Maxima Roma fell 75-94 to Napoli in the Lega A on Saturday evening, a result that leaves the visitors still rooted in tenth place after 28 games. Napoli have won eleven and lost seventeen this season, and this match followed the same pattern they've shown lately — capable of brilliance one night, fragile the next. The scoreline tells only part of the story.
And here's the thing about the shooting: Napoli hit fourteen three-pointers from thirty attempts while Roma managed seven from twenty-four. That's not the kind of disparity you fix with a timeout. Roma's forwards worked the channels but found the rim tight, while Napoli's guards turned to the kids on the bench and still found space. By then the game had already slipped away.
The assist numbers say everything, really. Napoli moved the ball twenty-five times to Roma's thirteen, and you could see the difference in how they created. Roma's guards held the ball too long, looking for their own shot. Napoli's point guard worked the channels, found the open man, and the defense had to rotate twice before anyone got a look. One mistake ends it when your opponents are moving like that.
There was one curious detail in the free throw line. Roma sent thirty attempts from the stripe and made every single one — thirty out of thirty — and it still wasn't enough. Napoli converted ten of fourteen, but their three-point shooting carried them. You don't need perfect free throws when you're hitting forty-seven per cent from deep.
For Napoli the standings haven't moved much. They sit 28 games into the season with 11 wins and 17 losses, and this result doesn't change their position. But the recent form has been uneven — they beat Udine 98-71 in May but lost heavily to Olimpia Milano 125-97. What matters now is whether they can string together wins without relying on one player carrying the scoring load.
