You never know how
Vitor Faverani is going to look in any given game. Fortunately, coming off an increasingly bad run after his promising season start, this weekend he rebounded for a very positive showing against Alicante Costa Blanca in the LEB league. Perhaps not by coincidence, he recovered his place in the starting five for this game. After all, hes very much about momentum and motivation, still not a consistent guy from a mental point of view.
What Faverani brought to this game was aggressiveness and a lot of activity. He repeatedly attacked the rim, trying to take advantage of his wonderful physical conditions. The guy is so long, so greatly mobile, and already pretty strong, that he becomes a headache for any defense whenever he decides to use his gifts up to his potential. Vitor delivered three powerful dunks: the first one, after a pick and roll play, a situation where he feels extremely comfortable; the second, just rising up from a standstill position for a one-handed dunk after receiving the ball in the paint, and you can bet he managed to put the ball way above the rim; while the final one happened after he received the ball just in front of the basket on the three-point line, and as nobody came to cover him, he just took a few steps and smashed the ball with his right hand in spectacular fashion.
Faverani kept attacking the rim all the game long, drawing fouls and sometimes scoring off contact for and-one plays. He also had a very nice finish with his left hand, showing soft touch also with his off-hand. In some other game you would see him killing the opponent team from the low post or the mid-range distance, but this wasnt the occasion. There were no low post situations for him to play one on one, and barely any shooting from range. He only once went for an off-the-dribble mid range jumper--in a very complicated move that didnt work, but looked pretty decent-- as the shot clock was running out.
The overall activity he displayed was obvious in the rebounding department, managing to grab 13 captures (to go along with 15 points), 5 of them off the opponent glass. Vitor worried more than usual about boxing out his opponents, and was always ready to pursue the ball on the offensive end, eventually being pretty effective just by tipping the ball to a teammate. Also looking more solid on defense, he still overreacts in some situations, such as fakes or defensive helps. Indeed, he was fouled out after 16 minutes of playing time according to the official stats, although it looked more like 20 minutes at least. Anyway, he particularly shined in the three times that the opposing players challenged his lateral quickness from the perimeter. And one of the highlights of the game was a terrific dunk he had on
Henk Norel.
Anyway, if we have learned anything about Faverani, it is not to get carried away by his good performances. Chances are he will struggle soon, and a lot. However, whenever (and if) he figures out how to stay consistent, the guy is going to be really good.
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