Reggio Emilia Driven by the home crowd, who turned the Pala Bigi into bedlam, Unahotels won the match against Ge.Vi Napoli 88-74 and qualified, with a day to spare, for the championship playoffs of the basketball championship. The last two appearances of the red and whites in the post season, after the two championship finals lost in 2015 and 2016, respectively against Dinamo Sassari and EA7 Armani Milano, dated back to the 2016/2017 seasons (sixth place final, defeat in the quarterfinals against Avellino ) and 2021/2022 (seventh place and knockout in the quarterfinals against the battleship Milan).
Now Pallacanestro Reggiana is trying again and the objective, to be achieved next Sunday in Sassari, is to present itself with fifth place on the grid, in order to avoid the battleships Bologna and Milan, and the very strong Brescia, in the quarter-finals. In fourth place, it is now certain, there will be Venice and this is the pairing that _ at least on the eve _ appears most affordable for Vitali and his companions.
What mattered, however, was beating Napoli: fresh from a victory in the last four games and with striker Jamar Smith stuck in the pits, Priftis’ team needed to rely on the long players and the usual enthralling warmth of the bigi player to conquer the two points that give it the mathematical certainty of reaching the playoffs.
Now Unahotels is fifth alone, with a two-point advantage over Pistoia and Trentino: in the direct clashes with the two teams Reggio is at 1-1, but is ahead with Pistoia (+12) and behind with Trento (-8). In the event of both teams arriving on equal points, however, there would be a situation of perfect parity in terms of matches won (3 for all teams) but Pistoia, with the 105-80 victory on the Trento pitch, would be fifth, with Reggio sixth and Trento seventh.
These are the possible scenarios:
Reggio wins in Sassari:
Unahotels is fifth, whatever the result of Bologna-Trentino and Pistoia-Varese
Reggio loses to Sassari:
If Pistoia wins and Trento loses, Unahotels is still fifth
If Pistoia loses and Trento wins, Unahotels is sixth
If Pistoia and Trento win, Unahotels finishes the regular season sixth
