Datome shrugs off personal milestone as Italy reaches FIBA World Cup quarters
MANILA, Philippines — Italy veteran Luigi Datome downplayed a personal milestone in his national team career, as he played his 200th game with the Azzurri in Italy’s 73-57 win over Puerto Rico to move on to the quarterfinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup on Sunday.
Datome, who sparked a pivotal run in the third quarter to help Italy pull away from a pesky Puerto Rican side, deflected all credit and glory to his teammates.
“Regardless, [the game] is very important and [I’m] very happy about the result, I think we deserved the win,” he said, having scored 11 markers in the win.
“We played very good basketball, against a very good team, very dangerous team but I think we deserved the win so congrats to my teammates.”
Datome and the rest of the Azzurri ended a decades-long absence in the World Cup quarterfinals, having last qualified to the knockout rounds back in 1998.
Even with either powerhouse USA or Lithuania waiting in their next game, Datome remains undeterred.
“Yes, we’re gonna think about… First of all, we need to understand who we’re gonna face. For sure, the level’s gonna raise up and also we need to step up to the level but today we enjoy the day because it’s a very important game for us.” he said.
Italy will have to monitor the results of the games between Dominican Republic and Serbia, and the USA and Lithuania to determine the matchups.
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