Massimo Cancellieri proud and tired: "We tried"

With the defeat at home to Virtus Bologna, Trento’s season ends and with it Massimo Cancellieri’s adventure with Dolomiti Energia. “We had the energy and we were in the game until they left us,” he says. “We played a beautiful game-5, we tried until the end showing what we are made of: we just have to be satisfied and proud.”

“We expected that whoever would be able to make a few more defenses would win and unfortunately Virtus made them. This year of mine in Trent was extremely intense, it was like doing four seasons in one. It was a very humoral year, with many ups and downs,” he adds.

A playoff series that told the whole story of the character of this Trento: the bianconeri had snatched the eighth place on the last day of the regular season, beating Olimpia Milano 84-74, while Openjobmetis Varese succumbed at home against the same Virtus Bologna. By virtue of favorable head-to-head matchups, Dolomiti Energia had thus celebrated access to the postseason, crowning an extraordinary comeback in the season finale. A path that had made even more special this series against the Italian champions, closed at the end of five intense and hard-fought games.

The path in the playoffs had been anything but linear: after the heavy 102-71 cashed in Game 1, Trento had been able to react with pride, defeating Bologna in Game 2 by 84-87 and then dominating in Game 3 at PalaTrento by 102-85, with Steward’s 21 points and Jogela’s 18 among the main protagonists. Virtus had then evened the score in Game 4, winning 90-81 with Edwards’ 26 points, before the showdown in the bella in Bologna.

Cancellieri’s future is already written: according to reports in the T Quotidiano, the Abruzzese coach has finalized all the details of his contract with Tofas Bursa, a club in the Turkish city of three million inhabitants. The agreement reportedly arrived as early as a week ago and his move to Turkey is to be considered certain. For Cancellieri it is a return abroad, where he has previously coached Limoges, Strasbourg, and PAOK Thessaloniki. The Bursa club, fresh off a disappointing 10th place finish in the Turkish league, is banking on the Italian coach to relaunch itself.