Olimpia Milano favourite to reach the Italian Cup Finals
The semifinals of Italian Cup are set up, as Venezia will meet Armani Milano while Fortitudo Bologna will face Brindisi for a place in the big final. The first match will be the one to watch because there are big teams with huge expectations and every trophy added to their achievements is welcomed.
Venezia qualified in this semi-final thanks to an overtime victory over Seria A leaders Virtus Bologna. The main reason for their win was Milos Teodosic, who simply played one of the worst games of his entire career. He didn’t care about the game, nor his teammates or their loud fans. He forced a lot of shots and made some rookie mistakes that only a first-time basketball player can do them.
On the other hand, Venezia took advantage of their shots, managed to stay fresh and concentrated until the last second of the game, when they got the win. The main scorers for Venezia were: Stefano Tonut (16 points), Austin Daye (15 points) and Jeremy Chappell (14 points and 7 rebounds).
In quarter-finals, Milano took an easy win over Cremona, 86-62 thanks to a very good defensive display especially from long range where they kept their opponents to only 4 three made out of 18 attempts. They took control of the game from the beginning and build a 16 points lead after the first quarter. Coach Messina used 11 players in the contest which helps their starting players to be fresher and prepared for this game. Kaleb Tarczewski (14 points and 9 rebounds), Vladimir Micov (13 points) and Sergio Rodriguez (9 points and 8 assists) were the main contributors of the team.
It will be a nice encounter, but Milano has the first chance here. Not only because their roster is better and stronger, but because Venezia came after an overtime game against Virtus that took all their power. The fatigue will be felt in this game, especially in the third and fourth quarter, when the fresher roster of Milano will dominate and get a comfortable win.
The only chance for Venezia is to have a very good day from distance and to hope that Milano won’t care too much about this game. But, looking at their basketball display from quarter-finals, I’m pretty sure that the only goal for them is to add another trophy to their huge history.
Photo: Euroleague
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
