Coach Fioretti: "After the Cup and against an opponent like Cremona, it wasn't easy: we're happy to have won."
Mario Fioretti was dreading the match against a team capable of playing atypical basketball, especially after a week off following their Coppa Italia run and the international break. He breathed a sigh of relief when his Bertram Derthona Tortona defeated Vanoli Cremona 85-78 at the Nova Arena after the resumption of the Serie A Unipol season.
We got off to a good start, but then our game was severely impacted by turnovers in the first two quarters, which allowed Cremona to gain confidence in the open court. They did well to capitalize on them, and they did well to be aggressive. We somewhat solved that problem in the second half, but we still struggled to find baskets from outside, and even when we created some good shots, we couldn't convert them. It's not easy to play against Cremona; they have their own unique style of play, with so many unusual starting fives. Coming off the break after the Coppa Italia we had—even though we did everything we could to put it behind us—and finding ourselves facing a truly difficult game makes us even happier to have won it.”
“During the week, the feeling was good. The guys were focused and had done excellent training, but you never know if, when it comes time to compete, you'll be able to turn that work into a solid performance that allows you to bring home the win,” the Tortona coach replied when asked if he had had a good impression during the week without matches. “We were also without Brekkott [Chapman], who took a terrible knock in practice the day before. We'll reevaluate him tomorrow and the day after; yesterday he couldn't even walk due to the hematoma. To make up for his absence, Arturs [Strautins] and Andrea [Pecchia] gave us a big boost on the rebound, and we had to make a virtue of necessity by squeezing Gorham hard.”
Now, another week without games due to a schedule that included an away game in Trapani at the start of the season: "It will be the last time this year we have the opportunity to take a longer break, with a couple of extra days off at the start of the week, and we'll then close it out with a scrimmage against Urania Milano. Therefore, we're trying to take the positives from this further break: get some rest, recover Brekkott, and fix something we have time to fix."
