Tortona, Mario Fioretti's bitterness: "Venice won in 8 minutes"
The 87-75 defeat that Bertram Derthona suffered at PalaTaliercio against Reyer Venezia has an explanation, according to Mario Fioretti. The Tortona coach provided it in the postgame of Game 2 of the playoffs, promising that the Piedmontese will still sell their skins in the continuation of the series.
“Our first half had been solid,” Fioretti noted. “Tortona did what it had to do, especially controlling the rebounding operations. Then, in the third quarter, already after two minutes we suffered an extremely negative partial. We tried to stop Reyer Venezia but, exactly as had happened in Game 1, we suffered from their physicality and could no longer find second shots after mistakes. For 8 minutes they really dominated, we, however, tried. We never gave up, even at the end of the game, but we paid dearly for just those 8 minutes. We will go home with the idea of giving everything we have next Friday. We will try to play our game, playing 40 minutes all at a high level.”
On the other side of the court, coach Neven Spahija extolled his team’s defensive performance, while acknowledging the merits of the opponents and urging his team not to let their guard down. “Tortona played very well,” stressed the Croatian coach. “However, our defense played at a very high level, especially in the third quarter and until the last 2-3 minutes. They, however, created a lot of problems for us especially in rebounding. They prevented us from playing in the open court. It was precisely on this aspect that we worked at halftime, raising the level of physicality.” Spahija then added a remark that says a lot about his mentality: “For me, Venice is still on 0-0.”
The Orogranata coach already has his mind on Game 3, aware that the court factor may make the difference. “On Friday Tortona will play in front of its fans and they will do everything they can to win,” Spahija continued.
I want to see a Reyer Venezia that will take the court with the mentality we have long adopted on the road. We need to have a detailed game plan, with some small adjustments that we still need to adopt. We will need humility, freshness, preparation.”
The series now moves to Tortona, with Game 3 scheduled for Thursday, May 22, and the eventual Game 4 set for Saturday, May 24. The eventual bella would be played again at PalaTaliercio on May 26. In the event of qualification to the semifinals, Reyer would face the winner of the series between Virtus Bologna and Dolomiti Energia Trento, with the “Black Vu” widely favored after a 102-71 win over the Trentino team in Game 1.
The condition of Jordan Parks must be kept under watch in the Venetian household. The long U.S. player had already missed the last day of the regular season due to muscle discomfort, and his management remains one of the key elements of the series.Parks had already had to deal with a left thigh flexor injury last December, and Spahija does not intend to take any risks at such a delicate stage of the season.
