101 Greats of European Basketball

The Italian bomber
It was April 9, 2000, a game between Bipop Reggio
Emilia and Canturina Cantu. The hosts won 97-80
but that date went into the record books of Italian
basketball because that’s the day when Antonello
Riva, who was born on February 28, 1962, in Rovagnate,
scored 19 points to surpass Oscar Schmidt
and become the leading scorer of all time in the Italian
League. That day, Riva reached 13,965 points, 8 more
than “Holy Hand” Schmidt, but he ended up finishing
with a total of 14,397 points. The game was interrupted
due to a standing ovation from the home crowd,
which lasted for two full minutes! It was a great and
deserved homage. Riva played 25 seasons in five different
first-division teams. He added two more seasons
at humble Rieti in the lower divisions, and when
he was already 40 played with son Ivan, who then was
19. Antonello Riva finally retired on November 21,
2004.
It was the final period of a brilliant career that broke
many records in Italian basketball, both in the league
and with the national team. Riva wore the Italian senior
national team jersey 213 times while scoring 3,795
points (17.6 average), more than 900 points higher
than the second-best scorer, legend Dino Meneghin.
A born scorer
Valerio Bianchini, the legendary Italian coach, said
that the great talent of Antonello Riva could already be
seen in his junior years in Cantu. What drew the most
attention was Riva’s physical potential and his excellent
shot. By height (1.96 meters) he was a shooting guard,
but as the great shooter he was, he could play any position
in the backcourt. His body allowed him also to fight
for rebounds inside, too, but he liked to stick to shooting
– from any distance or spot on the court. He needed only
minimal space or a momentary loss of concentration by
the player guarding him to shoot and score.
Sometimes, his defenders did everything well, but
Riva was still able to shoot over them, even while being
fouled. He was one of those shooters who are almost
impossible to stop. Bianchini highlighted Riva’s physical
and mental strength, his cold blood in crunch time, and
the courage he had in taking responsibility. “Already, at
17 years old, he had a perfect jump shot,” remembers
Bianchini.
Luca Chiabotti, the prestigious Italian journalist
and basketball director at La Gazzetta dello Sport, described
Riva as follows: “Using football talk, Riva was a
‘9’, a pure center forward. At just 19, he exploded in Cantu
with Bianchini, and he was a great novelty in Italian
basketball. He was a fast shooting guard, very strong
and superior in one-on-one situations. And of course,
his shot. He shot threes when they didn’t even exist in
Europe. He didn’t have great ball-handling, he was not a
great passer, but he was a great finisher backed by his
exceptional physique, which allowed him to play until he
was 40. He was the perfect professional, always concentrated
and obsessed with points, but through the
years his defensive game improved a lot. His explosion
coincided with two EuroLeague titles for Cantu and
the Italian gold [at EuroBasket 1983] in Nantes. As all
the great scorers, he needed a good playmaker by his
side and he had that in Pierluigi Marzorati, forming an
almost flawless duo. In Milan, after his record buyout,
he didn’t find a partner of that level.”
I have seen Riva many times, among them his best
101 greats of european basketball
Antonello Riva
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