Sergio Scariolo pays tribute to Sinisa Mihajlovic in memory of his father
Virtus Segafredo Bologna – Maccabi Tel Aviv 78-73 (20-16; 44-41; 57-60)
Second consecutive home win in the Euroleague for Virtus Bologna, which, after Tuesday’s win against Alba Berlin, also made the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv its own, coming back from a 7-point deficit in the last quarter.
In the postgame, the satisfaction of coach Scariolo is obviously palpable, who does not forget the figure of the late Sinisa Mihajlovic in his press conference statements, “We are obviously very happy with the victory. I thank the players and the fans, who supported us throughout the game, even when we were down by 7 in the last quarter. We were always in the game, even at -7. We found a way to win, again all credit to them and thanks to the fans. The box-and-one defense? I think it was important that the players believed in it and did it well, finding the cue to get back in the game, grab rebounds and score free throws. Which are certainly not the specialty of the house. It went well, it is icing on the cake that cannot replace the cake. The cake is 1-on-1 defense, since we didn’t have the players to do it for 40′,” he began.
“The attitude was very good. We have a gap compared to many teams, bigger if we lack players, however, we struggle. We had some blackouts in this first part of the season, but in general we always struggled. We played together, standing there with our heads without lifting our hands off the handlebars, and we put the frees, We know it’s an uphill race, with an impassable mountain ahead, but we keep pedaling,” he added.
Finally, the memory of Sinisa Mihajlovic, who was also paid tribute by the virtussina curve with choruses and banners: “I send a big hug to the family, he is an example of a great sportsman, a fighter, a person who never gives up. There are ways and ways to deal with these things, you know my father died of leukemia so I am particularly sensitive to the issue. He fought as long as he could, and this is the example he leaves for everyone: to stand there with the will to live and fight until the scoreboard says zero zero zero zero,” he concluded.
