Reggio Emilia in search of a big win in Mediolanum Forum
A big derby will take place in Milano today, where Olimpia Milano will meet Reggio Emilia in round 11 of Legabasket. Last season Olimpia won both games with a huge win in front of their fans 100-75. Let’s see if Reggiana has any chances to won at Mediolanum Forum.
After a very good start of the season, Milano started to feel how is too loose like again, after several defeats suffered in last games. They’ve lost against Fortitudo two rounds ago and also in the last round of Euroleague, they were simply smashed by Olympiacos 91-70. This game was one to forget for Rodriguez and co, with many mistakes, poor shooting, losing the rebounds and assists battle. Everything was wrong for them in this game. They recorded only 8 assists and 23 rebounds, compared to 14 and 37 for Olympiacos. They had a 4 point lead after the first quarter, but after halftime, they were behind all the game. The main contributors were: Sergio Rodriguez (14 points and 3 assists), Nemanja Nedovic (12 points) and Vladimir Micov (11 points). Arturas Gudaitis is still out.
The only concern for Reggiana this season is to catch a playoff berth in Legabasket and rebuild a new and competitive roster for further seasons. Since now, after 9 games they have a 5-4 record and are on 7th place. In the last game against Varese, they stopped two games losing streak, with a nice win 81-74, a win that came in the last quarter. The match was balanced, but in the last quarter, helped by their fans, Reggiana took the win and that gave them a huge morale boost before this big and awaited game. Their shooting didn’t work so well, but they took advantage of Varese’s silly defense and scored 26 from 31 from the free-throw line. The main contributors were: Simone Fontecchio (19 points and 4 rebounds), Darius Johnson-Odom (16 points and 3 assists), Reggie Upshaw and Gal Mekel with 11 points apiece.
Milano needs a victory here because their morale is low after 4 defeats in the last six games. To achieve that, they need to defend well because Reggiana has some good scorers there and if they raise the shooting numbers, will be a problem for Olimpia. Simone Fontecchio is in good shape and I expect another good game from him against the former team.
Photo: Euroleague.net
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
