Fioretti: Sassari played the best offensive basketball in the entire second round

The regular season of the Italian championship ends in Milan, but the 30th match of the season still has a lot to say for Olimpia on one side and Dinamo Sassari on the other. In the last round, Olimpia caught Virtus Bologna at the top of the standings and as a result of head-to-head matches they overtook them, so they need a win to keep their lead and enter the playoffs with the advantage of the pitch in all games series that will be able to play. At the same time, Sassari plays in defense of fourth place but could even rise to third if it wins by reaching Tortona. But losing in Milan, she would risk finding herself fifth if joined by Venice. In other words, it will be a match that both teams will play with strong motivations. Dinamo, by the way, is 10-4 in the second round, exactly the same result as Olimpia. This year the two teams, which have marked a good portion of the last decade of Italian basketball with their direct matches, only faced each other in the first leg which Milan clearly won, but it dates back to the month of November. A lot of things have changed since then.

NOTE – The EA7 Emporio Armani Milano-Dinamo Sassari match will be played on Sunday 7 May at 18:00 at the Mediolanum Forum. Click here to buy tickets.

THE REFEREES – Saverio Lanzarini, Christian Borgo, Andrea Valzani.

COACH MARIO FIORETTI – “Sassari played the best offensive basketball in the entire second round. Against them, we will have to try to play a high-level defensive contest in one-on-one, close-out and pick and roll situations. In attack, the first objective is to obtain effective management of the ball by limiting turnovers as much as possible”.

DYNAMO SASSARI – With an amazing second round, Sassari (which is first overall in three-point shooting) has climbed up to fourth place in the standings with still some chance of finishing third. Piero Bucchi’s team plays in an extremely balanced way, with five men averaging double figures and a sixth who produces 9.9 points per game. The leading scorer is point guard Chris Dowe, averaging 14.3 points plus 4.8 assists per game and 39.7% on three-point shooting. The other point guard, who can also play alongside Dowe, is Gerald Robinson who averages 27.9 minutes on the field, scores 12.3 points per game and adds 4.9 assists. The guard sector is completed by the Croatian Filip Kruslin, who often starts in the top five, and has 50.0% from three out of 4.8 attempts per game (he scores 10.2 points per game), and by Stefano Gentile (6.2 points and 2.9 assists per game ). The small forward is Jamal Jones, averaging 11.7 points and 3.8 rebounds, also an excellent three-point shooter (36.9%). The power forward is Dinamo veteran Lithuanian Eimantas Bendzius, 13.6 points, 4.4 rebounds per game and 44.0% on 6.0 attempts, one of the best shooters in the league. The third wing is Kaspar Treier, another shooter, 40.5% from three, 14/15 from the line, 4.4ppg. The center, who arrived at the start of the season to replace Chinanu Onuaku, is DeShawn Stephens, always starting in the quintet, 6.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game. His replacement is Ousmane Diop, averaging 9.9 points with 65.1% shooting from two, but also 5.2 rebounds of which 2.2 are captured in attack. Playmaker Massimo Chessa, winger Giacomo Devecchi and center Luca Gandini also have space.

PREVIOUS VS. SASSARI – There are 56 precedents between these two teams but including the Italian Cup and the Super Cup. The balance is 37-19 in favor of Olimpia. Counting only the championship, the total is made up of 47 matches and the balance is 31-16 in favor of Olimpia. Other numbers: Olimpia is 16-6 in Sassari and 15-10 in Milan against Dinamo. In the playoffs, the balance is 13-10 for Olimpia in single games, 3-2 in the five series played to date. In 2011, quarterfinals, Olimpia won 3-1 by winning twice in Sassari; in 2014 in the semifinals he won 4-2, winning three times out of three in Sassari; in 2015 again in the semifinal Sassari prevailed 4-3 even if Olimpia won Game 6 away: in extra time the defeat of Game 7; in 2019, semifinal, Sassari won 3-0; in 2022, for the fourth time in the semifinal, there was a revenge of Olimpia who won 3-0. Milan and Sassari also met in the 2014 Super Cup final in Sardinia which Dinamo won; in the 2015 Coppa Italia final in Desio, always won by Dinamo; in the 2017 Italian Cup final in Rimini won by Olimpia and in the quarter-final of the Italian Cup in Pesaro last year with a 88-68 victory for Milan.

THE SASSARI CONNECTION – Giacomo Devecchi, cousin of Danilo Gallinari and captain of Dinamo, is a product of the Olimpia youth team where he was coached by Mario Fioretti, one of Coach Ettore Messina’s assistants. This will be the last game of his regular season career. Stefano Gentile played for one year in Milan, 2007/08 season. Dinamo’s coach, Piero Bucchi, has coached Olimpia since 2008 for two and a half seasons with two championship finals reached.