Azimut Modena defeated 3-1 Lpr Piacenza in last regular season game, and lost at tie break in last Champions League game last wednesday versus Ljubljana, and on tomorrow will host Calzedonia Verona in Quarterfinals Game 1 at PalaPanini. 26 games in total between these two teams, 21 wins for Modena, but last meeting between Modena and Verona was fatal to Roberto Piazza, former Modena’s coach, fired after 5th february loss versus Calzedonia in Verona, a bad loss for Modena. Uros Kovacevic and Michele Baranowicz are former players of Modena, now with Verona. Calzedonia Verona finished in fifth place in regular season, loing last game on the road at PalaEvangelisti versus Sir Safety Conad Perugia. The target of Nikola Grbic’s team is to reach semifinals, historical goal of Calzedonia. Maxwell Philip Holt is a former player of Verona, now with Modena’s jersey. The entire city is dreaming the semifinals, will be difficult versus the defending champs, but Calzedonia is a team in good shape.
Previous Matches: 26 (21 Modena, 5 Verona)
Championship: 2 – 1 win apiece (3-0 Modena and 3-0 Verona).
Former Players: Maxwell Philip Holt Verona 2009-2010, Michele Baranowicz Modena 2012-2013, Uros Kovacevic Modena 2012-2015 (16/12/12).
RECORDS
Championship and Italian Cup: Luca Vettori – 2 blocks to 200 (Azimut Modena).
Lorenzo Tubertini (Azimut Modena): “After alot of high and lows in Regular Season, we are preparing in the best way for the playoffs. Will be a bunch of heartbeat games, and we need to improve on some aspects of our game. With the right approach, we need to start a new championship. The mind aspects in sport are fundamental. We had some high and lows in this final part of the season, but we always had a good level of play. Verona is a tough opponent, they are made to reach the top level of the playoffs,they are trying to reach the semifinals, after two seasons they’re out in the quarterfinals. I hope will be a beautiful game”.
Nikola Grbic (allenatore Calzedonia Verona): “Now we’re approaching the crucial part of the season, we have to look forward and forget what happened in the past. We are fifth in regular season so we will need to win a road game. We expected a sold out arena on tomorrow at PalaPanini, they are great in front of the home fans. Will be an intense and difficult game”.
