Pistoia awaits Brindisi, coach Pete Strobl heralds a revolution
The doors of the LumoSquare will open for the last time in this regular season on Sunday, April 19 at 6 p.m., that is when Estra Pistoia Basket 2000 will receive Valtur Brindisi in the game valid for the thirty-seventh day of the A2 Series championship. The red-and-whites will try to bounce back from the ugly knockout in Cividale and get back on the right track in view of the increasingly imminent playout, with the possibility that the pairings are already defined at the end of this round. On the eve of the match, coach Pete Strobl framed the problems that have gripped his team in recent months, while also sending a message to their upcoming opponents.
“Since I’ve been here we haven’t had a normal work week,” Strobl recalled. “Even these days we’ve had players who have not been well or injured. Against Brindisi we will make some changes in the quintet and positions, but the main thing remains that the guys give 100 percent on the court. I am not afraid to be proven wrong in saying that our physical therapist and athletic trainer have been the ones with the most workload in the entire league.” During the week, Pistoia’s goal was to recover from several aches and pains, primarily those that forced captain Lorenzo Saccaggi to forfeit the game in Friuli.
“We have to stay positive, believe in it and fight,” Strobl added. “We have to look inside ourselves and see that we have given everything at the end of every game: only in this way can we pick ourselves up. We train intensively and talk to each other often to keep the level of attention high. I feel that the games leading up to the Cividale loss put us on the right track, because we gave battle and played as a team. Saccaggi? He is one of the best fighters I have seen in my career and I know he will give everything for the team. We hope to have him back at 100 percent for the game against Brindisi.”
Strobl then also focused on other pivotal players for Pistoia: “Anderson is a great guy and a leader for the group. It wasn’t easy for him to come back after a year from a heavy injury, but I think he’s recovering as well as he can. He is working very hard and will have some more time to continue to improve. Alajiki has a very positive attitude-he is happy to be here and available during training with his teammates. His integration is going very well and he is doing what we have asked of him from day one. He is getting used to the league and to the referees’ calls: being young, he has to understand when to press on the accelerator and when to put on the brakes.”
“The one in Cividale was a bad defeat,” Strobl also admitted. “We had a completely bad day against a great opponent who found very good percentages, while for us they were terrible – these are his words – How do I explain it? We played so many games in a short period of time, while figuring well against Livorno, Pesaro and Rimini.”
“As much as I don’t like to make excuses, we blamed the fatigues of these last few weeks and the fact that we were without our captain and starting point guard. I am a very honest person: it is objective that the situation is not easy, as we are training by managing several injuries and with the help of the younger guys, whom we have to thank. To win we need everyone to take the court at their highest level,” Coach Strobl then stressed in a real plea to the Pistoia players.
