An interesting Eurocup duel: Trento – Galatasaray
An interesting Eurocup duel: Trento – Galatasaray
The 2019-2020 Eurocup season is about to start today with some very interesting duels. This season it`s going to be very intense with a lot of teams with high expectations fighting for the biggest prize: the presence in the Finals that guarantees the Euroleague participation. In this first round, we have an attractive battle between Trento and Galatasaray.
Dolomiti Trento already played two rounds in the Italian League and managed to get two wins from duels with Pistoia and Reggiana. In both games they have a very good all-around play, scoring many points but also playing very good in defense. This summer they added new American players (Justin Knox, George King, James Blackmon Jr. and Rashard Kelly) but also a very good Italian guy in Alessandro Gentile. In the domestic league, they used a 9-men rotation in both games, which means they have some help from the bench. The main threats from Trento`s roster are: James Blackmon (averaging in first two games 23 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists), Justin Knox (16 points and 5 rebounds) and Andrea Mezzanotte (15.5 points from the bench).
After a disappointing 2018-2019 Eurocup season, Galatasaray starts a new campaign with the goal to pass the first stage and beat their poor record from last season. In order to achieve that, they bring a whole new group of American players: Lazeric Jones, Greg Whittington, Aaron Harrison, Ben Moore and Zach Auguste. Despite those good additions, they lost in the first round of Turkish League against Turk Telekom 66-78. Their shooting didn`t work so well, with only 39,6% shoots made from the field. Their foreign players shoot very well, but their national players didn`t help the team too much scoring only 11 points from the bench.
In this game, Trento are the favourites. Not only because they will play on the home court in front of their fans, but also have a more experienced squad with valuable players coming from the bench. All the difference will be made by the bench points because the starting five is pretty much at the same level.
Photo: www.aquilabasket.it
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
