Bertram still travels towards Emilia: tomorrow advance of the seventh round against UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia. The words of coach De Raffaele
Bertram Derthona barely has time to wrap up their fourth matchday before they begin their seventh round campaign. The Bianconeri, fresh from Wednesday night's rescheduled match against league leaders Virtus Segafredo Bologna, immediately travel to Emilia to face UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia in tomorrow's early match at 8:00 PM at the PalaBigi , kicking off the new round of Serie A Unipol.
SIMILARITIES: A "derby" between the only two Italian teams participating in this season's Champions League, both united by dramatic defeats in their last games—Reggio Emilia's 73-70 defeat at Pistoia and Bologna's 85-81 defeat at the hands of Piedmont. Although there are still more than half of the first leg of the group to go, this is a direct clash for both teams aiming for the Coppa Italia Final Eight. The two teams are separated in the standings by two points, with Walter De Raffaele's squad in fourth place with eight points, two more than the Emilians are in seventh place, straddling the playoff zone with Venezia and Pistoia.
FORMER GREATS At Derthona, it will be a special challenge for Leonardo Candi and Arturs Strautins, both with five championships under their belts for the red and whites. Candi's season will be consecutive from 2017 to 2022, while the Latvian, the Bianconeri's man of the moment, will be playing in two different stints (2014-2017 and 2021-23). He began his Italian career in the Reggio youth system and has now become not only Bertram's leading scorer in the league with his 13.8 points per game average, but also one of the best players in the entire Serie A, as demonstrated by his recent MVP award for matchday six.
DE RAFFAELE MAKES 350 The match at the PalaBigi will see the Bertram coach reach a significant milestone, as he will be on the bench for 350 times in the top flight between the regular season and the playoffs, with a list of 2 league titles (plus 1 Italian Cup) limited to Serie A.
FAVORABLE TRADITION Derthona have won all three of their Serie A away matches against Reggio Emilia, with an overall record that sees them clearly ahead 5-1.
WHERE TO WATCH IT ON TV The race will be streamed live on DAZN.
STATEMENTS " We needed to optimize our time to best approach the match. We only really train the day before, so there can't be much preparation," says coach De Raffaele . "Reggio is a team with a lot of talent on the outside, with great ability to create, also with experience with Jamar Smith. They're a team that puts a lot of physicality and a lot of aggression, especially in defense, so ball movement will be crucial, but once again, the idea of knowing the characteristics of the opposing players will be key."
