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Reggiana have only won two away matches this season

Despite many negative issues about Siena, it didn't influence their results and games. They found the right "chemistry" and are the favorites at home against an extremely weak guests. Both teams are announcing a big fight, and the defense is both team's forte

Looking at historical successes of these two teams, Siena should go to the semifinals. They dominate this region like no one else, as confirmed by seven consecutive champion titles, and they also added five Cup titles, and six Supercup titles. Regardless of the fact that they changed their team a lot in the last years, they have always been breathing as one. This year's team are perhaps the weakest one in the last ten years, but they showed their true colors once again, and ended the regular part of the league season in second place.

Even though they lost their best player Hackett in the middle of the season, Haynes and Janning came, and they proved to be a great supplement to Green, Hunter, and Carter. The centers Ress, Ortner, and Nelson are really experienced, and coach Crespi arranged them all in a great way. Their forte is the defense, confirmed by the statistics that show they only conceded 70.5 points per match, least of all clubs, in the 30 rounds played. 

They can tell this season is a success even now, they've won the Supercup, played the national Cup finals, and come to playoffs from the great second place. They played the second part of the season in a great form, and most importantly, with no injuries issues.

Unfortunately, negative things about Siena became talked about more frequently lately. The ex president Minucci was arrested for ducking taxes, and the club is in the liquidation process, so nobody knows what will happen to them yet. It didn't influence the team's result so far, and coach Caspi wasn't talkative before the match against Reggiana, but he rarely is:

- Emotions are always intense in the playoffs, and that's exactly what we based our season on. Reggiana are a talented and experienced team that we have a lot of respect for, but what's important for us is that Eric Green will be ready for the match.

Captain Tomas Ress offered a bit more insight:

- It will be a tough match where I expect a lot of physical struggle. There will be fighting for every ball, and considering the tensions on the court, nerves and being able to control the rhythm will be important. We want to end the season the best way possible, and if there are things about the club that draw the attention away, we're completely focused. It will be an evened out series, the matches from the regular part show it.

Considering the league being evened out so much, especially the first ten teams, they'll have a big obstacle in the quarterfinals already. The fact that they play well enough both at home and in away matches will certainly be a big advantage.

The same can't be said about Reggiana who could have big problems if they don't fix their effect in away matches. They have a lot of self-confidence when playing at home, and are one of the best home teams with 13-2 ratio. In away matches, they're a total opposite, with 2-13 ratio. They only defeated Pesaro and Bologna.

Menetti is leading the team for the third year in a row, and these are their second playoffs. Last year, they were stopped in the quarterfinals by Roma, who played the finals later on, but they brought the series to the end, the seventh match.

Compared to that team, they're much stronger this year, especially because of the ex NBA players, the wing James White, experienced back Kaukenas, Milan's ex player Gigli, and there are also the young hopes Della Valle, Silins, and Cervi. They're all lead and coordinated by Italy's national team point guard, Andrea Cinciarini, who ended the regular part of the season as the best assistant in the league (6.5 per game).

They had a huge success in Eurochallenge, too, which they won by defeating Triumph. They had a few very valuable away wins within that competition, wins that got them to the Final Four, against Krka and Krasnye Krylya. 

Like with Siena, their strongest weapon is the defense. They ended the regular part as the 4th best defense of the league (74.5), so it's clear this series should be marked by a big battle in each match. The matches in the regular part confirmed it, Reggiana celebrated in the first match with 67-59, and Siena in the second with 65-55.

- A new league starts with the playoffs. We should forget everything we accomplished by now, and focus only on ourselves and the series we'll have against Siena. All teams that are in the playoffs deserved it, and Siena's second place isn't an accident. They know how to win and we're aware we'll have a tough task. Regardless of everything that's going on with their club, I'm convinced they'll be ready, on their top level - Reggiana wing Antonutti said, and coach Menetti added:

- Siena are an experienced team, title defender, but we don't want to just let them pass in this series. They're really athletic and talented, so we have full respect for them. This is a big success for all of us, we have a big will and energy to play the game right. The team are well, except for some minor problems with Pini and Filloy, but we hope they'll be ready. 

The games played yesterday have shown a clear difference between regular season and the playoffs. The intensity was higher and Sassari played a 148-point game. I expect the same thing today, especially between Siena and Reggio. This is a clash of the first (Siena 70.5 ppg) and the fourth (Reggiana 74.5 ppg) defense in the league and it's clear this aspect should prevail today. The first two head-to-heads ended with 128 and 120 points, and today's margin is a must-take. The statements from both camps reflect that this will be a battle for every ball, with lots of physical contact and tensions. Even though the 148-point margin is available on several locations, I will assume that a low-scoring game has some chance of going into overtime, and the margin of 146.5 points still has certain value and is definitely worth taking.