Umana Reyer Venice And UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia this Saturday they will raise the curtain, together with Milan and Trento, on quarter-finals of the 2023-2024 Serie A playoffs.
The two teams will face each other again in the postseason 9 years after those hard-fought championship semi-finals in 2015 which saw the Emilians prevail 4-3 over the lagoon players (coming back from 3-2).
From that moment the history of the two teams has followed two different paths. The following year, UNAHOTELS will reach the championship finals for the second consecutive time, only to then face a downward trend that will lead them to finish above 10th place in the standings for three consecutive seasons (from 2018 to 2021) and saved himself by the skin of his teeth on the last day of the last championship (in between a 7th place in 2022 with exit in the first round of the playoffs). On the other side however Reyer has established itself as one of the best teams in the championship, always finishing within the top 5 positions (and thus reaching the playoffs) for the next 8 seasons.
Reggio Emilia then returns to breathe pure oxygen, finding the playoffs for the second time in the last 6 years, while Venezia confirms itself as one of the teams to beat, even if in the last two years it has not managed to go beyond the quarter-finals.
Umana Reyer Venice: the strength of the group
There Reyer Venice this season he has once again found himself in the strength of the group your best attribute. The massive evolution undergone by the roster has not affected the philosophy of the gold-grenade club, which has been able to build a team full of individually very talented players, but also capable of putting themselves at the service of their teammates and creating a solid team. All under the guidance of an expert and trained coach Neven Spahija.
The lagoon players finished in 4th place in a championship where for several stretches they found themselves in the first two positions, also placing themselves in the very first slots in the rankings of the main statistics: 6th for points scored, 1st for rebounds won, 7th for assists and 4th for points conceded. The roster also has four men in double figures for points scored (and one just below that bar), three players with at least two assists on average (and two others at 1.9) and five players with at least four rebounds captured per game: sign of a team that does not live off a single protagonist, but rather enjoys many arrows in one’s quiver.
Another strong point for Reyer Venezia will certainly be the field factor, considering that Tucker and partners this season have lost only three times in front of friendly audiences. The Taliercio it has always represented a difficult fort to conquer, with the gold-grenade fans who know how to transform the environment into a real bedlam.
UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia: not just Galloway and Hervey
Like its direct opponents, also the UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia found itself with a massively renewed roster compared to last season, and the results have been more than positive. The Emilians have in fact played a high-level season, expressing a lively and very concrete gamealthough perhaps it is not exactly suitable for aesthetes.
On a statistical level, the red and whites did not shine in any particular category (they still appear to be the 7th best defense), but coach Priftis he has a group in his hands where each pawn plays a defined role and is fundamental to the functioning of the system.
UNAHOTELS is therefore not just the duo Galloway-Hervey, who represent leaders at the implementation level. There are the bounces and the energy of Faye And Hatkinsdirected by Weberthe defense of Uglietti And Vital (and of Weber himself, among the best defenders in our league), the experience of Chillo and the bravado of Grant. Without forgetting the unpredictability of Smith, who coming off the bench was among the most impactful players in the LBA. In short, if Venice has a roster of “all-rounders”, Reggio Emilia is a team with more defined roles. The strong point therefore represents the existence of a system that enhances the talents of individualspushing them to do what they do best.
In favour of Galloway and teammates there is also that carefreeness of those who have already achieved their seasonal goal and therefore from here onwards can only play with their heads free from pressure.
Reyer’s statistical leaders Venice and Reggio Emilia
Venice – Tucker 15.0 points; Kabengele 7.4 rebounds; Spissu 3.9 assists
Reggio Emilia – Galloway 16.7 points; Hervey 5.4 rebounds; Weber 3.8 assists
Reyer Venice-Reggio Emilia: the prediction
Let there be Reyer Venice (4 defeats in the last 7 games) that the UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia (4 defeats in the last 6 games) have had great ups and downs in the last part of the season, with the Emilians who on the last day reported a clear defeat in Sassari while the lagoon people have scrambled Pesaro within friendly walls.
In the first leg match Venice he won by 20 points by running away in the first half of the match, but in the return he was Reggio Emilia to impose itself with a +17 basically achieved in the central periods. In both cases, a good performance by one team was accompanied by a subpar performance by the other, so the only two seasonal meetings between the two clubs do not provide great clues.
Tucker and his associates certainly start as favourites, also considering the field factor in their favor (three internal KOs suffered by the lagoon players, only 5 external successes achieved in the season by the Emilians), but one UNAHOTELS which certainly has less to lose than its opponents represents an obstacle that cannot be taken for granted.
Venice they should secure passage to the semi-finals in two ways: either by losing a match, therefore with a 3-1, or with a 3-0 consisting of very hard-fought matches.
Fundamental for the troop coach SpahijaFor the prediction to come true, they will be the containment of turnovers (13.4 on average in the season, 4th worst figure in Serie A) and defensive solidity.
