Reggio Emilia, 25 November 2024 – A few days after the clear success in Reykjavík, The Italian Basketball team in Reggio Emilia falls in the back to back with Iceland which won 81-74. A painless defeat for the Azzurri who took to the field with the certainty of participating in the next European Championships in their pocket thanks to Turkey’s victory over Hungary before the match at the PalaBigi. The Azzurri still have a step backwards in terms of play, as this evening they were never able to get into rhythm and paid the price for their poor continuity over the 40′ and poor percentages especially in the paint (40% from two) and at the free throw line (45%). On the other hand, Iceland was able to build its success by putting great pressure on the Azzurri’s outside players and finding themselves in attack in Kristin Palsson the spearhead to pierce an Azzurri defense that has been going on and on. Well, on the Icelandic front, also the duo Fridriksson-Gudmundsson, while on the Azzurri front the last to raise the white flag was Giampaolo Ricci, which closed at 18.
Race report
A very complicated start for Italy: the centimeters under the boards of Hlinason are an almost unsolvable puzzle for the Azzurri who suffer from the energy of Iceland. In attack for the Poz boys things are certainly not going better: Vitali alone is not enough to make money. Italy, in fact, struggles to move the ball with fluidity and insists on long-distance shooting, paying a very high price: all six of the first three-pointers attempted by the Azzurri are in fact shattered on the rim, allowing Iceland to try to escape and take a +13 lead sealed at the free throw line by Fridriksson. Not even a technical foul given to CT Pozzecco is enough to turn the inertia of the game and so at the first break Iceland finds itself ahead 22-9, with Italy stuck at 4/16 shooting. In the second half, however, the score changes as does the pace of the Azzurri who, to go against the flow, raise the defensive intensity. Iceland’s percentages from the arc drop drastically (3/14 in the second 10′) and the baskets of Akele and the darling of the PalaBigi crowd, Michele Vitali, are balsamic to erode points from Iceland’s lead, which, thanks to a triple from the 1991 class, finds itself only at +1.
However, Italy fails to catch up and so Fridriksson and former Fortitudo and Pesaro player Gudmundsson are able to give the visiting team a break and they return to the locker rooms with a +3 lead (29-32).
Upon returning to the parquet, Italy completed its climb with Ricci which stands as an absolute protagonist of the first half of the third quarter and, with eight points in a row, signs the overtaking and the +4 for the Azzurri. A burst of energy that the Italian basketball team is unable to maintain. In fact, Iceland finds in Fridriksson, Pallson and Bjornsson the weapons to put a stop to the Azzurri’s verve and take the lead again with 10 minutes to go. The penetrations of the small players and the baskets of Fridriksson are real thorns in the sides of Pozzecco’s team. who in the fourth quarter comes back into apnea, sinking to -14 on Pallsson’s triple with 3’30” to go (63-77). Ricci, however, does not want to raise the white flag and with three triples in a few moments tries to reopen the game but by then it is too late because the final free throws by Palsson and Fridriksson put the seal on the Icelandic victory at the free throw line.
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Publish date : 2024-11-25 14:33:00
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