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The Final Eight sprint has begun. Bertram receives the solitary leader Trento: the words of coach De Raffaele

The Final Eight sprint has begun. Bertram receives the solitary leader Trento: the words of coach De Raffaele

2024 is about to end, the Final Eight sprint is instead in full swing. With three rounds to go in the first half of the season of the Unipol Serie A, Bertram Derthona is playing for one of the last four spots still available for the tricolor kermesse in Turin. The decisive rush starts with the toughest opponent to face at the moment, Dolomiti Energia Trentino, no longer surprising as the sole leader of the championship with its 11 victories (the first 10 consecutive) in 12 games, fresh from the pre-Christmas success at home by coming back from -11 at half-time against Virtus Bologna. Only Trapani managed to stop the train that arrived in Sicily from the Dolomites.

Tomorrow, Sunday 29 December, at 16:45, for the thirteenth day on the home parquet of the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato, Tortona will also try, coming from two consecutive victories with Venezia and in Pistoia that have put them back in the “magnificent eight”, in seventh place with 14 points on the eve of the challenge against the leader and the last commitments in Naples and at home with Scafati before the halfway point. Since they have been opponents in Serie A, Derthona has been ahead 11-3 on Trento in the overall direct confrontations between the championship, Coppa Italia and Supercup. A game as a fresh ex for Paul Biligha, who arrived in the summer at Bertram precisely from Trento, with whom he collected 53 appearances between Serie A and Eurocup last season. Tortona will still be without Justin Gorham, struggling with the injury from two weeks ago against Venezia.

BIG MATCH NUMBERS Two of the greatest rebounders in Serie A face off, Trento is the one that wins the most in total (40.2 per game) and Tortona under the opponent's basket (13.4). The Trentino quintet coached by Paolo Galbiati also has the second best attack for points scored with an average of 91.8 thanks above all to the trio composed of Anthony Lamb (LBA vice-top scorer with 18.4 points), Jordan Ford (7th with 16.8) and Myles Cale (13.3), who with his 54.3% is the best three-point shooter of the tournament, contributing to the team record in shooting from beyond the arc (41.9%). Precisely the distance from which Tortona found its form in the victory in Pistoia with its new seasonal record in three-pointers made (15) and percentage with which it put them in (44.1).

STATEMENTS "Trento is among the top teams in the league for rebounds, both total and offensive, so fighting on their rebound presence and impacting their energy level will be essential elements first of all to reduce their second chances and secondly to more effectively counter a team that is playing so well and is leading the league with great merit.", is the coach's comment on the eve of the match Walter De Raffaele. "We come to the challenge with the motivation of those who have to face an opponent who is rightly first in the standings and we come to it in fairly good conditions. Gorham? He is still in the rehabilitation phase and far from being able to think of reinserting him, he will be subjected to a new medical check-up in the middle of next week".