By REYNALD MAGALLON
Italy head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco and veteran Nicolo Melli turned emotional after their dream run in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup ended at the hands of the mighty USA.
They just suffered a 100-63 beatdown cutting short a dream run that ended a 25-year quarterfinals absence and could have been stretched to the semis where the Azzurri would be ending a 45-year Final Four drought.
Italy did its best, beating Serbia on The way to topping its second round group only to be paired to Team USA in the crossover quarters.
“You need to be a little bit lucky. I think we did everything in our group, we arrived here first… I’m really proud to be part of this group, this team,” said Melli who couldn’t contain his tears during the post-game presser.
“This time we deserved maybe a little bit better, a little bit more. We deserved to overcome the quarterfinals, but you need to know how to win, how to lose,” he added.
Italy could have gotten a better chance of advancing to the semis if it faced a relatively weaker team as compared to Team USA. The Americans’ shock loss to the Lithuanians, however, set up the inevitable clash against the world powerhouse.
Pozzecco also shared the sentiments of Melli, noting that playing the US team in the knockout stage is not a reward for topping the second round of the group stage.
“They didn’t deserve to play against the United States, because my players were first in their group. That’s sport. I loved my players before the game and now even more. I respect them more today,” he rued.
Hurting but proud was Pozzecco for his team, saying that Italy defied expectations in the tournament and related their dream run to a bumblebee.
“Everybody in the world was thinking that we have no chance to win this game. There is one little animal that cannot fly, but it doesn’t know it, so it flies. Bumblebee,” said Pozzecco.
“We cannot fly, but we didn’t know. And my players did it. That’s amazing,” he added.
