By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Italian coaches are the majority in the Euroleague* and Thursday night was a nightmare for three (and also the most famous) of them. Andrea Trinchieri was the only who celebrated his win against Simone Pianigiani, Ettore Messina had a bad night once again facing Xavi Pascual and Sergio Scariolo lost by Bartzokas’ Olympiacos.
One of the biggest surprises so far in the season was Fenerbahce’s loss by Cantu, a team which has one of the lowest budgets in the competition, but after this win has a lot of chances to qualify for second season in a row to Top16. Andrea Trinchieri has less money than last year but created again a competitive unit with great chemistry. On the other hand, Fenerbahce’s management gave to Simone Pinigiani one of the biggest budgets in its history in order to bring to Istanbul big names from all over Europe. The Turkish team was the big favorite for the win, but Cantu overcame Jerry Smith’s injury and prevailed over its opponent by 24 points. A number that shows the desire and the efficiency of the Italians is total rebounds: they had 9 offensive and Fener 15 defensive, which means they got 38% of them in the Turkish paint.
The Italian coach who feels more uncomfortable after Thursday night is Sergio Scariolo. Milan started the season with 3-3 record in Italian championship and after the loss by Olympiacos its future in Europe isn’t so bright. Bourousis didn’t play a lot in the second half, the defense over Spanoulis was bad and the fan base of the team is against him. Although, the rumors about his future are not true, since Milan’s board has denied every scenario about the possibily of hiring Obradovic some weeks ago, supporting the Italian coach. Also the big win in Siena for Italian Legabasket gave him some points and he will stay in Milan. Maybe the moment of the divorce will come at the end of the season when it would be possible for him to choose the Spanish national team as a full time job.
In the biggest game of the week, Ettore Messina lost again by the only other coach besides Zeljko Obradovic who knows so well the way to beat him. Xavi Pascual had before Moscow’s game a great head-to-head record against the famous Italian coach (11-3) and he made it greater. CSKA faced the biggest home loss in its Euroleague history and probably lost the top of the group standings for good. The Russians survived against Lietuvos Rytas and Partizan but Barcelona exposed the defensive woes of the Russians. Of course, there is still time for CSKA to click and Messina’s teams always start to function the way he wants after January-February, so it’s too soon for cries…
*Among the 24 Euroleague coaches five of them are from Italy, three from Spain, three from Lithuania, two from Greece, two from Turkey, two from Serbia, two from Montenegro, two from USA (David Blatt is American-Israeli) and one from Croatia, Slovenia and France.