
Bertram in Greece to close the series with Peristeri: entry to the Champions League Top 16 at stake. Squarcina's words
Fresh from their first seasonal goal with the Coppa Italia Final Eight in their pocket and the related quarterfinal that awaits them at the Inalpi Arena in Turin with the winter queen Germani Brescia, Bertram Derthona immediately has the chance to hit the second goal of their 2024/25. Tomorrow, Tuesday 14 January, at 18:30 Italian time at the Andreas Papandreou Indoor Hall in Peristeri, a municipality in the immediate hinterland of Athens, the black and white team will go hunting for the decisive point against Peristeri Domino's to close the Basketball Champions League Play-In series early and thus obtain for the first time in their history the passage to the Top 16 of the top European competition for FIBA clubs.
With the repeat of the home victory in Game-1 last Tuesday (69-59) the Tortona Lions would gain access to Group I of the second phase, where the already qualified Wurzburg and AEK Athens await them and where Promitheas Patras also has the chance to access tomorrow, awaited by the home match-point in its Play-In against Karsiyaka after having conquered the Turkish field in the first act. By winning in Greece, the team coached by Walter De Raffaele would save itself the effort and the lottery of the "deal" on Wednesday 22 January at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato, thus making an appointment for the European cup on Tuesday 28 January, the start date of the second phase.
THE OPPONENT Coach Georgios Limniatis' Peristeri comes into Game 2 after losing last Saturday's home match against Maroussi (81-86), played behind closed doors, remaining in eighth place in the Greek standings (5 wins and 9 losses) and collecting the fourth consecutive defeat between the championship and BCL. At the beginning of the match they also had to deal with the injury of Avdalas, author of 9 points and 5 assists in 34' in Game 1 in Casale, so the talented 2006 class under observation by the NBA could be doubtful for tomorrow. On the other hand, the Greeks have recovered the experienced American guard Tobin Carberry and inserted the new arrival Serbian-Greek forward Vlado Jankovic.
WHERE TO SEE IT ON TV The race will be broadcast live on DAZN.
STATEMENTS “We are aware that game 2 will be different because they have some injured players back and they will include the new signing Jankovic”, is the assistant coach Iacopo Squarcina to present the Greek trip. “For the type of players who return, however, it changes that their rotations will be longer rather than their way of playing, so we should be better, on a hot court, at imposing a certain type of physicality that allows us to both resist defensively and increase the pace in attack, try to have more possessions, more easy baskets, and force their big men to run the court. All this with the intention of opening up spaces for our outside players, not only for the three-point shot but with the patience to create something more, attacking the area and unloading outside, also finding shots in the first seconds but with the idea of sharing. Peristeri - keep it going - it's a field where you can hear the crowd but we have to be aware that it's a very important match. Also from the point of view of impact, we will need to play on these fields given the period that awaits us. We have to play with the conviction of those who want to close the series by trying to snatch the 2-0 with tooth and nail".