By Panos Katsiroubas/ info@eurohoops.net
The magnifying Glass focuses its attention on all the European courts of Turkish Airlines Euroleague and each week it will choose to examine through its basketball lens some of the games that stole the show in the top competition!
A great game in Moscow!
We couldn’t have imagined a better opener in the Top 16 than the one Khimki Moscow Region and CSKA Moscow gave us in the Russia’s classic in the first round. A game that had excellent offensive performances but was determined by Khimki’s defensive outbursts and Alexey Shved’s winning shot. The visitors clearly had a better start, with the central pick-and-roll being the alpha and omega of the creation and execution of Dimitrios Itoudis’ players. CSKA game is highly structured in this aspect, but they have a wide variety of options based on the impressive perception of Milos Teodosic and Nando De Colo, some great spacing, but also the fast penetrations of the big men in the paint. So, the figure of 11 assists on the first 12 baskets is not unreasonable, nor is the very good circulation of the ball, even in shots that ended up not hitting the target. The gap in the second quarter reached 15 points and at that point we saw the home team’s first reaction, which was expressed through pressure on the ball and blocking off the central lane with back-ups and transition game at every opportunity. Some good defenses, combined with a few steals, led to easy baskets in the open court and have helped close down the deficit.
The second half was a crazy one and in the end the team that had more players with a high dose of “basketball madness” was the one that prevailed! CSKA didn’t score with the same ease, with Khimki having toughened up its defense and engaging more in basketball conflicts, throwing bodies and hands everywhere to steal balls. It’s telling that CSKA finished the game with 19 assists, when after only 10 minutes they had 11. On offense, Khimki operated purely in one-on-one mode, with a screen on the ball that usually led to switches in the visitors’ defense but also shots under difficult circumstances. The home team scored some crazy shots with Shved primarily being the protagonist and Tyrese Rice complementing him perfectly. The last shot was the epitome of Khimki’s offensive strategy, with an isolation game for Shved. CSKA didn’t double-team him to try to take the ball away, and the Russian guard punished his former team. The level of teamwork enhances CSKA, who had a better movement of the ball and more attacks, and also more assists than their opponents. Individual talent prevailed over chemistry in the first of many derbies in this group.
Everything starts and finishes with the Reds’ defense
The Top 16 started explosively for Olympiacos Piraeus which held back FC Barcelona Lassa through their defense and defeated them with characteristic ease. If we had one thing to say about this game, we would give credit to Olympiacos’ coach and his players for the amazing defensive preparation and commitment they demonstrated throughout the entire game. Barcelona have perhaps the best offense in set game in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, but it was trapped in the defensive claws of the home team and had difficulty scoring a little over 60 points, after consistently scoring over 80 during the regular season. In every aspect of defense Olympiacos scores 10 out of 10. The Reds broke most of the screens away from the ball that coach Xavi Pascual’s players use, didn’t concede easy points in the switching defenses and had very fast turns and swift reactions in close out defenses. The only way that the visitors had to score with any kind of consistency was their game inside the paint with Ante Tomic and his teammates spread out in order for double-teams to be more difficult close to the basket. The same occurred with Samardo Samuels too, the difference being that Olympiacos chose to send double-teams in order to block shots, with the American center not having the ability to pass to his open teammates.
Olympiacos defense along the perimeter essentially denied the drives of the opposing guards, while it also made it hard for them to execute. In offense, the home team often struck through the pick-and-roll, taking advantage of the slow reactions of Tomic and Samuels and found open passage ways but also good passes along the wings of the defense, which they took advantage of with shots on target from Vangelis Mantzaris, Daniel Hackett and Dimitrios Agravanis. All 11 players that stepped on the court scored, something that shows the effectiveness with which the Reds took advantage of the strong points of the entire roster, in its entire depth. The visitors, aside from the difficulty they had in finding open shots, weren’t very accurate with 43% in two-point shooting and 30% in three-point shooting, while they didn’t take advantage of any of the few opportunities they had in the transition game. Olympiacos defense made the difference at every level and ensured the team from Piraeus its first win.
Fenerbahce gets a W in the derby
The big derby of Group E between Fenerbahce Istanbul and Panathinaikos Athens brought the best out of the home team, in a game that was decided in the details, in some big shots and in the defensive toughness that Zeljko Obradovic’s team produced in the end. The home team started the game with defense being its main vehicle, as well as the relentless pressure on the ball, and denying the passes that were aimed toward the paint. The defense had targeted Nick Calathes as he was considered the player that masterfully organizes Panathinaikos game. The initial 14-0 run justified this choice with the Greek ace committing a record number of turnovers with 6 in this year’s Euroleague. Coach Sasha Djordjevic was forced to use Dimitris Diamantidis in order to relieve Calathes, and the visitors started to circulate the ball well, opened up their spacing and through the ball movement found good shots from the 3 and 4 positions. In addition, with greater ease, Calathes found some passageways to finish plays with mid-range shots but also easy passes in the pick-and-roll game with big man Miroslav Raduljica. From its side, Fenerbahce tried to strike regularly through the pick-and-roll game, especially when Raduljica was on the court, and the home team found many easy finishes through Ekpe Udoh and Jan Vesely. The two of them scored 28 points with very good percentages, while collecting 13 rebounds and blocking 4 shots.
In order to contain this kind of game, the visitors sent a wing-player to double-team, with James Gist stopping a few pick-and-roll attempts, but Fenerbahc , through the circulation of the ball, opened up the court and found open shots from Pero Antic and Luigi Datome. Another focal point in the game, aside from the big shots that Fenerbahce buried, was the fact that the Greek side didn’t take advantage of mismatches following switches in the opposing defense. Some characteristic plays involved Sasha Pavlovic facing Bobby Dixon, who couldn’t finish despite the height advantage. Also, Diamantidis injury gave the home team the opportunity to once again put relentless pressure on Calathes and freeze the movement of the ball, with the Greens being forced to shoot a lot from the perimeter as a last resort. In conclusion, we can say that Fenerbahce’s defense as well as Panathinaikos’ bad defensive response to the pick-and-roll were the main components that decided the outcome of the game, with the differences between two team not being as big as many expected.
El Chacho and the Zone Press
A great game took place at the Barclaycard Center with the home side Real Madrid managing to turn the game around against Brose Baskets Bamberg to get a very important win despite the absences of Sergio Llull and Rudy Fernandez. Andrea Trinchieri’s team had done its homework on the defensive side of the ball, blocking the guards’ passageways to the basketball, but also making it hard to circulate the ball in the first half. This resulted in Madrid being unable to find solutions, being confined to abuse the dribble and without optimal choices due to slow-downed offense. The visitors also read Gustavo Ayon’s weakness to defend the pick-and-roll and switching on defense, and Bamberg used it to get easy drives against him. We saw several plays in which there were double-screens along the central lane from the top of the paint, with the ball ending up inside the paint and from there to the basket either directly, or after an extra pass from the inside out. Madrid essentially got something going thanks to good positioning and finishes inside the paint by Felipe Reyes, but also from Jaycee Carroll’s long or mid-range distance shots following consecutive screens that the American scorer got away from the ball, along the wings.
With the home team not finding solutions in set games in defense and offense, Pablo Laso chose to try a zone press defense that we don’t see too often. He started out with a 2-2-1 configuration throughout the whole court which then turned into a 1-2-2 and 1-3-1 when the ball went through the middle, with a player at the top that was always big and athletic, usually Jeffery Taylor, but also Maurice Ndour. The purpose of this zone, aside from the traps meant to force the opponents to commit turnovers, was to slow down the opponents’ offense and contain the central pick-and-rolls that made Ayon mark along the perimeter. This defense threw Bamberg off its offensive rhythm. When the visitors got the ball inside the paint or along the wings that were the gaps of the zone, they usually had better options and scored more. Aside from the effective zone, Madrid would never turn the game around if Sergio Rodriguez didn’t play amazingly well in the second half but also if team didn’t improve its spacing on the offensive end.
After the 1-for-15 three-pointers in the first half, the home team had 5-for-10 after the break, including one each from Andres Nocioni and Rodriguez, down the stretch that decided the outcome in the end. Rodriguez attacked the basket, especially on the switches, scoring all of his 22 points in the second half, and dishing out 8 assists, having an amazing game overall. Once again, Bamberg made a good impression and proved that it can do some serious damage in this group with very good coaching and its players’ ability to read the game well.