By Panos Katsiroympas/ info@eurohoops.net
The third week of Euroleague’s Top16 is already history and there were plenty of interesting and close games the last three days.The magnifying glass is once again here, ready to observe important facts of the third gameday. So lets get a closer look to some of them.
The Real Madrid phenomenon
Think of being a host team in a Euroleague Top16 game and the visitor scores 87 points with 50% from the three point range. This fact alone contributes to the notion that the home team would possibly had a very tough night and a very difficult job to be done in order to get the victory. However, this was not the case for Real Madrid!! Although Bayern had these great numbers in offence, Real scored 111 points with 6 players AGAIN in double figures. They shot 70 field goals and also 30 free throws, numbers extremely high for a 40 minute game which shows that Real Madrid plays in a completely faster level and different uptempto rhythm than any other team in Euroleague. They increased their season record to 30-0 and their real crash test is on the way next week in Moscow against CSKA.
Don Juan!!
Ok, Juan Carlos Navarro is getting older, he is 33 years old, he had a lot of injuries in the past two years but as he demonstrated in the game against Olympiakos his quality on the court is just incredible. Out of action for 15 days, he showed up in a great European clash scoring 21 points in 20 minutes with a stunning performance in 3rd period and one of the biggest three point shots that gave 64-69 advantage for the Catalans in the closing stages of the game against Olympiacos. Definitely one of the best scorers in the history of European Basketball!
The battle of point guards
Justin Dentmon and Tyrese Rice took part in a wonderful point guard battle in Kaunas. Both players are really fun to watch, they scored many difficult baskets, they made impressive plays and surely they were the highlights of this game. Rice left the game with the win after scoring very important baskets in the fourth quarter but also Dentmon had a great game with 21 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds close to a triple double.
Istanbul:The city of thrillers and a weird curse!
The fans of Istanbul are lucky and unlucky at the same time. How is that possible?? In their city four games for the Top16 were already held and all four were close games, real thrillers. Let’s remember them: Galatasaray–Maccabi 84-90, Fenerbahce-Barcelona 73-76, Anadolu Efes–Unicaja Malaga 72-74 and Galatasaray-Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar 62-63 At the same time they are really unlucky because until now they haven’t seen one of their three teams get a win. Four home defeats for the Turkish clubs and next week we have Fenerbahce vs Panathinaikos and Anadolu Efes vs Armani Milano in order to see if this curse is going to be broken! Moreover the Turkish teams with a total 0-9 in the first three gamedays are still looking for the first overall win as well.
ZELIKO SOS:We have problem!
Fenerbahce lost again at Malaga and now Zeliko Obradovic and his team are really in the ropes. For the third game in a row Fenerbahce had terrible backcourt defence and very little plan in offence. The first week it was Spanoulis, the second week Marcelinho and now it was Zoran Dragic who destroyed the defence of Fener. Moreover in offence the Turkish team seems also very confused. They don’t use the advantage of the tall perimeter players that they have like Bogdanovic and Preldzic and they rely only in the improvisations of McCalleb and in the talented rookie Melih. They need better performances from all the backcourt and also Kleiza to step up and be more stable in both offence and defence.
SERGIO!!The problem is not Hodge
Laboral kutxa lost the second game in a row in Milan and Walter Hodge – who lost also his place in the roster of Liga Endesa due to the limit of non Spanish players – was not allowed to step on the court. With Heurtel and especially Poeta in a bad day in both sides of the court, Hodge could had given some quality minutes like in Malaga two weeks ago. It seems that Scariolo does not need him but the performance of the team is proving the opposite. Moreover the zone defense that Scariolo uses is a blessing for the opponents. In every game that coach Scariolo decided to use this defense in Euroleague, the opponents scored more than 80 points, having very high percentages from behind the three point arc. Hodge was one of the top players the previous year in Eurocup, he is important for the team and a solution must be found otherwise Baskonia will lose the qualification train very early.
A new star is born!!
He is 21 years of age and he has a leading role in his team. Bogdan Bogdanovic demonstrated some of his skills in the recent Eurobasket, he had some good games in the first round of Euroleague but in Top16 he exploded. He is the leading scorer with 22 points per game and he was the MVP of Partizan win over CSKA in a shocking win by the Serbs.There is a big chance that he will be the next big thing of the Serbian Basketball. All eyes are on him!
The 3-0 exception!
In this second round of Euroleague we see a transition of European Basketball to a more open, more free, more attacking style of basketball that gives higher scores and better spectacle for the audience. But there is one team which is stuck to the basics of great defence, controlled offence and of course Diamantidis sharing the ball to everyone. Panathinaikos‘ defense is absolutely amazing, they keep their opponents below 65 points in every game, it is very difficult for the opposing side to create miss matches or any other advantages and they can react in every kind of offense. The Green defensive wall has reached a 3-0 record and now the question js how far this team could go.