Gigi Datome about Ettore Messina: 'He changed the status of the club' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Giuseppe Cottini/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Giuseppe Cottini/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Luigi 'Gigi' Datome has been one of the most prominent faces in Italian basketball in recent years.

Luigi Datome

MIN:15.32PTS:6.96 (47.93%)REB:1.42As:0.27ST:0.46BL:0.15TO:0.31GM:26ProfileEuroLeague2021/2022

At 34 years old, Gigi has accomplished many feats in his professional basketball career. He is a EuroLeague champion, a EuroLeague Second-Team member, and an Italian League MVP.

"The tension accumulated during the final phase had dropped suddenly as we had matches every two days. A mental tension rather than a physical one," the forward talked about the sacrifices of the playoffs.

"When Messina ordered my substitution, I looked up and saw the full arena, the people singing and jumping, I heard my name chanted and looked at the score on the scoreboard: I realized we had won the Scudetto and the tears came up on their own," Datome remembers.

It was the second year for Datome with AX Armani Exchange Milan and the first Italian championship, the so-called Scudetto, after 18 years when he played for Montepaschi Siena back in the day as a teenager.

"This title has a romantic value," he said. "As a kid I had the chance to win the Scudetto and I wondered what it would feel like to do it with the big boys. Now I know, even if it took many years."

Datome has huge respect for the head coach Ettore Messina. According to the player, everything in the club revolves around the legendary specialist.

"He changed the status of the club. Before him, Milan was a well-organized club that had a large budget and name players but it did not have a European status," Datome explained. "Today it has it. The players he wanted have arrived, the team is increasingly his, consequently, the results have arrived."

Luca Baraldi, the CEO of Virtus Segafredo Bologna, had doubts about the referees' choice for Game 1 of the Finals series. 'I've noticed concern from our fans for the referees on social media. For sure, the referees always do their job in good faith, but these games are not easy ones to handle", Baraldi said to TRC right before Game 1 of the series.

Remembering the series, Datome thinks that this exact moment was when Virtus lost the finals.

"Before the series even started, those from Bologna started talking about our budget, the referees… There I realized that they were afraid of us and I thought, we will win this championship," the Armani Milan forward explained.

Looking ahead, Datome is sure that Milan will continue with its trajectory in the EuroLeague.

"There will be new arrivals, but the team is there. At this level, the important thing is to continue qualifying for the Final Four, then comes the right opportunity to win," he told.

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