Matteo Cotelli points out what made the difference against Trieste

Matteo Cotelli enjoys the victory in game-5 against Trieste, a result that is worth 3-2 in the series and access to the semifinal against Olimpia Milano: “I thank the audience so much: it was bedlam tonight. Once again Brescia was ready for an important date and as a Brescian I am happy about that. The other thank you goes to the guys: honor to Trieste who took us to the limit with a magnificent series, but the whole team responded with a magnificent performance. I had talked to them about mental consistency: better than this we could not do, an outstanding performance. First game 5 in Brescia’s LBA history? Talking about our team we are talking about very experienced players, the most immature one is me… There was a great response from all the guys: today the minutes didn’t count but only the result. It was a serious game of great defensive self-sacrifice, keeping Trieste under 70 points by taking away the very last minutes.”

On the series with Milan, Cotelli added, “I’m happy with what we put on the court, we’ve been working with difficulties all season but we were able to find resources: this team deserves to play a semifinal. It’s going to be a really tough series, but we’re going to play it in front of our great crowd: tonight we really felt the heat and when it’s like that you’re always focused. The team deserved it.”

Closing on the defensive effort and the group’s journey, “Tonight’s win came mostly from dedication and what was put in on defense: we worked on it a lot and we improved. We have done it a little bit in spurts in so many games, today we put in the best defense the whole game. A lot of people after game 1 might have thought it would be an end to this cycle, but this team is hungry: maybe something will change this summer, but the guys care so much. Before game 5 we told ourselves that this journey could not end here. We have built something beyond basketball.”