On Saturday 11 May at 8.00 pm the curtain rises on the championship playoffs of Umana Reyer Venezia. The orogranata participate in the postseason which awards the tricolor for the eleventh season out of twelve since their return to Serie A (excluding the 2019/20 season interrupted due to the pandemic), it is the nineteenth playoff series since 2012.
Umana Reyer challenges Pallacanestro Reggiana, in the crossroads between 4th and 5th classified in the regular season. The Orogranata team ended the championship with 38 points (19-11) while the Emilians with 32 (16-14). Below is the calendar of meetings.
Race 1 Saturday 11 May at 8.00 pm @Palasport Taliercio, Venice
Match 2 Monday 13 May at 8.45pm @Palasport Taliercio, Venice
Race 3 Thursday 16 May at 8.00 pm @PalaBigi, Reggio Emilia
Ev. Race 4 Saturday 18 May @PalaBigi, Reggio Emilia
Ev. Game 5 Monday 20 May @Palasport Taliercio, Venice
There are 44 precedents between the two clubs: Reyer ahead 24-20. Umana won the championship match at Taliercio (90-70), while Reggio Emilia defended its home advantage in the return match (77-60).
De Nicolao (two years in Reggio Emilia), Vitali and Chillo (one season in Reyer each) are the exes of the challenge.
Venice and Reggio Emilia have already faced each other in an epic championship semi-final in the 2015 playoffs which ended in game 7, in a fiery Taliercio. It was the people of Reggio who gained the pass for the final which was then won by Sassari… again in 7 matches. Great protagonists embellished the series such as Julyan Stone, Phil Goss, Tomas Ress, Hrvoje Peric, Jeff Viggiano, Spencer Nelson and Benjamin Ortner on the Reyerina side, Rimantas Kaukėnas, Drake Diener, Andrea Cinciarini, Darjuš and Kšyštof Lavrinovič, Achille Pollonara on the Reggio side.
Neven Spahija
We have prepared everything necessary to tackle this series. It will certainly be complicated because Reggio Emilia is a good team, but we are very clear about what we want to do in defense and attack. We are physically well and all the players are available.
They are talented, they cover all roles with two players and we will have to respond to their physicality and be aggressive. We want to play our basketball more than theirs. The pitch factor matters a lot and we feel Taliercio’s push a lot, he will help us a lot on Saturday and Monday. The previous playoff experience will certainly help us a lot, in these matches we need to do more.
Uff press Umana Reyer Venice
