The 2015 Basketball team finished the first phase of the championship ahead of all its opponents. A prestigious result, snatched at the last minute by virtue of the victory over Trieste last Sunday and the simultaneous knockout of Fortitudo on the Verona pitch, after overtime. The red and white team is now enjoying its platinum placing, which allows it to look to the near future with optimism. Unieuro is in great shape and the calendar for the second phase, which will start next weekend, is ‘benevolent’.
Cinciarini and his teammates have in fact avoided the crossroads with the bogeyman Trapani (only one defeat in the season, in October) and also the loose cannon Treviglio of Giorgio Valli, seventh in the Green group but with declared intentions of promotion. Both would have been on the path to Forlì if they had finished in second place. The Forlì team, therefore, are preparing to face the five teams in the Green group that follow them in the standings (in terms of position occupied in the ranking) and the five that precede them. The former will land at the Unieuro Arena, while Cinciarini and his teammates will have to face the others at home.
The ‘focus’ is therefore on the five big names that will emerge in the coming weeks in via Punta di Ferro. Above all, two names inevitably emerge, namely those of Cantù and Torino, respectively second (34 points) and third (30) of the Verde. Both rosters of a certain caliber, ready to play a leading role until the end, the past is recent with both the Lombards and the Piedmontese. Cantù was Pallacanestro 2,015’s opponent in the first playoff round two seasons ago, with the Brianza team victorious 3-1. Turin, however, eliminated Unieuro from last year’s Italian Cup, violating the Palafiera parquet, in January 2023, in a very high intensity match (complete with a thrilling final). The other home opponents are easier on paper: Sebastiani Rieti (next weekend’s opponent), Juvi Cremona and Urania Milano. These are rivals to be taken with a pinch of salt, of course, but, at the same time, Forlì inevitably starts with the underdogs
Away from the friendly walls, then, Antimo Martino’s team will be called upon to face challenging away matches in terms of distance and ‘heat’ of the sports halls in which they will take the field. However, even in this case, the red and whites are favourites: the most fearsome opponents have won eight victories in twenty-two games. Precisely Luiss Roma and Vigevano, stuck in the standings at 16 points, are on paper the main suspects of playing a dirty trick on the Romagna players. The Romans have found the right solution with the addition of Ty Sabin (playing on the fourth day, at the beginning of March), while, on the Lombard front, the greatest danger comes from the stands, with the Vigevano sports hall historically hot and treacherous. Finally, the picture is completed, in order of ‘appearance’, by trips to Agrigento, Casale Monferrato and Latina. Matches in which Unieuro will necessarily have to capitalize on their technical skills to the maximum and gain significant points for the head-to-head with Fortitudo with a view to first place also at the end of the second phase.
2024-02-06 23:47:29
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