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Milano the better team but Sassari stunned them many times so far

Milano sailed past Bologna in the quarterfinal series (3-0) while Sassari in the end took advantage of the lack of experience at Trento after initial struggles (3-1). These two teams met in semifinals last year as well and Milano won 4-2

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A meeting between the first and the fifth team of regular season might not sound too interesting but many Italian basketball fans wanted to see these teams meet in the final. Milano are defending champions who did the regular season almost perfectly but Sassari already have two trophies, having won the first one precisely against this opponent. 

They won the Supercup trophy before the start of the season (96-88) and Milano could have use that as a pretext for losing. The Cup, however, was played mid-season and the team from Sardinia (101-94) confirmed once again that Milano and them are great rivals. 

We are in for another exciting series, there is no doubt about it because Milano proved that Sassari don't suit them over the past two years, which is why Sassari were branded Anti-Milano. But this year's Milano is different from last year's Milano. Two championship wins this season (111-112, 97-80) proved that they now have a solution for the Sardinia-based team.

M.COLOMBO PH

Both teams are well-rested, Milano especially. They definitely had an easy task against the young team from Bologna in quarterfinals to record two wins home (90-67 and 99-72) and then get the job done in the first game in Bologna (92-65). 

- It was great we opened the series with another great game. We displayed calmness and a consistently good game in a tough away meeting. We've had very good flow and excellent defense throughout the series - Banchi said after the Bologna wins.

Milano's team captain Gentile finished the series with team-high 16 points per game on average while the other guards Hacket (13p) and Brooks (11p) followed suit. Samuels was not at his regular season level but his contribution will play a very important role in this series. Sassari do not have a player capable of defending him, which should result in more points on his part. 

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It's not even necessary to talk about Milano's dominance in that series, especially in the physical segment. They definitely have the biggest roster in the league and that is their greatest advantage in playoffs. Banchi used all 11 players against Bologna and other than Hackett, who was given 28 minutes on the floor in the first game, no one else spend more than 24 minutes in. On top of it all, Milano had 7 days to rest and prepare for this game.

- We are to face a very competitive team that has enough players, the technical quality, athleticism and experience. That is why this will be a test for our potential and ambition and we have to play at our top level - Banchi said.

While Milano played Bologna, Sassari were dealing Trento. Things's weren't looking up when they lost 62-31, which was their thrid defeat to Trento in a row. But Sasscheti is a well-experienced coach and his decision to put Devecchi and Kadji in the starting lineup instead of Brooks and Sanders turned out to be great. 

They first tied the series at 1-1 (79-88) on account of mental toughness and better choice of players and then recorded two convincing wins home (103-78 and 84-80) even though the final score of the last game suggests otherwise.

The key segment for the win in that quarterfinal series was rebounding, which Sassari did brilliantly. Interestingly, the two players who played key roles in those 3 wins were substitute guards Sosa and Formenti. The Dominican was a total surprise with 16.5 points on average while Formenti played the key role in defense because he completely stopped league's top scorer Mitchell.

What Saccheti and the fans can be worries about are performances by Dyson and Logan. Sassari have been doing great all season long lead by those two players as they were combining 31 points per game. But that dropped to 21 point in the Trento series. Dyson did especially badly to average only 22% shooting from the floor with only 8.5 points. Logan had his ups and downs but he made up for everything in the final game by scoring 27 points after scoring 26 in the three others combined. His good performances will be very important in getting past Milano's defense, which is the top defensive end in the league conceding an average of 72.9 points. 

Sachetti knows the task will be tough but he knows they stand a chance:

- We made it into round two and we are playing the top Italian team Milano. We proved that we an play good games against them and we know that we need the top performances for it. We cannot think about the series as a whole but rather take it one game at a time.

Efficiency on the offensive end will be important but the defense will play an even more crucial role. Milano are the best offensive end in the league with an average of 86.8 points while Sassari conceded 81 point on average throughout the season. There is no way Sassari can win four games like that and the coach talked about that segment as well:

- We need all of our defense potential and we cannot allow them to make a big difference in the paint. The defense and the offense need to be balanced out, we need to know when to stop and think. We tried different offense sets against Trento but everything would always start with good defense.

Sachetti knows Milano are a threat from every position:

- They have a dominant center that is one of a kind in this league. Kleiza is a dangerous shooter while Gentile and Brooks lead the team. They are complete and they an hurt you in different ways. That is why they have 20 wins in regular season.

He talked about his team's health status which is rather good:

- Sachetti suffered a blow to the calf, Dyson has had some problems with his shoulders for a while now. All of that is normal at this point in the season. 

Milano and Sassari met 13 times in the last 2 seasons. Milano won 8 of those games and both championship matches last season and the semifinal playoff series 4-2. But Sassari's win in Cup quarterfinals was a massive blow. Sassari went on to win the title. Sassari stunned them again this season to take the Supercup trophy and then the Italian Cup mid-season, while Milano won only the unimportant league games. What's interesting is the fact Sassari never won home - they recorded wins either at Mediolanum Forum or on neutral grounds. 

It will be an interesting series, no doubt about it but the fact is, Milano have the upper hand at both ends of the floor. They are just a tad better in offense, scoring an average of 86.1 points per game while Sassari score 85.0. Besides, Milano are much more efficient with two-point shooting of 59.1% (best in the league). Sassari are at 51.8%. They take 7 3s more than Milano on average but the opponents are more efficient when it comes to that segment as well. They are the best team in the league when it comes to shooting from three-point range (37.8% compared to Sassari's 34.8%. We already talked about defense, which is going to be the key to this series.