Virtus Bologna, Sergio Scariolo: “We gave 100%, you can’t be disappointed or angry”

Sergio Scariolo’s words after the defeat against Olimpia Milano

Sergio Scariolo commented in a press conference on the defeat in Game 7 against Olimpia Milano, which saw the title slip away for the Bianconeri. “Kudos to Olimpia, as in the whole series the home team had more energy than the other and the court factor was decisive,” he stressed. “But I am very very proud of the effort made by my players and not only in this game, especially the veterans who were really low on gas.

“Throughout the season, the team has shown tremendous cohesion, a great competitive pride, the compactness to overcome difficult moments and many injuries,” he added. “We made a great playoff run, and the feeling is that we all gave 100 percent: this is bitter about the result, but you cannot be disappointed or angry. So I thank everyone, staff and players, because we made it to the last without ever giving up.”

“The 12-point gap in the first quarter was the final one, you can say,” he later admitted. “And we played great basketball, of a very high level, maybe not driving the dominant trends of pick and roll and three-point shooting but trying to vary our choices and when we had health we were good on defense as well. And so I’m very happy with the quality of our game, the regret is for well-constructed shots that didn’t allow us to create a small streak, or the last minutes of the regular season, but it’s a case of thinking about things done well as well.”

“You have to shake hands with the opponent when they show that they have something more than you. We squeezed the full potential of our orange, good juice and good basketball came out, those who understand sports know what we did. The best was done, now we will try to heal the wound because we showed that we could also win. The future? We will talk about it on Tuesday, everyone knows how things are, if we are based on reality and not fantasy things will come out,” Scariolo concluded.