Ciao to all of you Turkish Airlines Euroleague fans out there! Once again, this is Andrea Cinciarini, playmaker of Bennet Cantu, and this week I would like to talk with you about our Top 16 so far! With two games still to play, we remain alive in the fight to get a berth in the playoffs, but we lost a very important game in Tel Aviv last week. The two consecutive games with Maccabi, the first at home a week earlier, have been really emotional and played like finals.

The atmosphere at Paladesio for the first game was incredible. It was sold out, of course, and the fans were chanting from 30 minutes before the tipoff. They pushed us to the win. Our team was one with the arena and the people. This was our main strength, and together with a great job done by the team, we earned an amazing victory against one of the top European teams.

But in Israel the music was different. After we were leading at the end of the first half by 2 points, in the last 20 minutes, Maccabi's experience and its fans made the difference. We were not able to resist their enthusiasm and their rally. In the end, we not only lost the game, but in doing so by more points than we beat them, we also lost the head-to-head tie-break advantage in the case that we should tie directly with Maccabi.

Now, our next game against Barcelona is a classic matchup in which everyone on our team will have to play at his best. That's what it will take to try to win against this big team and hope to continue our incredible run in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. It will be quite a challenge to play this game, as... more

Ciao to all you Euroleague fans and welcome to the Top 16, another magnificent round of this incredible competition!

Here again, I am Andrea Cinciarini, point guard of Cantù, and I would like to explain to you, how our dream to enter in the best sixteen European teams came true. During the regular season we kept our home court undefeated until the last game, against Fenerbahce, by which time we already had clinched the qualification to the Top 16. One thing is sure: our arena, PalaDesio, is a place where the team and the fans become one, joined all together. They push us from the stands, and we put all our energy and determination on the court to try to win all the games.

In the end, however, our masterpiece came on the road. In Bilbao, we won with a buzzer-beater from our most-experienced player, a man born to take this kind of shot: GINALUCA BASILE!!! He beat the buzzer with an eight-meter shot to give us the qualification to the Top 16. You cannot imagine all the joy we felt of that moment. Many devoted fans followed the team to Bilbao to help us, and we wanted to play a great game to give sense to our participation to our Euroleague. We knew it was a tough task, but we remained focused on our goal and we got it.

Now, we're on the eve of the second Top 16 game against Zalgiris, a very important game because we'll pay at home and also because the two top-class teams of our group, Maccabi and Barcelona, will face each other in the Game of the Week. We must continue to have confidence in ourselves because we showed in the first Top 16 game in... more

Hello again to all the Euroleague fans out there! This is my second blog, and it arrives at the end of the first leg of the regular season. What can I say? How about this: all the teams in our group are still on track to reach the Top 16! Of course, I'm very happy to fight for this goal, but it's an incredibly knotty situation! Our team has a 3-2 record. Since I last wrote, we did our job at home, downing such a prestigious team as Olympiacos. And on the road, we were very close to beating Fenerbahce Ulker in Istanbul. Even this defeat made us understand that we can compete at this level with even the best teams, if we all play all together, sacrifice for each other and leave our hearts on the floor.

Now, I would like to talk about the two games that moved me more than any others: at home against Olympiacos, the atmosphere was incredible. Our fans filled Paladesio and pushed us to the win. They really were the sixth man. They are special and are part of the team and make big contributions to our victories. In this game, I had the honor to face Vassilis Spanoulis, one of the strongest players in the Euroleague. With his great ability to score from downtown, he came very close to winning the game by himself.

In Istanbul, I remained amazed by Sinan Erdem Arena: it's so beautiful! For sure, it will be a great place to hold the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four. It's very difficult to play in this arena, as Fenerbahce's fans are very close to the court and push their players in an extraordinary way. There is also a lot of noise, which makes it very hard to communicate on the court between teammates. Despite all those obstacles, we lost... more

Hello Euroleague fans! I’m Andrea Cinciarini, playmaker for Bennet Cantu. First of all let me say that I’m very happy to be here and to share with you all my happiness for my first-ever game played in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague! It's also a big honor to write on this page and to share with you my feelings, my emotions, my sensations before, during and after the game with Nancy.

This first game was very emotional for me, because since I was a child, my dream was to play even just one minute in the most important European competition. And by doing that, as a starter, on one of the most important and most crowned Italian teams, Cantu, was more than I could have ever asked for. Please, if this is just a dream, don’t ever wake me up! But, after reading all the reports, I can tell that it is real!

The days before the game were very tough, as if the clock never moved ahead, and I was just waiting for the moment to take the court. I would close my eyes and imagine how the game would be, my first shot, my first pass, maybe my first win. I repeated to myself to stay calm and to keep the energy for the game, but I was so excited to go out that I often looked at my watch and counted down the hours left to tipoff, to the start of a new adventure. When I arrived at the arena in Desio, I told to myself: “Now, you have to show you really desire all this, you have to go out and give all you have because this is your debut, and you will never forget it.”

The atmosphere at Paladesio was unbelievable. Our fans are special, unique, and they follow us everywhere. They always support us and never stop to chat. For them it was a return after 18... more