By Panos Katsiroumpas/ info@eurohoops.net
It was a great start in the second round of Euroleague,with beautiful games,suspense,passion and quality basketball. From this corner in Eurohoops we are going to have a more relaxed and humorous analysis of what we will see in every week games,things that impresses, positive and negative aspects in terms of teams, players, atmosphere and everything that has to do with basketball. So lets start from the premier of the second round of the biggest basketball club competition in Europe.
Top class game in Piraeus
Olympiakos and Fenerbahce Ulker participated in a great game in terms of tempo,quality of players,offensive plays,a real great spectacle for the 12000 fans that attended the battle in Peace and Friendship Arena. Maybe not the best game for the coaches of both teams but really a game that the price of the ticket corresponded to what the two teams displayed inside the court. Really amazing game to watch!!
Hala Madrid!
We reached January and Real Madrid is the only undefeated team in Europe. There is a 26-0 streak at this point and Partizan was just not powerful enough to face the Spanish giants. Even though Real Madrid didn t play in the highest tempo that the team is used to play, in the end this was still another easy win with Giannis Mpouroussis and Sergio Rodriguez leading the way.
MVP
Vassilis Spanoulis almost destroyed every defensive plan of Fenerbahce Ulker. From the first second of the game he was extremely aggressive in every possible way, either with penetrations, either with perimeter shots, or pick and roll that were leading to great assists. He finished with 39 PRI which is his personal best in Euroleague and 28 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds. For a player that won 3 Euroleague Trophies and the same number of MVP awards in the Final Four, nothing is impossible. His ambitions are unlimited so lets see if he can lead the Reds in a legendary Three-peat. He seems very hungry…
Thriller in Krasnodar
This was the most close game in the first week of the second round. Both teams had the opportunity to win it,alhough in the end the biggest name and the experience of CSKA played important role in order the game to finish with a win for the Moscow team. Khryapa was crucial performing his all around game for another time but most impression for CSKA was made by the reactivation of Nenad Krstic that played more than 30 minutes and hr was a factor for the win of the 6 time Euroleague champion.
Bombing from Basque Country
Laboral kutxa got a very important away win against their Spanish rivals Unicaja Malaga. With 15/24 three point shots and 62,5% efficiency we can say that this was a real bombing to the basket of the team from Andalucia. No team can lose with this extraordinary percentage outside the arc. Andres Nocioni was the leader in this category with 4/4 3pt shots and also the top scorer and rebounder for Baskonia. A real passionate and talented captain for the team from Vitoria . An other gighlight was also the 9 points and 8 assists of Thomas Heurtel in almost 25 minutes of presence in the court.
Ghost Defence
Unicaja Malaga had a terrible second half in defense, during which Laboral Kutxa scored the unbelievable number of 60 points in the 3rd and 4th crucial periods of the game. The team from Andalucia was not able to match the ball movement,the transition game and the extremely high 3 pt shots percentages of Baskonia. With defensive performances like this one Malaga will play a role of walk on in the competition.
Green Castle
Panathinaikos was the only team that gain a victory without scoring 75 points thanks to its very committing defensive plan for the guards of EA7 Milano. Panathinaikos controlled the tempo of the game, double team the penetrations of the back court players of Milano, won very easily the rebounding battle and closed all the passages to his basket. Defense gives stability and this is the main weapon of Panathinaikos this year. In such low tempo game the 11 assists of Dimitris Diamantidis was the push that the Greens needed in the offense in order to get an easy win.
Where are the roles?????
Armani Milano came in Greece with the addition of Daniel Hackett and one of the most talented and expensive back court line ups in the competition. What appeared in the OAKA arena? A team without any roles in the perimeter without a clear point guard, without any ball movement playing only with isolations for the talented guards like Langford, Hackett, Jerrells, Gentile but without any plan. Attacking plays in which the ball was not moving at all with 2-3 passes only and very little threat from the front line. What is needed in Milano is a clear definition of roles in the perimeter and the need of more team play over the individuality, otherwise so much talent will be wasted without results.
Ribery no Delaney yes!!
Many people thought that Bayern will not play important role in the second round of Euroleague but the Germans from the first game show that they will be real contenders and a very tough team to beat. Balanced scoring, commitment to the plan, great coaching led the German team to a real parade with an easy win over Zalgiris in Kaunas
21374!!
Real respect is deserved for the 21374 fans of Partizan that filled the Arena in Belgrade and created great basketball atmosphere. Everyone knows that in Serbia people are mad for basketball but what we saw this year for Partizan and Red Star is worth of mentioning. Real great and passionate support.
The evolution of offence
Many coaches believe and mainly this is the true, that defense is giving the trophies but this is a phenomenon that is repeated in Euroleague and is ready to become a trend. Olympiakos won the trophy the previous year scoring in the final against Real Madrid over 100 points. In this 1st week of the round of 16, 7 of the 8 winning teams scored 80 or more points and only Panathinaikos won with scoring less than 80. Maybe we are living in the era that offense will be regain the glory that defense had in the last 20 years…