Italian Serie A: Three-way Race at the Top

 Things are heating up atop of the Italian Serie A standings lately. There’s a tight three-way race for the league leadership at the moment. Scandone Avellino, EA7 Emporio Armani Milano, and Umana Reyer Venezia all have identical 14-5 records. Former top team, Germani Basket Brescia is just one game behind the trio (13-6), hot on their heels and holding tightly to fourth place in the league standings. If it were not for their 100-72 blowout loss to Openjobmetis Varese, Germani Basket would have made it a four-way tie at the end of Round 19 of the 2017-18 regular season.

Each of the three teams came away with victories in Round 19.

Scandone Avellino came away with a convincing 101-71 victory over The Flexx Pistoia thanks to the efforts of Jason Rich and a resurgent Kyrylo Fesenko, who both scored game-high 18 points. Avellino dominated Pistoia in every statistical category and the previously third-ranked team would be the ones to flex their basketball muscles in this game to shift them to the top spot of the standings in the Italian Serie A.

It came as no surprise that EA7 Armani would handily dispatch with New Basket Brindisi 84-72. The Italian powerhouse leaned on Vladimir Micov who posted 17 points and seven rebounds to lead them to victory. Armani was too big and powerful in the paint for Brindisi to handle. The nine rebound advantage played a big role in the outcome of this game.

It would Umana Venezia that would wind up with the closest game in the round among the league’s top teams. They narrowly edged out Vanoli Cremona 85-83. Umana Venezia committed 20 turnovers in this game, making it far closer than expected. To their credit, Vanoli Cremona made the most of the opportunities presented to them. At the end of the day, the Venetian club had enough composure to seal the deal and take the road win.