Pordenone or Gardonese. Forty minutes from the end of the Play-Ins, these are Ferrara Basket’s possible opponents in the first round of the playoffs, starting on Wednesday 8 May. The goal of the biancazzurri is to maintain the third place achieved thanks to Sunday’s success against Bergamo, and with two more points in Oderzo Benedetto’s team would be certain of approaching the post-season as third, which would mean having the home field factor in their favor at least in the first round. If it were to confirm its current placement, Ferrara would be sure not to encounter the Sangiorgese bogeyman at least until a possible final, which is why Sunday’s match in the Treviso area takes on significant importance in earning the ‘good’ part of the scoreboard. In the event of a defeat in Oderzo and a simultaneous victory for Bergamo against Fidenza, Drigo and his associates would instead face Pizzighettone in the first round, moving to the side of the draw together with Sangiorgese: a remote but not impossible hypothesis, Ferrara needs to win to stay calm and in that case can afford not to look at the results of the others.
But who is the best opponent to face in the first round? If you look at the precedents, Pordenone (currently sixth) seems to be the most accessible team: the biancazzurri won both the first leg and the second leg, and on a technical level the difference between the two rosters seemed evident. Ferrara displayed its best basketball in front of the Friulian team, and at the Pala Crisafulli achieved a success away from home which paved the way towards winning the post season.
A few more problems, at least on paper, could be created by Gardonese (now seventh and temporarily excluded), who by adding the two matches have demonstrated that they can compete with the Este team: at home the Brescians have built a fort that is difficult to conquer, while in the match of the Bondi Arena they came one step away from the ‘hit’ on the wings of an unstoppable Davico. It’s a team that Ferrara suffers particularly on a physical level, even if it’s true that both times they faced them without Yarbanga: in any case, it would be preferable to avoid them. In the event of finishing in third place and subsequently passing through to the first round of the playoffs, the blue and whites would almost certainly face Fidenza, although they would not be able to count on the field factor. The pairing would leave all predictions open, even more so if we consider the level reached by Ferrara in the last month of competitions: the blue and whites can scare everyone.
Jacopo Cavallini
