Italy head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco stood up briefly from his seat and gave Nicolo Melli, sitting beside him, a warm embrace during the postgame presser of their FIBA Basketball World Cup quarterfinal loss to the USA, Monday night.
The national team veteran couldn’t help but turn emotional as the Azzurri witnessed the bitter end of their dream run by way of a 100-63 beatdown in front of 9,764 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
“The reaction of Melli means everything to me,” said the animated mentor, whose personality and wits made him an admired figure in the tourney.
Not only did it end their best run in the quadrennial hoops meet in 25 years, but it was also the Italians’ worst defeat ever in a World Cup game.
Pozzecco, however, refuses to focus on the loss. What matters most for him was the way his charges proved themselves by reaching the quarters.
The former point guard turned mentor even compared his team to a ‘calabrone’ in proving his point that his team wasn’t thought to fly this far, yet they did.
“How do you say calabrone in English? Calabrone. There is one little animal that cannot fly. [Do] You understand me? Bumblebee,” he said.
“My players are saying they are not [supposed] to be here, but they didn’t know, so we came here, [one of the] best eight teams in the world.”
The world no. 10 went 2-1 in Group A but came into the knockouts as the top seed of Group I after beating Serbia and Puerto Rico in the Second Round.
But it was too unfortunate that they had to face the US, who were the second seed in Group J following a shock loss to Lithuania.
Pozzecco lamented how the pairings had gone but he has no complaints whatsoever as he has nothing but admiration for his players’ efforts.
“We cannot fly, but we didn’t know, and they did it. That’s amazing,” he said. “They didn’t deserve it… they didn’t deserve to play against America. Because we were first in our group. My players were first in the group.
“That’s all. I loved all my players before the game, but now even more. I respect them more.”
