Italy coach Simone Pianigiani was hesitant in ruling Fenerbahce’s Gigi Datome out of Eurobasket, amid rumours that he would play a part in the latter stages in Lille.
Datome suffered a muscle strain in Italy’s win over Iceland in Berlin. Originally, he was only ruled out for the group phase, but Italian had reported that he would miss the remainder of the tournament.
Pianigiani has however, definitely ruled Datome out of Sunday’s second round clash with Israel.
“Tomorrow would be impossible that Gigi Datome would be in the game because his injuries are too big for him and I think he’ll be out of Eurobasket,” Pianigiani said to TalkBasket.
“But in any case we will check after as their might be good news after the medical examination but definitely no.”
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Pianigiani also stated that the level of intensity in these games are too much for Datome as well, and he could put more pressure on his injury.
“I don’t know what steps him and the medical staff have decided. It will be day-by-day, but our Eurobasket is only one game [potentially] and we have to be focused on this game.”
Italy face Israel on Sunday, tip-off at 18:30 local time.
