In just his second game on the sidelines for the French club, Coach Gianmarco Pozzecco guided ASVEL to a memorable come-from-behind victory.
The Pozzecco factor already leaving its mark on ASVEL
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Gianmarco Pozzecco arrived at LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne as a head coach driven by his passion. And the Italian playcaller’s energy and push from the sidelines has immediately had an impact on the French team, which snapped the EuroLeague’s second-longest losing streak in history in just his second game at the level.
Pozzecco’s famous energy was fully on display just after the buzzer of ASVEL’s 88-91 win at Zalgiris Kaunas. The 51-year-old ran along the sidelines to shake hands with the Zalgiris coaching staff before dashing back to his players and jumping onto a group of them as if they had won the EuroLeague crown. He was held up by the players and Pozzecco was screaming in joy.
"I am really [expletive] happy. You cannot even imagine, because I love my players just like my wife and my daughter. That is the only way I can coach," said Pozzecco, who was leading his second EuroLeague game after taking over from TJ Parker.
At the post-game press conference, Pozzecco apologized for his behavior after the final buzzer: "I want to apologize to [Zalgiris Coach Kazys Maksvytis] because I shook his hand so fast because I wanted to be with my players immediately and celebrate with them."
Pozzecco has not changed his demeanor at all from previous positions, most notably the Italian national team. He was ejected from the Round of 16 of the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 against Serbia and, after Italy finished off a shocking come-from-behind win, Pozzecco famously raced back into the inner bowl of the arena to celebrate with his players.
The Italy team then nearly beat heavily favored France in the quarter-finals. At the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, Pozzecco helped Italy reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 25 years.
Pozzecco had success before that though too. He played for nearly 20 years as a small point guard with good technical skills and an excellent shooting touch. He won two Italian League championships and also captured the silver medal with Italy at the 2004 Olympics. As a coach, Pozzecco guided Dinamo Sassari to the FIBA Europe Cup crown in 2019.
The ASVEL players definitely have accepted Pozzecco's passion, which he has brought along with his long-time assistant coach and right-hand man Edoardo Casalone.
"[Pozzecco] gives a lot of passion for sure. As you know, when the coach changes in every team all over the world there is always a reaction from the players. Now we just need to keep it as much as possible for the rest of the season," said ASVEL center Joffrey Lauvergne.
Even though Pozzecco has only been with the team for less than two weeks, the ASVEL players have already bought into the Italian’s ideas. That was clearly evident by Paris Lee’s reaction to Pozzecco late in the game - something the coach called "amazing" when he recalled it afterward.
ASVEL had finally in the fourth quarter been getting defensive stops after giving up 80 points through 30 minutes. But the French side was struggling to produce offensively and still trailed 86-82 with 3 minutes left.
Pozzecco said he was thinking about putting Lee back into the game because it needed the playmaker’s offense. But at the same time, the coach didn’t want to change up the switching defense his players had been performing so well in coming back from 13 points down late in the third quarter.
"[Paris] looked at me and winked and said: 'Are you sure coach? They are playing good.' I said: 'Okay Paris, you choose what you want to do.' He said: 'Let ‘em play'," Pozzecco recalled.
"That is something that for me is more than anything else. With this kind of atmosphere building a relationship in the locker room between players means a lot for me because I was only here one week. That signal was unbelievable."
ASVEL ended up winning and snapping a losing streak that dated back 9 months and 7 days. And everyone around the club hopes the worst is behind them.
"We will need time to fix everything," Pozzecco said. "But I am really happy to be with ASVEL. We will surprise people. I hope."
It wouldn’t be a surprise given the team’s talent and Pozzecco’s passion.