The words of the two coaches, Napoli’s Igor Milicic and Scafati’s Matteo Boniciolli, after their clash in the thirtieth round of the LBA:
IGOR MILICIC:
“We wanted this victory, we wanted to finish the season well, with our heads held high. It was difficult not to play for something as important as the playoffs, but we are very happy to have closed the season by winning an important derby for our fans against Scafati. We achieved our last goal of the season. At the end of the match there was a great moment for me, great emotion, our fans are fantastic, with them everything is easier. The fans recognized our work, and this was not to be taken for granted. Two weeks ago, someone started circulating false statements and fueled internal nervousness due to incorrect translations. This is dangerous, but this discussion will only concern me. I’m a little sorry about this. I am very happy here, my wife is happy here, there is everything needed to play basketball well here. Everyone made my life here comfortable, the DS, the CEO and the president were amazing. I take full responsibility for these last two months where I could have done something more, just as I take credit for the fantastic months before. I had offers, but I decided to stay here. Maybe not everything was reported in the best way.”
MATTEO BONICIOLLI:
«It was supposed to be a boring match, between two teams who had already achieved each other’s goals. This was not the case: the match was intense, played with such intensity that the public was entertained and we must thank the athletes for this, for the attitude they had on the pitch. We paid for the discontinuity during the same match, a bit like what happened several times during the previous matches and the entire championship, in which we alternated excellent matches with other subpar ones, despite the presence of expert players in the squad. I want to thank the owner Longobardi, who gave me the opportunity to return to coaching in Serie A and to be a supporting actor in this salvation that he and his partners achieved thanks to the economic sacrifices made, so much so as to obtain this historic result of remain in the top flight for the third championship in a row. I tried to do my best, despite having lost, in the moment of our greatest conviction and condition, in just a few days, athletes of the caliber of Logan, Strelnieks and Gentile: it was a technical shock which, despite the economic efforts of the owners, did not we managed to swab. I thank patron Longobardi, with whom I have always had a loyal and open relationship, at times even harsh, but always with respect and in my awareness of being in front of a person who, with his investments, contributes to making Italian basketball important and to allow a small company like Scafati to compete with important metropolises. Our end of the season was evaluated negatively due to the number of games lost, also compared to the relegated clubs, but it must be said that the latter made an effort in the final part of the season obtaining the results that we instead achieved in the first part of the season : therefore in judgments we must be balanced and take into account the entire competitive season as a whole».
