By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The game of the day in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is definitely the Greek derby between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in Piraeus, and the basketball world will be closely watching.
Chicago Bulls center and longtime NBA player Nikola Vucevic also intends to follow the clash of the Greek giants. Due to the fact that he is a known Crvena Zvezda supporter, he’ll back the hosts, given the known connection between the clubs.
“If I have the chance, I will probably watch it. I mean, it’s always a great game. Obviously, it means a lot to the fans, like Crvena Zvezda and Partizan back in Serbia. So yeah, it will be fun to watch. Obviously, I will be with Olympiacos, if you understand me. I must do that. But yeah, it will be a good game. You know, in games like this, no matter who the favorite is, you never know who’s going to win,” Nikola Vucevic said to Amerikanos24.
Vooch is a big EuroLeague fan, not just because of Crvena Zvezda.
“I follow it a lot. And obviously, the team I watch the most is Zvezda since I’m a Zvezda fan. Unfortunately, it’s not been a great season for us. It’s been a little rough, but, you know, it is what it is. But yeah, it’s been a good season. There are a lot of good teams, a lot of teams that can compete for the Final Four.”
When discussing the upcoming Final Four in Berlin, the Montenegrin Center admitted that he was not a huge fan of that tournament.
“I would say I’m not a big fan of the Final Four, just because it doesn’t necessarily mean the best team wins. When you play one game you can have an off night or something. I think they should change it to like a playoff set where you play best out of five at least. And that’s when you really see who the best team is.”
Nikola has his picks for Berlin with six rounds to go in the regular season.
“Obviously, Real Madrid has been playing great all year. I see them in there. I think Fenerbahce might get in there. They’ve been playing well. Barcelona’s got a good team. They’ve been up and down, but I think they got a chance. And number four, maybe Monaco. They’ve been playing pretty good. Monaco, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Virtus Bologna, they’ve been playing well.”
Even though he will support Olympiacos in the Greek derby, Vucevic admits Panathinaikos is having a good year.
“Panathinaikos have been playing really well, especially since they added Kendrick Nunn. He’s been playing really well for them, so I think they have a chance. They have a really deep team as well. They could play really well, and Ataman has won it before, so he knows what it takes,” Vucevic concluded.
“It’s very difficult to play defense in the NBA”
The 13-year NBA veteran also touched on the always-interesting topic of defense in the NBA.
“It’s very difficult to play defense in the NBA. Partly, it’s the rule changes where many favor the attacking player; a lot has changed defensively. This is the most challenging. Also, everybody shoots so many threes, and most teams have at least three to four players who can shoot threes and get hot at any time. It creates so much space, and it’s hard to defend now, especially with all the skill in the NBA.”
He used the example of the Los Angeles Clippers‘ offensive prowess to explain it in detail.
“You’ve got James Harden with the ball, but then you’ve got Zubac shooting, and then you’ve got Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and Norman Powell on the wing. Everyone can shoot, and they spread out the defense so there is a lot of space. There’s a three-second rule on defense, and it’s just hard to cover that much space. I think people who haven’t played in the NBA and haven’t competed at that level, they don’t understand that. Sometimes I know on TV it looks like that, but it’s also because the players are very, very good offensively, and they make it look easy, and it’s a lot harder than it is to do. But people have their opinions, whatever they want to say. Some say things just to get attention, but that doesn’t matter. The NBA is proving to be the best league in the world. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have such a large audience,” Vucevic concluded.