The latest guest of our column, “The Opinion”, is Geri De Rosa, one of Sky Sport’s basketball journalists. He shares his take on the first five championship games.

"I must mention Montepaschi’s dominance – predictable - but it still must be highlighted because it’s always good to remember that dominance that lasts this long is the fruit of long, careful, precise work. 

As for the others, there’s a lot of balance and each week the situation changes There are a lot of outsiders close to Siena, while the greats, or so-called greats, are having a difficult time. Above all, there’s Rome, who suffered a clean loss to Biella because Angelico è is an excellent team and, in my opinion, right now they’re Siena’s most credible rival. They’ve got a long roster and experience, and the solid mentality they showed in Rome proves it. AS for Lottomatica, the problems that Euroleague might have been hiding came out; they’re there and they emerge when Jaaber doesn’t play an exceptional game.

Milan won an important game in Bologna, because losing would have definitively started a crisis and demonstrated the limits of a Virtus that could have been one of Siena’s most credible rivals.

Speeches aside, Avellino, still with maximum points, deserves credit for building a group and uniting around their coach. They were able to find good players without having an endless budget, and quickly create a good team that is the championship’s biggest surprise.