Leaving behind the three defeats in a row and preserving the hopes of qualifying for the Final 8 of the Italian Cup were the two missions with which NutriBullet Treviso faced the match at Segafredo Arena, against the Champions of Italy of Virtus Bologna. None of this has occurred since the hosts, without Teodosic and Abass, imposed themselves with authority 84-66 after having dominated all 40 minutes of play. Treviso paid for a too submissive attitude on both halves and, above all, the horror start with 0/8 shooting in the first five minutes. Undoubtedly, the quality of the Bolognese roster made the difference, however, as evidenced by the 15 assists granted to Bologna by the TVB defense in a quarter of an hour, the performance of Imbrò and his companions was clearly below expectations that coach Menetti himself had fed in the eve of the conference. If winning against such equipped teams is undoubtedly difficult, expecting a different attitude of the team in cartel matches is equally necessary to take a leap forward in the path of maturation.
CHRONICLE Coach Menetti ranks in a quintet Russell, Bortolani, Dimsa, Chillo e Sims. The hosts approached the match flawlessly: 8-0 partial signed by the company Alibegovic-Weems. Menetti’s time-out does not change the inertia, on the contrary: Virtus extends the break (11-0) with another triple from Weems. TVB finds the first points in the match after 5 minutes thanks to Russell’s trip to the line (2/2), Virtus still continues to dominate in both halves and flies to +12. Weems is on fire and marks the fourth triple of his evening, guests currently have no solutions to stem it. Imbrò hits the target from the bow, on the other hand Mannion keeps the advantage of the black Vs unchanged. Jaiteh places the last basket of the first quarter from the post, the hosts lead 29-13.
Bortolani inaugurates the second period with a basket in turn, on the opposite side Cordinier continues his offensive show (5 points in a row) and gives the maximum advantage (+19) to Virtus. NutriBullet returns to score from the arc with Imbrò, Belinelli enters the game and consolidates the dominion of the hosts. Russell is the only one, in the ranks of NutriBullet, to create some offensive pitfalls in the defense deployed of Virtus, too little to be able to think about returning to the game. We go to the interval at 45-25 for Virtus: one-way match in this first half.
The third period opens with the same script as the first two quarters, Virtus is in full control and confirms it with a 5-0 mini break. Dimsa, after many attempts, scores the first triple of his evening, Bortolani follows him closely: TVB’s first real offensive blast from the start of the match. Sampson’s coast to coast propitiates yet another time-out for coach Menetti, even if the game already seems to be addressed to the middle of the third quarter (56-32 Virtus; 5:20). Russell makes a three-point game, Cordinier replies from long range. Jaiteh and Alibegovic bring Virtus to +26, while Treviso gets points with Imbrò from the bow. Ten minutes from the end Virtus is ahead 66-40.
Imbrò makes his fourth personal triple, confirming himself the only element of TVB to have precision from the bow this evening. Belinelli goes into double figures, Jaiteh crushes the new +26 Bolognese. Virtus closed the match for a while but has no intention of reducing its intensity, Treviso must at least try to avoid -30. Scariolo starts the garbage time in the last three minutes, NutriBullet shortens the disadvantage of a couple of possessions: Virtus wins 84-66.
MARKERS
Virtue Segafredo Bologna: Belinelli 17, Weems 16, Alibegovic 15, Jaiteh 12
NutriBullet Treviso Basket: Bortolani 15, Imbrò 14, Russell 9, Sims 8
REPORT CARDS
NutriBullet Treviso Basket
DeWayne Russell 5.5 In the first half, his penetrations into the area are one of the few solutions to the team’s offensive sterility. In the second half of the match he drops and gets frustrated in some moments, like in the occasion of the foul on Belinelli in the last quarter.
Henry Sims 4.5 The block that Sampson trims under the basket in the third quarter reflects at best the offensive difficulties encountered by the former Fortitudo this evening. It is no better on the defensive side, where his physicality struggles to emerge.
Matteo Imbrò 6 The NutriBullet captain is the only one to have some accuracy from beyond the arc (4/7). TVB’s few offensive blasts bear his signature.
Giordano Bortolani 5 Defensively canceled by Pajola in the first half, his is a game made up of many offensive forcing. He closes as the top scorer of the team, but half of the points are scored in the garbage times of the last quarter.
Matteo Chillo 4 He comes out very badly from the duel against Alibegovic, who dominates him from a physical point of view. Offensively null.
Thomas Dimsa 4 He loses a bad ball at the start of the match, before inaugurating the long distance brick festival (1/6). The fourth foul committed in the third quarter contributes to never making him enter the game.
Aaron Jones 4 Indescribable performance, in a negative sense. The mirror of his evening is the naive interference with which he denies Russell two points in penetration. From a defensive point of view, however, it was as if he were not on the pitch.
Nicola Akele 5 He enters from the bench, but fails to reverse the trend of Virtus domination under the planks. Has the most turnovers (3).
Mikk Jurkatamm 5.5 At the absolute premiere with the TVB shirt, a fatality against his former team. He is affected by the no collective evening, even if it creates some interesting situations in attack such as the crushed passage to the ground in transition for Bortolani.
