Only one Serie A club fined: insults directed at opposing players

The Serie A basketball day will wrap up with the games in Bologna between Virtus and Trieste and in Desio, featuring the highly anticipated derby between Cantù and Milan, but the Sports Judge has already begun reviewing the reports from the matches played between Saturday and Sunday. Only one club was fined: Napoli Basket, which was hit with a 1,333-euro fine for collective and frequent insults from the crowd directed at players from the opposing team, Reyer Venezia.

Udine got off with a warning for irregularities regarding mandatory equipment: the 24-second and end-of-quarter buzzer sounds were apparently barely audible. Warning for irregularities with mandatory equipment (the

The penalties are significantly lighter than those from the fifth matchday, when the Disciplinary Committee had punished as many as five clubs, all for insults directed from the stands: 600 euros for Trieste, 2,400 for Umana Venezia Mestre, 400 for Maxima Roma, 600 for Scafati, and 1,200 for Varese. Varese had also been warned for the lack of hot water in the locker rooms for the referees and the visiting team’s players—the same mishap that befell Scafati after their game against Verona on October 11.

Napoli Basket, penalized for fan behavior, hosted a Reyer Venezia team looking to bounce back. Coach Neven Spahija’s squad, last season’s Scudetto finalist, was coming off a home loss to Nutribullet Treviso and an away game in Tenerife in the EuroCup. Kyle Wiltjer was questionable after leaving the game with a sprained left ankle in the 90-79 Eurocup loss to Maxima Roma. The Canadian big man, named MVP of the fourth matchday thanks to 32 points and a 36 efficiency rating against BC Roma, had been one of the team’s offensive leaders early in the season.

On the Neapolitan side, the team led by Jasmin Repesa entered the game in a top position. After a 99-80 road win at Cantù in mid-October, they had defeated Tortona 92-90 on Matchday 5 and were tied for second place with 8 points, alongside Treviso and trailing league-leading Virtus Bologna, which had 10 points. However, there were no shortage of roster issues: Andrej Jakimovski suffered a complete tear of the internal oblique muscle on his right side, with an estimated recovery time of two to three months, and the club may return to the transfer market to secure more options for its rotation.

Meanwhile, Monday Night is approaching in Desio, featuring the 175th derby between Cantù and Olimpia Milano. The home team, coached by Frank Vitucci and bolstered by the arrival of Osvaldas Olisevicius, heads into the matchup with five losses in as many games. Milan, fresh off a week in Athens with two EuroLeague games, has already lost twice in the league. The red-and-whites are not underestimating their opponent, as Emilio Kovacic explained: “The fact that Cantù hasn’t won doesn’t mean they lack the individual talent and quality to make this a challenging game for us, especially after a week on the road with two EuroLeague games. We’ve prepared for this game by focusing closely on our opponents while also working on how to sustain the quality of our play for longer stretches.”