One of the most prestigious preseason tournaments in Italy tips off tomorrow in Lucca, celebrating its 10th edition. The “Lovari” Trophy represents a key milestone in Napoli Basket’s preparation for the upcoming Serie A season. Coach Alessandro Magro’s team will take the floor against top-level opponents including Partizan Belgrade, Virtus Bologna, and Libertas Livorno.
Napoli opens the tournament tomorrow, Saturday, September 6 at 6:30 PM, facing Partizan Belgrade at the PalaTagliate arena in Lucca. The second matchup of the evening will feature Virtus Bologna vs. Livorno at 9:00 PM. On Sunday, September 7, the 3rd-place game is set for 6:30 PM, followed by the championship game at 9:00 PM between the two winners from Saturday.
How to Watch:
• Part+ (Partizan Belgrade’s official streaming platform) will broadcast both of Partizan’s games. The service is subscription-based, but fans can access a free trial through September 22: https://partplus.rs/partplus/watch/tournament-day-1-i-torneo-pallacanestro-maschile-10-edizione-trofeo-carlo-lovari.
• The Amici della Pallacanestro Lucca YouTube channel will stream the other two games live: https://www.youtube.com/@amicidellapallacanestroluc820.
Coach Magro’s comments:
"It’s been another week since we returned from training camp in Campobasso, and the team continues to work hard. I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve seen in the group day by day. Now we’re preparing to play two very challenging games in the Lucca tournament. Tomorrow we’ll face Partizan Belgrade, a team with extremely high-level players and EuroLeague status, coached by Obradović, the best coach in Europe for what he has accomplished in the past and continues to achieve today. Playing against them will be a great challenge, not only for me and my staff but also for our players. Of course, we’re also ready to see what comes next, when we’ll take on either Virtus Bologna or Libertas Livorno in the following game. There’s still a lot of workload and many tactical situations we need to test. This tournament will be very important and useful for us to speed up our path of improvement.”