Stop Virtus: the defense is there, but only in parts

DYNAMO

76

VIRTUS BOLOGNA

68

DYNAMO: Cappelletti 8, Bibbins 12, Piredda n/o, Turchetti n/o, Halilovic 10, Fobbs 16, Tambone 7, Veronesi 3, Bendzius 16, Vincini 4, Renfro n/o, Gazi. Coach Bulleri.

VIRTUS BOLOGNA: Cordinier 1, Accorsi black, Belinelli 12, Pajola 13, Visconti black, Shengelia 5, Grazulis 5, Morgan 7, Polonara, Diouf 12, Akele, Tucker 13. Coach Ivanovic.

Referees: Lo Guzzo, Dori, Capotorto.

Notes: Partials: 25-16; 41-37; 61-51. Two-pointers: Sassari 10/26; Bologna 19/28. Three-pointers: 17/36; 8/27. Free throws: 5/11; 6/8. Rebounds: 39; 25.

An intermittent defense is not enough for Virtus to win at PalaSerrdimigni. In addition to the expected absences of Will Clyburn and Ante Zizic, there is also that of Daniel Hackett, stopped by gastroenteritis and this sudden defection magnifies the problem that the Bolognese have been dealing with for at least three weeks: the rotations are too short to face both the championship and the Euroleague.

In practical terms this difficulty translates into a lack of energy well described by the statistics with the guests capturing 25 rebounds, of which only one offensive, against the 39 of the Sardinians demonstrating how the hosts have an extra gear. The main merit of Sassari, however, lies in the precision in heavy shooting with 51 of the 76 points scored by Dinamo that came from triples for a total of 17/36. Having celebrated the first victory of coach Massimo Bulleri in Serie A, there are only two things to save from the black and white performance: what Rayjon Tucker did as soon as he was given some space and confidence and the fact that the players did not drift despite being down for the entire game.

Sassari started off strong, immediately going up by 15 points (25-10), then came the Virtus reaction orchestrated by Tucker, who brought his team back to -1 (33-32).

Again thanks to the triples, the locals try to regain the lead in the third quarter, reaching a 14-point lead (57-43), but by relying on the duo formed by Alessandro Pajola and Marco Belinelli, the guests once again get back to -5 (67-62) with 3'50" to play.

At this point two heavy baskets by Bibins with a missed dunk by Isaia Cordinier in between put an end to the game. Hoping to recover both Hackett and the many energies spent in these last seven days, Friday the Black V will play in Istanbul against Fenerbahce.