Olimpia Milano knockout, for Peppe Poeta, Euroleague season not a failure

Coach Peppe Poeta commented on the Piraeus defeat with which Olimpia Milano’s European season ended, “We played a serious game, as I had asked the boys. I am quite satisfied, but our third quarter was not good enough, to compete until the end.”

“We played very good first two quarters, in the third quarter we started playing selfishly for a few minutes. If you want to have any chance to win in Piraeus, you have to be perfect for 40 minutes and we were not. Unfortunately our Euroleague season ends here, good luck to Olympiacos.”

The red and white team remains out of the post-season for the fourth consecutive year. “I took the team on the run and I can’t answer for other seasons. However, the Euroleague map has changed and it’s not a failure not to make it to the play-in, although we tried and we will try next year as well.”

On the chances of stopping Olympiacos, Poeta added: “Olympiacos’ identity is very important, they are the same players and the same coach for a long time, a very long roster. It is definitely one of the candidates to win the competition, but it depends on the form with which you arrive at the decisive moment, because the gap is not that big between the teams.”