front of us. Without Strautins we lose an Italian player from the starting five, everyone's contribution will be needed and above all everyone is called to a sense of responsibility. We need the physical, mental and technical presence of each player in the squad, we play every three days, with a tight and very difficult schedule, so he will be a fundamental element. The moment is difficult in terms of results but not in terms of performance or competitiveness. The match in Athens was a very solid test, in front of a great team, strong and complete. Of course the group lives this period with great displeasure and desire to rebel, because the commitment is not lacking. We want to bring home some victories, in a very difficult calendar both in the cup, where we had two consecutive away matches, and in the championship, where high-level matches are always played”.
