Sergio Scariolo during the official post-game press conference after the Siena’s game: “It’s been a game filled with a lot of tension, I think it’s clear we had a great approach defensively, one of the things we stressed the most during the week. Our team has got a complicated, particular kind of mental toughness. We understood during the season that the defensive intensity we apply early very often is going to set the tone for the rest of the game. Generally speaking, it’s been a game where we defended well, we made some silly mistakes in the fourth and Siena was kept alive because of those mistakes, I mean a thee-point shooting foul, an offensive rebound allowed when we’re up by five, an uncontested three-pointer… Defensively the fourth period was not the best. But the third was great, we came out of the locker room down by seven but with the right frame of mind and a clear understanding of what we needed to do to get back into the game. We struggled in the second against their well done zone defense. We were too passive in bringing the ball inside, we rushed some three-pointers… And still we kept them under 70 points scored in both games, in both games we grabbed more rebounds and dished more assists. That’s signficant of what we wanted to do, pass the ball and defend. Regardless of details, in such kind of game they can be both positive or negative, we unselfishly passed the ball and the defensive effort was high: that was really important”.

About the future: “I’d like to answer this question saying different things, but honestly we must admit that from a mental standpoint, thinking about our capability in keeping our concentration in spite of the opponent’s name, in keeping it during the course of the game or after a big win, we cannot define ourselves as a reliable team. We need more good games, win or lose, in terms of approaching them correctly, playing with intensity and playing together. I’d like to make a great prediction about our future but we need to stay grounded and remeber that the next game is gonna be very difficult. If we’ll be prepared to compete after practicing the way practiced before Siena then we’ll make a great stride in the right direction”.

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