Virtus gets up in Trento, Jakovljevic explains the turnaround

Virtus Bologna redeemed itself: the Vu Nere beat Trento 90-81 in Game 4 at the BTS Arena, canceling Aquila Basket’s match point and bringing the LBA playoff semifinal series to 2-2 after last Thursday’s disastrous Game 3. The Italian champions earned Game 5 at the end of a game they approached and conducted in the right way: ahead 49-42 at halftime, they placed the decisive breakaway in the third quarter, which Trento failed to sew up in the last period. The best man on the court was Edwards, top scorer of the match with 26 points. For Virtus, Diouf also did well with 16 and Niang with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Coach Nenad Jakovljevic after the game commented on his team’s performance as follows: “It was a game we absolutely had to win, and we approached it in the right way, then we did it for almost the whole game apart from the dark minutes we had between the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the last quarter, which should absolutely be avoided.”

The team finally had a reaction, Edward first and foremost: “What changed? Above all, the attitude, and without that and team play it’s difficult to play against a good team like Trento.”

Now all thoughts are projected toward the decisive Game 5, which will be played in Bologna: “It will be to approach with the same aggressiveness, and with more attention to detail. It will be another very difficult match and we will have to be ready.”