Reggio Emilia The last effort, between plasters and energy that goes away. He must try to put together the remaining forces, Unahotels which today at 6.15pm they will play in Mestre against Umana Reyer Venezia in the replay of the last, bitter championship quarter-finals. Form down, mood up Reggio arrives at this match far from fully fit, but with high spirits after winning the two “must win” matches in this period, namely the home matches with Tortona and Wroclaw. The first leaves the red and whites in a quiet position in the standings, and with a view to the Italian Cup; the second guarantees access to at least the play-offs in the cup.
Despite being in bad shape, with absences and sore playersUnahotels did what they had to do, now they are preparing for the away challenge against Reyer with a light heart, ready to give themselves a tasty icing on the cake before the long-awaited break. The two-week break will be good for a group that today will be without Grant, who is out due to a toe problem, and will have Vitali, Winston, Faye and Smith not at their best. Vitali returned on Tuesday after the break due to a sprained ankle and was immediately called upon to play more playing time. Faye has been slowed down by a painful toenail injury, Winston has to live with a quadriceps injury from two weeks ago, which is improving. Smith plays with a bandaged finger on his left hand and is coming off a week of flu. The fever did not prevent him from winning the match against Wroclaw on his own, but the fatigue will be there. And over there there will be one of the most physical and qualitative teams in Serie A.
Not that Venice is all that much betteror, without playmakers Ennis and Fernandez and with half the team still recovering after returning from the many injuries that have hampered Umana’s progress over the past month and a half. Reyer is recovering, you can see it from the results and performance, but the orogranatas are also coming from a particularly intense period and the energies, even with a very deep squad, are certainly not at their peak. The game plan The absence of two role playmakers will lead Moretti and Casarin, two flexible wingers, to take on the role of primary game builders, supported by guard McGruder, a scorer who is growing in confidence. On the outside, Reggio has what it takes to compete and also to squeeze a lot of the surviving opponents. The matter between wingers and centers is very different. Venezia has enormous physicality and athleticism to exploit, with the center Kabengele and the wingers Parks and Simms, combined with the technique and size of Wiltjer and Tessitori. Coach Spahija relied precisely on this solidity and physicality in the emergency
The Human has the 16th attacknot even 75 points on average, but boasts the best defense on par with the league leaders with 75.4 conceded, and is third in rebounding, with 38.7, thanks to the dominant Kabengele, first in the specialty with 13.4 on average. Unahotels, driven by Momo Faye and a good organization, can play, third best defense with 78.6, fourth in rebounding with 38.7 and strong of the second rebounder in Serie A, the usual Faye who travels at 9.4 per game. On paper, it promises to be a tough, tactical match, full of contacts in the area and duels of muscles and intensity. Finding fluidity in attack, and good shooting percentages from outside, will be decisive, as will keeping the number of turnovers to a minimum. To stay afloat, they will need the excellent Winston seen in these last few races and a Cheatham who continues to grow as he is doing. Accelerating the pace in Reyer’s home is always dangerous, not to mention that rebound supplies could be more complicated. l © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
