Italy, what a debut: 83-62 against Estonia as Fontecchio and Polonara

Strong, meticulous and convincing in terms of the chemistry of the game, Italy is making its positive debut in the European Championship which sees it capitalizing on its advantage over Estonia. In the Forum there is the right atmosphere to push the Azzurri after Giannis’ showing in Greece and Croatia but above all there is Simon Fontechio, the recognized captain, a shooter with fairy hands, a player with great confidence. It is he who gives the first acceleration with a three-point shot. But the first quarter slips in the balance.

long blue

–

In the second quarter, Mannion and Fontecchio again pushed 14-0 in part, also buoyed by Captain Datome’s travels. At +15 (35-20) Italy sits for a moment and the Estonians take the opportunity to get back to 37-31 with adrenaline at Kriisa, a league in Arizona. Before the break comes another blue dump with the astronomical trio of regular Fontecchio and stealing baskets from Ricci and Polonara: break 15-2 until Azzurri goes to rest on +19 (52-33) with Fontecchio top scorer at 17 with the entire team producing shot percentages Excellent: 63% of two, 47% of three and a +14 chart on rebound balance (25-11).

violent

–

Italy got more aggressive in the second half and Milli started to climb up with strikes. It’s up to him and Polonara, the new twins for the national team, to reach their maximum advantage at +23 (67-44). The ball continues to spin well, Fontecchio’s tackles are no longer needed, Datome even resumes scoring and Mannion is back to press hard. Bose gets angry or pretends to be angry to keep the tension high in the quintet: Coach picks Ritchie down rudely, then hugs him and kisses him on the bench. There hasn’t been a game in a while. Tomorrow instead we will have to fight up to 40 minutes on all balls to stop the Greece Super Giannis. But she was known even before this debut.