The Reyer playmaker dished a career-best 9 assists and posted a season-high PIR of 32 in the win.
Marco Spissu, Reyer: 'We can be a problem for every team'
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Umana Reyer Venice showed just how strong it can be with an arousing second quarter in a convincing 94-77 victory over Veolia Towers Hamburg.
Reyer blew the game wide open with a 31-17 second quarter as the Italian side won its third game in the last four to move to 4-5 on the fringes of the playoff ranks in Group A.
“We deserved to win this game... I think we were the better team. We had a lot of good minutes but we also had a lot of mistakes,” said Reyer head coach Neven Spahija.
Reyer came into the game allowing the second-fewest offensive rebounds to its opponents. But Hamburg grabbed 12 offensive rebounds - 3.1 more than Reyer’s average.
“They were very aggressive and had 12 offensive rebounds. That is the only thing we did not control today. The other parts of the game we did well, we controlled them. And the end of the second quarter was spectacular,” the coach said.
The game had been tight for the first 15 minutes and the home side led 36-33. Spahija’s men then unleashed a 17-0 run over the next 4:34 minutes to take control of the game with a 53-33 lead. The surge included 3 Reyer three-pointers and 4 forced Hamburg turnovers.
All five Reyer starters scored in double figures - paced by Marco Spissu’s 22 points - and the team dished out 24 assists in shooting 63.9% on two-pointers and 40.9% on three-pointers.
“This was a team win. They were playing really tough defense. We built the gap in the second quarter and in the end, we just managed the game but also did well playing the game,” said Spissu, who also dished a career-high 9 assists and posted a season-best PIR of 32 in the game.
The point guard said this is how the team wants to play - and how it can achieve its goals.
"We just need to play together. If we play together like this, we can be a problem for every team. We need to keep going,” Spissu said.