Pozzecco and his staff prepared the defense in the worst way possible: switch in every PnR situation, allowing Luka to do mismatch hunting, humiliating Gallinari, Melli, Pajola and every defender he found in his way. And on the offense?👇

Luka was never targeted by the handler or in the post, allowing him to rest and avoid foul trouble (his first PF came in the 4Q). The result? Maybe the best first half ever seen in a FIBA competition: 30/5/1 on 69/50/89. He finished with 42/10/1 on 58/46/94. Simply unstoppable.

🇮🇹 allowed 15 OREB and Omic towered over the Italian frontcourt. Actually, Diouf didn’t play bad in the paint and together with Niang, the "show and recover" on Luka kinda worked, but Pozzecco almost never used this solution in the 2nd half.

Fontecchio's 22 PTS and the defense on some possessions against Luka were surely important to complete the comeback in the 4Q, but he wasn’t able to be a real leader in the clutch. Moreover, some distractions were decisive for this loss.

Fontecchio’s offensive foul in a 4-vs-1, Fontecchio's rushed 3 from deep, Niang's 5th foul, Pajola’s open three, Spissu’s crucial shot taken without any sense. And again, Spissu, Ricci and DT showed their true side: they're disruptive players.

And Gallo. I thought the game vs CYP was his swansong, but it was actually yesterday’s 4Q. Without him, 🇮🇹 wouldn’t have cut the lead to just 1 point. And it's funny — the leader of this team has to be a 37 y.o. player with less than 15 minutes in his legs.

And so, the "Poz arc" on the bench ends with the second consecutive failure and yet another summer without even getting close to a medal. Bad luck? Sure, but also a lot of faults on Pozzecco & his staff and on key players.

A "new" chapter opens for the 🇮🇹 basketball team. Some players are clearly at their last major tournament, and some others are on the launch pad (maybe not future superstars, but surely really good players). Forza Azzurri❤️🇮🇹