Olimpia Milano Loses in Venice; Peppe Poeta: “That’s to be expected”
Reyer Venezia’s 109-97 victory over Olimpia Milano will extend the championship series at least through Game 4. But the Milanese team’s loss—despite the home team’s strong performance—sent Coach Peppe Poeta into a rage. “This is what happens when you don’t play defense,” he emphasized after the game. “We expected them to play with great pride, but we didn’t respond the way we should have.”
“Reyer Venezia played a great game, so congratulations to them,” Poeta noted nonetheless. “They had more energy on the court, as evidenced by their 16 offensive rebounds. But we had to do better on defense, given that Olimpia Milano has gone far in the playoffs partly because of the great work we do on that end. Tonight, however, we didn’t bring those qualities to the court, and when that happens against the league’s best offense, it’s only natural that it ends this way. But in a close-out game, you can’t give up that many points; when you score 97 on the road, you should win. We did the opposite of what we should have done; now we’ll reset everything and start over.”
On the other side, Coach Neven Spahija made no secret of his satisfaction with a victory he had, in a way, already predicted. “We managed to regain our energy and put up a good defense. I’d already said in the pregame interview that this was the situation,” gloated the Croatian coach, who on the eve of the game had accurately identified the issues that needed to be corrected: “In the first two games, we lacked energy and fell short in terms of aggressiveness—a fundamental aspect we absolutely must improve on.” Spahija then took a moment to give special recognition to his players: “The guys did a great job tonight, and I want to congratulate them. We brought to the court what we’d been missing in the first two games: energy and defense.”
The third quarter was the turning point of the evening at the PalaTaliercio, with Reyer dominating the period 36–19. It was a run that Spahija emphasized in his remarks: “There’s no need to remind anyone just how much talent Olimpia Milano has—it’s enormous. But when Reyer Venice manages to push the pace for all 40 minutes, things turn out the way they did in the third quarter.” A response full of character that takes on even greater significance when considering the context: After falling to a 2-0 deficit at the Forum—with losses of 100-80 in Game 1 and 92-79 in Game 2—Spahija himself had publicly acknowledged his team’s struggles, citing deep-seated and systemic fatigue: “In our rotations, we don’t have 12 players—just 6 or 7 who are really carrying the load.”
Federica Pellegrini was also in the stands at the PalaTaliercio, and she shared her excitement with ‘Sky Sport’ with infectious enthusiasm: “It’s a great game. We’re fighting it out until the very end. So I’m happy. I’m having a lot of fun. I really like the final rushes. It’s a strange game, though. No one expected us to be here, but here we are. So we’re fighting it out until the very end.” The queen of swimming also highlighted the difference compared to the kind of cheering she’s more familiar with: “I understand that in a game played outside the water, obviously, this background noise gives you an incredible boost.”
The fatigue Spahija has mentioned in recent weeks has deep roots in a grueling season for the Orogranata. The Lagunari only managed to get the better of Derthona Tortona in the decisive Game 5 at the PalaTaliercio, before eliminating defending champion Virtus Bologna in a hard-fought semifinal. It was precisely against the “Vu Nere” that Venice brought out its best: Amedeo Tessitori scored 22 points in the decisive Game 4, contributing to the sensational fourth-quarter comeback in which Reyer scored 33 points in the final ten minutes to overturn a ten-point deficit. This is a team accustomed to never giving up, and tonight at the PalaTaliercio, they proved it once again.
