Bertram faces Napoli for lunch. "They have a lot of points in their hands, so they need to be compact on defense."
It's a typically fiery midday for Bertram Derthona Tortona. In the early game at 12:00 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday, October 25th, of the fifth round of the LBA Serie A SisalClub, the team coached by Mario Fioretti hosts Napoli Basketball at the Nova Arena, one of the six teams trailing undefeated league leaders Virtus Bologna by two points in the standings.
The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Basket and streamed on NOW and LBATV.
How do the two teams arrive?
Derthona's comeback victory over San Pablo Burgos in last Wednesday's BK EuroCup round gave the Bianconeri a boost. They rallied from a 13-point deficit at the start of the second half, even finishing with a comfortable 89-79 lead against one of their main opponents, with whom they could battle throughout the regular season in Group A of the European Cup for a spot in the top four in the standings that will qualify for the playoffs. Now the time has come for the Lions to relaunch their league campaign, where they're coming off a defeat in Reggio Emilia and a home defeat a week ago at the hands of Maxima Roma, with their current record at 1-3.
Napoli, on the other hand, is proving to be the most in-form Italian team in the league and European cups, along with Virtus, with a record of 7 wins out of 8. These are particularly notable in Serie A, at home to Maxima Roma, in Naples against Reggio Emilia, and in Cantù, always coming close to scoring 100 points, a streak interrupted by the only match lost in the last round on their own court at the hands of Milan (82-98). They have a complete run in the EuroCup, however, where they are undefeated and the sole leader of their group, having also survived Wednesday night's marathon at the Alcott Arena against guests Tofas Bursa, defeated in overtime 105-101 with 28 points and 7 of 10 three-pointers from Zac Selijas. The American winger, already faced by Bertram in the BCL with the Germans of Chemnitz, is the best scorer for Naples in the cup with 17.0 points on average, but in the roster coached by former Trapani player Jasmin Repesa it is difficult to choose a dangerous man to focus one's attention on, from point guard Jeff Dowtin (who shares the birthplace of his Juventus counterpart Hubb, Upper Marlboro in Maryland), a player capable of scoring up to 30 points in an NBA game in the 2024/25 season with the Philadelphia jersey, to the former Varese and Trieste guard Markel Brown (68.4% three-point shooting in the league, second overall), to the top scorer of last season's Serie A Jahmi'us Ramsey, formerly of Trieste, up to a whole series of players capable of rising to prominence such as the Australian Jack White and the Italian nationals John Petrucelli and Marco Spissu, former players of the day with his experience in A2 at Derthona in 2015/16.
Previous
There have been 10 top-flight meetings between the teams, all in the last five seasons, with the record tied at 5-5. Home field advantage has significantly influenced the history of the matchup, with the home team winning eight out of ten. Tortona has a 4-1 record in home games against Napoli, while the Campanians are 4-1 away. Last year, Bertram prevailed 2-0 with an 87-76 home win and an 82-76 away win against Napoli.
The preview by Iacopo Squarcina
"Our goal is to build on what we did towards the end of the last game against Burgos ," says the Tortona assistant coach. " In each individual game throughout the entire series of matches played so far, we've had a bit too much variation in toughness and energy. So we need to take confidence in the fact that we can keep our opponents below a certain level of scoring. And against a team that loves to run the court, shoot three-pointers, and raise the tempo, we'll have to be very good at maintaining an even higher level of defensive focus. They have experienced, talented players; we won't have to accept the high-tempo game that Napoli wants to impose."
"There's no one player in particular that's being watched closely. There are many players who can be key players, they have quality and dynamism in all positions, so it will be a game where we need to be very united on all defensive fronts. On offense, we need a game of sharing. Napoli is a very aggressive opponent who will try to push us as far from the basket as possible. We'll have to be good at moving on to the next situation when we can't find an early advantage."
Regarding any potential issues with playing a match at an unusual time for the team, Squarcina clarifies that " it's a time we're used to training during the week, but obviously we'll have to see how much of a competitive advantage a match will have compared to a practice session. We're fortunate that our group always works hard; in this regard, we've never had any lapses. Therefore, we'll have to be good at maintaining a consistently high level of work, even at an unusual time."
AIRC Pink Ribbon Campaign: As has been the case for years in October, this season Derthona Basket will dedicate its game to supporting the AIRC Pink Ribbon Campaign for breast cancer research. The LED graphics and giant screen on the cube will be pink, as will the club's social media profiles. During the game, an awareness video will be projected on the cube, along with a QR code for donations to AIRC.
Shuttles: As with every home match, free shuttles will be available to make it easier to reach the Cittadella dello Sport from the Tortona city center. The two scheduled shuttles will depart from the Movicentro near the train station as usual, at 10:00 a.m., two hours before the match. They will depart every ten minutes, with the last departure scheduled for 12:00 p.m., and will stop in Piazza Allende (Corso Cavour) before reaching the Tortona stadium. For the return journey at the end of the match, the shuttles will depart from the Cittadella at 2:00 p.m., with the last departure scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
