The Serie A2 playoffs are in full swing and the first matches of the semi-finals have already been played. In the silver board the Trieste Basketball he dominated against Forlìtaking home the first round for 49-72 with a real show of strength, andSan Bernardo Cantù water he passed the‘APU Udine at PalaDesio, final score 64-61.
The Bianconeri played their cards until the last possession, which ended with Moraschini’s missed triple and Caroti’s mid-court prayer rejected by the rim. It was a great basketball game: physical, hard-fought, made up of partials and against partials.
As predicted during the presentation of the series, coach Adriano Vertemati has made extensive use of Lorenzo Carotidefender best suited to chasing Anthony Hickey, using Diego Monaldi as a sixth man. In defense the choice paid off, because the American was at least contained: 10 points for him in 35 minutes, the vast majority of which were in transition. The open defense attack is one of the American’s best weapons and it will be important for the Friulians’ technical staff to find the right countermeasures. In fact, Udine lost 15 balls, while Cantù only lost 8. The Lombard team’s defense is undoubtedly suffocating, but on some occasions the Bianconeri have sinned against frenzy, wasting good opportunities for two-man play with hasty or imprecise passes.
Another key to the match was the archery. A double-edged sword that both teams resorted to, with mixed results that partly explain the partial scores that fueled the match. Stefan Nikolic he was surgical in the first half, closing with 3 triples on target which allowed Cantù to extend, but in the second half only Lorenzo Bucarelli (2/2) and Solomon Young (3/4) found the net consistently. Baldi Rossi finished with 1/7, Moraschini with 0/7 and Hickey with 0/4, unrepeatable percentages for shooters like that which certainly testify to a good job by the visiting defense, but also how this fundamental is extremely unreliable in such tense matches. Udine did no bettershooting 24% as a team from the 6.75m range versus 29% of their opponents. Caroti finished with 1/9, Ikangi with 1/5, Monaldi with 2/9 and Gaspardo with 1/4, this is also explained the score is very low despite the talent on the parquet. Coach Vertemati underlined this in the press conference: “We had at least three, four open shots that we didn’t score […] In a series of this level you have to be solid in every aspect. We’ll try different things but what counts are rebounds, turnovers and open shots that must be scored.” It’s difficult to expect percentages like that in Game 2, especially on the Cantù side: Moraschini is a killer, especially when the ball weighs. One thing which the coach knows well and which certainly makes it important to take advantage of his bad evenings.
With all these shooting errors i rebounds were another important factor. APU asserted itself under the boards, grabbing 42 rebounds of which well 29 offensive, an impressive fact which, however, has not been exploited properly. The intensity with which the Bianconeri took to the pitch was the right one, we need to adjust our aim and make some decisions more calmly, without being stubborn about shooting from afar. In the third quarter, Udine took the lead again by playing at a high pace, often giving the ball down to the long players. A solution that not only offers important solutions to players that Vertemati desperately needs, but which also allows us to expand the field. Matteo Da Ros he had little space in Race 1 (14 minutes), perhaps because the APU staff feared he would go under physically, crushed between Young and Baldi Rossi; However, the long man’s visions offer an option from the high post that needs to be explored further, especially when the team struggles to find the net.
Finally the singles: Gaspardo and Monaldi are needed. With Jason Clark in the pits, in Game 1 it was a 1 against 5 for large stretches of the match Mirza Alibegovic. The son of art has made baskets in every possible and imaginable way, but he cannot support his team’s attack alone. In Game 2 he will need a more aggressive Gaspardo right from the start, like the one who often put Baldi Rossi in difficulty with his shoulder strikes in the third quarter. Needless to say then Captain Monaldi it must be more efficient. Coming off the bench, his shooting percentages can become the X factor that closes or reopens the match. The same goes for Cannon: although the Cantù defense in the area is a real iron curtain, the American can’t take just 2 shots in the entire match.
The second act of the series awaits us this evening, with the ball being raised at 8.30pm. Coach Vertemati is very good at finding the necessary measures, we will certainly see a ready and motivated APU Udine at PalaDesio.
