It’s time for the semi-finals for this Techfind Serie A1.
Famila Wuber Schio – Passalacqua Ragusa
Opening the proceedings will be Famila Wuber Schio and Passalacqua Ragusa, involved in a match that is now a great classic of Italian basketball (Saturday, 7.30 pm, live LBF TV). Schio had a few more days of rest, as it closed the series against Alama San Martino di Lupari in just two games, but Ragusa has the enthusiasm of having earned passage to the next round by dominating Game 3 at the Segafredo Arena and ousting Virtus from the competition. Due to the dominance it demonstrated in the second part of the season, Schio remains the favorite team, but Ragusa is a team that has already shown that it can annoy the most highly rated teams. In the last match against Bologna the green-and-whites displayed good defensive solidity, which kept a team like Virtus, who averaged 73.1 in the regular season, to just 57 points scored. The Iblean players then demonstrated that they know how to handle one-on-one matches very well, effectively canceling out most of the Bianconere’s individual initiatives. In attack, Ragusa’s victory was the result of the fact that it found many alternative solutions, with almost all the players who entered and got on the scoresheet and were able to make their contribution to the team. On the other side this time there is a team that has never trembled in the crucial moments of the season and which has better numbers in all statistical items. To try to bring it home, Ragusa will have to try to break the rhythm of the Orange attack, an almost perfect mechanism that runs thanks to an average of almost 20 assists per game. In attack, however, it will be fundamental for the green and whites to find continuity in three-point shooting: in the two games won against Bologna the percentages from beyond the arc were 50% and 47% respectively, a decisive factor for progressing to the next round. Schio should show up with the full roster, while Ragusa hopes to recover Laura Spreafico. The match will be refereed by Stefano Wassermann (first referee), Mattia Eugenio Martellosio (second referee) and Paolo Puccini (third referee).
Umana Reyer Venice – La Molisana Magnolia Campobasso
The second semi-final will instead be the match between Umana Reyer Venezia and La Molisana Magnolia Campobasso, which will be broadcast live on RAI SPORT (Saturday, 9pm, live on RAI SPORT). As in the case of the previous series, this time too the team with the highest seed had a few more days of rest: Reyer in fact closed the series with Oxygen Roma Basket in Game 2, while Magnolia needed of three games to get the better of Allianz Geas Sesto San Giovanni. The match is very intriguing, because it pits the second team in terms of points scored (Venice, 75.3) against the one that concedes the least (Campobasso, 58.9). Magnolia with its defensive solidity has in fact shown that it can be a problem for anyone and above all, together with Schio, it was the only team capable of beating Reyer in the regular season. In the second round match, Campobasso held Venezia to just 47 points scored, winning the match in its own half: the only statistic in which Campobasso does better than Venezia are in fact steals (9.1 versus 8.5). Magnolia’s problem remains the offensive phase, in fact they are the third worst team in the championship for points scored (63.3), behind only Sanga and Battipaglia. In the series against Geas the main antidote to this difficulty was Blanca Quiñonez, who scored 21 points in Game 1 and 15 in Game 2, but to try to beat Venezia at Taliercio Campobasso she will need the contribution of all her players . In fact, in the regular season Reyer lost only one match at home, against Virtus and comes from a first round playoff in which she didn’t leave even crumbs in Rome, winning both matches with over 20 points. The challenge for Campobasso will be to try to contain the long reyerine: Kuier and Shepard have in fact dominated and despite the absence of Cubaj, under the basket Venezia is still among the best teams in the championship. The match will be refereed by Stefano Di Biase (first referee), Salvatore Nuara (second referee) and Valeria Lanciotti (third referee).
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