Ettore Messina, a thank you to Gigi Datome

The words of Ettore Messina

Ettore Messina spoke after the second win over Sassari: “A very important victory. We started by missing a lot of shots, even open ones, and that unnerved us. The defense was not up to it in the beginning, then we found rhythm. Last year, in the two games with Sassari, which was not as strong as this year’s, we broke the first game in the middle of the third quarter and were down with five minutes left. Sometimes you win well and sometimes you have to tuck in, finding the free throws, a rebound or the wonderful Datome today. In the beginning we were too nervous maybe because we thought we had to break the contest right away.”

Comment on Datome: “He today, in the first half, managed to get us through the fear, in which we couldn’t do anything. He tamped down their 8-point lead, which would have brought even more difficulties if preserved.”

Last season, Ettore Messina’s team returned to win the Scudetto, snatching it from the jerseys of Virtus Segafredo Bologna. The red-and-whites, who had finished in second place in the regular season right behind Sergio Scariolo’s team, immediately brought the court factor to their side in the final series and never let the Felsinians catch them again. In the Euroleague, Sergio Rodriguez (who said goodbye to the Red Shoes in the summer to return to Spain) and his teammates were eliminated by Ergin Ataman’s Anadolu Efes, who would win the tournament for the second year in a row.