Fortitudo advances to playoffs, Vuelle eliminated: reflections after defeat at Paladozza

It ends with the team saying goodbye to the fans who followed them in this last battle, but from the red and white segment the greetings are sad: someone applauds, someone rants, someone else stays with their heads down, many are too busy responding to the mockery of the Bolognese that hurts their pride. Fortitudo moves forward and will find Cantù in the quarterfinals, Vuelle is already on vacation when the playoffs have yet to start: if they had told us in August we would not have believed it. It is a melancholic return home, full of questions and reflections. The theory that it is the outside players who decide the games against Fortitudo, who chose two American big men in contrast with the rest of the A2 teams, has been denied: Freeman (22 points and 7 rebounds) and Gabriel (30 points and 13 rebounds) massacred the opposing pack, proving unstoppable, one from below and the other from the arc. And if Ahmad did his part, King disappointed, finishing with just 4 points with 1/9 shooting. We will have to figure out how to retouch (or rebuild?) this roster to try again. The word end is written in a packed and hot Paladozza. It may not be the most modern building in Italy, but it is certainly the most suitable for playing a basketball game. The stands that drop straight down to the court, the first rows practically a few centimeters from the parquet, the lights centered on the game boards, in short, a fantastic setting where playing is always a strong emotion. The Fossa dei Leoni takes up a quarter of the sports hall, everyone standing, singing from start to finish, regardless of the outcome of the match. For any fan base it is a big challenge to get here and try to hold their own. But the Pesaro fans try: there are 217 of them, packed into the away sector, plus others scattered in the other sectors, where tickets were sold freely and so the red and white fans took advantage of it, even though cheering side by side with the Bolognese is not advisable. When the referees raise the tip-off, the Pesaro ultras have not yet entered, there are only about ten kids, probably university students in the Dotta who have easily reached Piazza Azzarita. But when they arrive they make themselves heard, they get excited when the team lights up again, they respond blow for blow to the chants, but in the end they have to fold up the flags.

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