The Italian side responded in style after a couple of difficult weeks
Trento goes from massive disappoint to overjoy after upsetting Hapoel
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6 Mins read
What a difference a week makes. Paolo Galbiati knows that just about better than anybody else as, in the space of a couple of weeks, the Dolomiti Energia Trento head coach went from being a disheartened and apologizing play-caller to the man of the night after his team pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the early BKT EuroCup season.
Galbiati was full of joy after his team surprised title contender Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv 79-73 to snap a two-game losing skid.
“It’s a sweet win. (Hapoel) are unbelievable, the talent they have. But we played with a great heart and a great desire,” Galbiati recognized after the game. “I’m happy for the players. We have to keep pushing. The key was the desire we put on the floor with everybody, no matter the mistakes.”
Those statements came just seven days after Trento fans saw a completely different Galbiati following his team’s 110-70 loss at Bahcesehir College Istanbul in Round 4. Bahcesehir set a number of club records in that win: most points in a game (110), most points in a quarter (37), most points in a half (63), biggest winning margin (40) and most offensive rebounds (17).
The 40-year-old Galbiati said after the loss to Bahcesehir: “We were awful. It happens, we are young without a lot of experience at this level. We have to grow to stay in this competition and prove that we are not this. I want to apologize to our management, our club, our fans, everybody. We played awful. I’m so sad because I am responsible for this.”
The spirits in Trento were much higher after the win over Hapoel.
“This was a great night for us. A great bounce back after the very bad loss we had last week. I think it will be a sweet night for the players because it was a huge win over an unbelievable roster with incredible players,” Galbiati noted.
Stats junkies probably didn’t see this win coming. Not only was Hapoel a much more talented team, but Trento had been playing poorly most of the season.
The team ranked 18th of 20 teams in the league in opposition PIR at 106.8 and 17th in opposition scoring at 89.3 points. Trento ranked 19th in offensive rebounds allowed at 13.3 and created only 11.3 turnovers a game for 18th place.
But Trento held Hapoel to a season-low 73 points, as well as a PIR of 78, just 8 offensive rebounds and 16 turnovers. Hapoel also was second in the league in two-point shooting at 63.0 percent but made just 56.8 percent against Trento’s defense.
The hosts’ offense also showed a better side than usual with 4.2 points more than its scoring average while also shooting 36.8 percent on three-pointers – better than the fourth-worst three-point shooting of 28.6 percent.
“We won this game on defense because we were almost perfect. We will celebrate a little bit and then get back to work,” the Italian coach said.
It really is funny how much difference a week can make.