By Panos Katsiroubas/ info@eurohoops.net
It was a crazy 7th Top16 week, the week of the three “civil wars” in Greece, in Turkey and in Spain and even more big European derbies with great atmosphere and suspense in the majority of the games. So, let’s take a look using our magnifying glass
Athens is Green!!!
A fantastic game was played at Athens with Panathinaikos and Olympiakos fighting till the end for the big win. In the end Panathinaikos was more calm and took the best decisions in the offensive end. It was a game played at Panathinaikos’ rhythm once again like the two previous meetings played at the OAKA Arena earlier this year. Olympiakos primary target to run more and have transition offense in every opportunity wasn’t reached, as the Reds got into a slower rhythm and finished the game with less possessions than the previous games (62 with an average of 70).
Panathinaikos’ defense was near perfect once again, blocking the game of Spanoulis either with Ukic, Gist or Lasme and trapped the total offensive game of Olympiakos. The Reds found some solution inside the paint but in the final two minutes with the game on the line the players of Olympiakos shoot only three points shots and all in the end of the 24 seconds. Panathinaikos got extra help from Ukic who was decisive with his personal defense on Spanoulis and his 14 points scored with very good stats in the offensive end.
Worth of a mention is also the fact that Panathinaikos kept Olympiakos in scoring less than 65 points in six consecutive games at OAKA the last two years. For Panathinaikos this win was a big breath after three losses. Olympiakos lost a very big chance to get a big away win which would make the champs the favorite for the second place in the group as the Reds were leading for most of the fourth quarter, but never managed to have a safe point difference, or to score a big winning shot in the last three minutes although they had the opportunities with Spanoulis, Printezis and Lojeski.
The disappearance of the leader..
What happens to Spanoulis every time he is visiting the gym of Panathinaikos? The leader of Olympiakos in the last two Euroleague titles can’t find any rhythm against Panathinaikos and this causes a total breakdown in the offensive game of the Reds. Coach Pedoulakis uses bigger and taller opponents to play personal defense to Spanoulis (Gist most of the times and also Lasme in the changes after the pick and roll) that are very athletic and have quick feet in order to follow Spanoulis in his penetrations and also make him shoot under the worst possible conditions. Spanoulis seems to be blocked by this defense and this is obvious from his statistics in the last three games against Panathinaikos.
- Greek league Panathinaikos- Olympiakos 58-48: Spanoulis 3 pts. (1-10 FG), 1 ASSIST
- Greek cup Panathinaikos- Olympiakos 67-59: Spanoulis 8 pts. (3-10 FG), 2 ASSISTS
- Euroleague Panathinaikos- Olympiakos 66-62 Spanoulis 6 pts. (2-12 FG), 0 ASSISTS
In Euroleague and especially in Top16 Spanoulis has one assist per almost every two FG attempts. He had an average of 12,5 FG attempts and 5,5 assists in the first 6 games, but on Thursday he shot 12 shots without any assist and in total he has only three assists in last three games against Panathinaikos. This is a clear mind block caused by Panathinaikos’ defense and the non-existent creativity of their leader causes the defeats of Olympiacos and also the low scoring numbers in the home of Panathinaikos.
Total basketball and total breakdown
Everybody was thinking that in Moscow we would see a big game between CSKA and Maccabi Tel Aviv. That was not the case. The hosts played total basketball and got the win with a 35 points difference (100-65). Maccabi has big problems in the center position because of James and Tyus’ injuries and additionally they had a total breakdown in the offensive end in the last three games. A team scored almost 85 points in the first four Top16 games, scored less than 70 in the last three, leading in two defeats at Madrid and Moscow and one really close win over Bayern in Tel Aviv.
Blatt has to find solutions to these problems cause if Maccabi continues like this, the future doesn’t seem bright. CSKA played wonderful basketball with Khryapa being again unbelievable in almost a triple double performance with 10 points, 10 rebounds and also 8 assist, the same number with Milos Teodosic’s dishes who seems to be back in good shape again. We have also seen a great performance on both ends of the floor from Aaron Jackson who match ups perfectly with the guards of Maccabi. It was a great win that gives a big advantage for CSKA for a top two places finish in Group F.
1st place: checked!!
After seven weeks in the Τop16 only one team remains unbeaten: Barcelona. With three wins more than any other team in Group E and having to host in the second round both Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, it seems unreal for Barcelona to lose the 1st place in the standings. The Catalans have great offensive stability and pluralism. If we exclude the game against Panathinaikos in all other games they score almost 80 points and they have seven players that score seven or more points per game (Marcelinho, Lorbek, Nachbar, Oleson, Navarro, Tomic and Papanikolaou). They have also one of the best defenses with only 68 points per game allowed. In the game against Laboral Tomic, Marcelinho and Navarro combined for 55 points and the win came easily.
Keith Langford is the man!!
Milan plays great in Top16, they improved their defense a lot with the additions of Lawal and Hackett but in the offensive game of the team the difference is made almost exclusively by Keith Langford. He is the 2nd leading scorer in Top16, 1st in ranking , 1st in fouls drawn and he increased his average points to almost 20, having also better numbers both in 2pt and 3pt field goals (56% and 38%) compared to the numbers he had in the 1st round (46% and 33%). With the 29 points he scored against Malaga he helped his team to improve in a 4-3 winning record and get into a tie for the second place in the group together with Olympiakos and Panathinaikos.
Defense leads Fenerbahce comeback
Two wins in a row for Fenerbahce Ulker and three in the last four games. The common element of the three wins for Fenerbahce was the defensive improvement. This is a team with a lot of talent in offense, but in the first three games defense was the black hole that did not let the team from Istanbul to prevail. With almost 85 points allowed you cannot go anywhere in this competition. In the three wins that followed, Fenerbahce played much better defense, allowing their opponents to score 72 or less points. They are back in the qualification race, but stability is what they need at this point. Next week there is a very crucial game for the Turkish side against Olympiakos and in case of a win, they will be really back in the game.
Fighting for survival
Two big wins for two teams that were looking for survival after tough losses last week. Bayern came back from 19 points deficit and made a big run after the 15th minute to finish strong and win the game against Lokomotiv Kuban. Delaney, Taylor and also very good defense in second half was the combination for the comeback of Bayern which faced a tough loss against Maccabi last week in Tel Aviv. Along with Galatasaray the Germans kept their hopes for qualification alive. The Turkish side won in Belgrade arena, one of the most difficult gyms in Europe and took the boost in the offensive end from the backcourt and especially Arroyo, Domercant and Arslan. In the defensive end the player who made the difference was Furkan Aldemir who closed all the paths to the basket of Galatasaray and also had six blocks many of them in crucial moments of the game