Work continues in the gym at Happy Casa Brindisi in view of Sunday’s match against Reyer Venezia (6.15pm). It is the last match of the season that the biancazzurri will play on the woods of the PalaPentassuglia, but above all it is the match (along with next Sunday’s match in Brescia) that they absolutely must win to continue to remain hooked to the salvation train after a perennial chase. For the entire championship the lagoon team has practically sailed in the top quarters of the standings, the value of the orograna team is high and in view of the scudetto playoffs they have already guaranteed themselves the possibility of starting from the fourth place, but still have the chance to reach the last step of the podium. The technical figure of the group led from the bench by coach Neven Spahija there is no discussion. Venezia (36 points scored so far) is the sixth best team in terms of points scored (82.75 on average), first for total rebounds captured (38.2 per game) and for defensive rebounds (28.6), seventh for assists (17.2) and third for overall rating (94.8). Absolutely significant numbers for a group that has guard/wing Rayjon Tucker one of its spearheads (averaging 15 points per game, shooting 58.8% from 2, 37% from distance and 78.7% with the clock stopped, as well as 2.1 assists, 5.7 fouls suffered and 18.7 rating for the US player).
In light of this, Happy Casa Brindisi is awaiting a complex match, the skein of which will be very difficult to unravel. But it has the obligation to do so if it wants to continue to fuel hopes of salvation, which today more than ever remain hanging by a very thin thread. To achieve this, the blue and white will have to play a very careful game on both sides of the pitch, especially in their own half of the pitch where there will be a need to limit Reyer’s offensive potential. To achieve this, coach Dragan Sakota will need all the players at his disposalwithout exception. This happened last Sunday in Pistoia, now we will have to be good at replicating that performance. The situation dictates it, a ranking that still remains deficient imposes it, a chase for third-to-last place dictates which in the event of a misstep the “Southern Star” would see interrupted.
Laquintana and his teammates will have to go back to throwing their hearts over the obstacle, approaching such a complicated match in the best possible way, but above all they will have to think only of themselves without turning their ear to what their direct competitors will do (Pesaro will play at home with Cremona while Treviso will be on stage in Varese). Brindisi will have to take the victory by fighting for every ball, because if he makes a mistake then no result coming from the other fields will be able to help him. It will therefore be another match as if there were no tomorrow, we will have to stay focused and think only about the 40 minutes with Venezia. We will start thinking about the last day, just in case, from Monday. Because now the only thing that matters is beating Venice, otherwise everything else will become useless. Meanwhile, the post-season calendar has been defined in recent hours. The championship playoff quarter-finals (best of five games) will begin on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th May with game 1.
