Venice knockout: Neven Spahija doesn’t explain it, but she sheds light on Jordan Parks
The Reyer Venezia closes the championship by losing at PalaTaliercio to Bertram Derthona, which wins with a 75-78 result and will also face the orogranata in the playoffs scudetto. Many issues were addressed by Neven Spahija in the postgame, from the collapse of his team to the non-use of Jordan Parks. But the coach of the Veneto team focused in particular on a fundamental he wants to take care of in a deeper way with the team.
“I want to congratulate Tortona, which in the last quarter played better than Venice both offensively and defensively, winning the game despite scoring few points. It is really hard for me to understand what happened to us to concede 30 points in ten minutes. Especially since in the third period we had played the best defense of the season bringing home a 17-6 partial,” Spahija pointed out.
For the Croatian coach, however, Reyer Venezia has a problem to look into before the playoffs. “This issue of free throws intrigues me in a negative way,” he stressed.
In the last two home games, the one against Milano and this one against Tortona, we missed a total of 23.
Now there will be a day of rest, but on Tuesday we will go back to work and analyze this. Also because in the quarterfinals of the playoffs we will face the same opponents as tonight.”
About Parks, however, his absence is the result of caution in view of precisely the playoffs scudetto that await Venice. “We left him on the bench because he felt he wasn’t quite right muscularly. We didn’t want to take any risks,” Spahija explained.
The problem with free throws is nothing new in this season finale. As early as last April 26, in the 85-90 home loss to Olimpia Milano, Spahija sounded the alarm after seeing his team miss 11 shots from the lunette in a game that was decided in the details. “We learned a big lesson before the playoffs,” the Croatian coach had said then, evidently without the message being fully received by his players in the weeks that followed.
Parks’ situation should also be read in a broader context. The long U.S. player had already had to deal with muscle problems during the season, having suffered a left thigh flexor injury last December that kept him out for several weeks. A physical frailty that is evidently not completely resolved and that Spahija does not want to risk aggravating just on the eve of the most important phase of the year.
As for the overall playoff picture, Reyer closes the regular season in fourth place with 38 points and will face Bertram Tortona, fifth at 34, in a best-of-five series. Game-1 is scheduled for May 17 at PalaTaliercio, with game-2 set for May 19. The series will then move to Tortona for the eventual games-3 and game-4, on May 22 and 24 respectively, with the eventual decider back in Venice on May 26.
If the Reyer team passes the round, the Orogranata would take on the winner of the series between Virtus Bologna and Dolomiti Energia Trento in the semifinals. The ‘Black Vu’, first in the standings with 46 points, ended the regular season by beating Varese 104-85, indirectly contributing to Trento’s qualification against Openjobmetis itself. An obstacle course awaits Venice, but which inevitably passes first by overcoming a Tortona already capable, as demonstrated tonight, of putting Reyer in difficulty within the friendly walls of the PalaTaliercio.
