By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
“Damn. I forgot to bring an umbrella,” was probably my first thought as the Turkish Airlines flight from Athens was descending to Istanbul and “Ataturk” airport.
After a highly enjoyable trip thanks to the fine hospitality of the Turkish Airlines crew, we saw some pretty menacing clouds welcoming us in the city that will host the 2017 EuroLeague Final Four and housed the 2012 ceremonies. You might perhaps say that it’s kismet for Istanbul to be the stage for fascinating and extremely memorable basketball battles.
And tonight we will have the chance to witness one more with what is undeniably the most crucial game of the week in EuroLeague: Darussafaka Dogus vs Crvena Zvezda.
“Do or Die”. “Win or go home”. It doesn’t get much better than this. With the last remaining playoffs ticket up for grabs, two quite different, from any way you might look at them, teams will fight to clinch the final available spot in the quarterfinals and prolong their EuroLeague season.
Darussafaka Dogus look like the favorite, given that they play at home and had recently shown more “Die Hard” abilities than Bruce Willis in all his movies combined. Their motor is fueled by perhaps the most lethal pair of slashers in Europe. Brad Wanamaker (16 points, 4.8 assists, 3.7 rebounds per game) and Will Clyburn (13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds per game) can tear through enemy ranks like hot knife cuts butter. Isolating them to wreak general havoc on opposing defenses has been the meat and potatoes of David Blatt’s offense; Scottie Wilbekin’s (11.1 points, 3.3 assists avg.) and Dairis Bertans’ long-range threat, Adrien Moerman’s (8.9 points, 5.4 rebounds avg.) rebounding and floor-stretch skills plus Ante Zizic (8.1 points, 6.7 rebounds avg.) low-post presence serve the sauce. The relentless penetrations of the Wanamaker/Clyburn duo bring all sorts of imbalances to the opposing team that get disoriented in their effort to stop them from taking it to the hoop.
On the other hand the Serbian squad boasts for torturing its opponents, making them royally suffer to put the ball in the basket. The top in EuroLeague steel-clad defense of Crvena Zvezda had forced CSKA Moscow, the most powerful offense in Europe to a season-low 67 points, and Real Madrid, the second most prolific scoring team in EuroLeague tol the second to last worst performance with 70. In both cases, Red Star won.
Yet that was Belgrade. That was in front of tens of thousands screaming fans supporting the squad. True, people in the stands don’t actually perform in the game, but Crvena Zvezda players have been often given wings by what is by far the loudest basketball crowd in the continent. This won’t be the only thing that the Serbs will lack tonight, since they miss Stefan Jovic, their main facilitator, and the 5.6 assists (apart from 7 points) he drops per match.
It’s up to players such as Marko Guduric (7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds per game) , Marko Simonovic (12.7 points avg) to light the fuse in their team’s offense, take initiative and lead their squad in their most important match of the season, while Ognjen Kuzmic (9.2 points, 7 rebounds avg) and his towering presence inside the paint should bring a fun-to-watch matchup against Ante Zizic.
The sky of Istanbul remains heavily cloudy but a storm hasn’t broken out yet. No matter. In “Volkswagen arena” there will be lightnings. There will be thunders. There will be a EuroLeague basketball hurricane between Darussafaka Dogus and Crvena Zvezda. And you better wish to get caught in the middle of it.