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!
The sweetest defeat!
Cedevita Zagreb lost to EA7 Emporio Armani Milan on Friday, except that this defeat tasted like a win – and the sweetest kind of win! Cedevita lost by 3 points at home, but in so doing, preserved an advantage over the visitors from an earlier nine-point win in Milan. That six-point final difference between them secured Cedevita’s qualification to the Top 16 for first time ever. The game started with Milan entering the court with their foot on the gas. Through Krunoslav Simon‘s creativity and Jamel McLean’s aggressiveness, the visitors took the lead. They circulated the ball well and created promising shots. Their defense was at the same level, setting up many traps, playing aggressively on the hedge-outs and generally trying to stop the two-on-two game between Miro Bilan and either Nemanja Gordic or Jacob Pullen. The home team got points from mismatches created between James White and the short line-ups that Jasmin Repesa – the Milan coach and former Cedevita boss – selected at several points of the game.
Cedevita scored mostly from inside the paint, but because of Milan’s defensive pressure also committed 10 turnovers in the first half and fell 16 points behind, 29-45. In the second half, Cedevita head coach Veljko Mrsic’s players largely blocked the lanes to their basket, got McLean out of rhythm and, on offense, managed to read the gaps in Milan’s defense, moving the ball even better and scoring more in transition. Milan started to rely more and more on three-pointers, shooting a total of 33. Simon got tired, as he also had to deal with the traps set by Cedevita’s defense that forced him to miss many hasty shots. Robbie Hummel, mostly due to his game from the perimeter as a stretch “four”, provided solutions, but as time went by the Italian team’s game got more and more individualistic. Cedevita took full advantage of Bilan, who had no rival close to the basket. Not only did he score, he also saw the open shots of his teammates, acting as a stepping-stone on offense, finishing with 23 points and 6 assists.
Marko Arapovic also provided some catalytic assistance, making some big shots, while Pullen read the gaps in Milan’s defense wonderfully and either scored or dished out assists. The three creative pillars – Pullen, White and Bilan – had 18 assists. The home team scored 51 points with only 5 turnovers in the second half, when in the first they had 31 with 10 turnovers. A pair of big three-pointers by Fran Pilepic locked the game and the qualification for the home team.
Never underestimate the heart of a champion
Real Madrid proved that, despite their bad appearances and their poor defensive function in previous games, they have the quality to win do-or-die battles. Everything was decided in the third quarter with Madrid coach Pablo Laso’s team playing ideally in this time, winning with a partial score of 13-29. In the first half the game was even, with FC Bayern Munich striking at Madrid’s defensive switches and especially at Gustavo Ayon’s feet. K.C. Rivers executed on the switches and also scored many baskets on purely individual plays. Madrid’s Mexican center might have had a few issues on defense, but on offense he was a catalyst, to the point that the visitors played total basketball and dominated. Madrid started out the third quarter playing superb defense, without giving Bayern any easy baskets. They stole balls and strung together points in transition.
The Dioscuri of the team (Sergio Llull and Sergio Rodriguez) masterfully organized the game. They created a 2-21 run that turned the 38-36 halftime score into 40-57 after 6 minutes in the third quarter. Overall, the trio of Rodriguez, Llull and Ayon went on a rampage as both creators and executioners. Ayon turned into a force on defense as well, blocking almost all of the home team’s attempts to get inside the paint. Ayon finished the game with 22 points, 9 rebounds, 6 steals, 4 assists and 3 blocks in what was his best Euroleague appearance, worth 41 in the performance index rating system. Llull and Rodriguez together had 27 points and 15 assists in one of their best games this season so far. Now, Madrid are close to qualifying while Bayern heads to Belgrade next week to play a qualification final against Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade.
Fenerbahce Istanbul, first and best
Fenerbahce Istanbul managed to prevail easily at home against Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade, playing great defense in the second half and restraining the key players of coach Dejan Radonjic’s team, not only in terms of scoring but also their effect on the game. For an entire half, the visitors were competitive mostly due to the good distribution of the ball by Marcus Williams, to Marko Simonovic’s accuracy from the perimeter and to Maik Zirbes’s good start as he seemed to be headed for a great night once again. Both teams played rather well, shared the ball on offense and always looked for the best options. In the second half, Fenerbahce coach Zeljko Obradovic‘s team raised the level of pressure on defense by pressing on the ball but also through Ekpe Udoh and Jan Vesely‘s presence inside the paint. Luigi Datome, as well as the two aforementioned big men, played great defense, held Quincy Miller to only 3 points and at a certain point denied Zvezda’s players any thought of getting near the basket.
In addition, Zveda’s passes inside became more difficult and the visitors starting shooting a lot from the perimeter, where, aside from Simonovic, they didn’t have any other reliable options. Even though the visitors won the rebounding battle, they had very bad percentages and scored little compared to the 90-plus points they had in their last two games, against Madrid and Khimki Moscow Region. A result of Fenerbahce’s pressure was the 18 turnovers by Zvezda and the 6 blocks the visitors suffered in the second half, mostly on drives to the basket that Udoh stopped. He finished the game with 4 blocks but also deflected many of his opponents’ attempts. Kostas Sloukas had a very good game in terms of aggressiveness and creativity, while the scoring was shared evenly among the home team’s players, who provided multiple solutions on offense. In addition to clinching first place in the group, Fenerbahce celebrated Ricky Hickman’s return from a long-term injury, which provides the Turkish team with more options for the remainder of the season.
Maccabi stayed alive!
For the second game in a row, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv played for its survival in the competition and managed to do just that against Brose Baskets Bamberg. The hosts imposed their game from the opening ten minutes, after which they were never seriously threatened by Bamberg coach Andrea Trinchieri’s team, who had its worst game of the season so far. The home team, with an amazing Taylor Rochestie in the role of creater and with Sylven Landesberg bombarding the basket from the 6.75-meter line, built a double-digit lead early on. Rochestie attacked the open lanes of the visitors’ defense and at the right moment passed to the wings when the defense closed in on him. Devin Smith’s contribution in the creative part helped produce Maccabi’s most well-read offensive game in this year’s Turkish Airlines Euroleague. The two of them combined for 12 assists as compared to just 10 for the entire Bamberg team, who came into the game averaging almost double that figure. Maccabi got good marks on defense, too, especially in the closing down driving lanes and protecting the paint.
Trinchieri’s players tried many times to get the ball inside, but the covers and the athleticism of Maccabi’s players made it really hard for them to execute. Bamberg committed turnovers repeatedly. Overall, Maccabi had its best defensive game and second best in assists, while in terms of three-point execution the hosts were amazing. Landesberg starting by making 5 of 5 shots from the arc, while he, Smith and Guy Pnini finished the game having made 11-for-14 three-point shots! The 16 threes overall for Maccabi were a team record in the Euroleague. Now, everything for Maccabi comes down to Regular Season Round 10 in Istanbul against Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul, with the 2014 champions looking to cover the 11-point difference with which they were defeated at home in the first game between them.
Anadolu Efes Istanbul’s win for the top two
In a derby for second place in their Group B, Anadolu Efes Istanbul managed to prevail over Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz but also to grab a points advantage between them in the case of a tie after Round 10. In general, it was a very open game, with both offenses being the most prominent feature. In the end, Efes prevailed because, first and foremost, the hosts stuck to the principles of their game, compared to the instinctive game that Laboral coach Velimir Perasovic‘s team played. Also, Thomas Heurtel had a big night on offense. The game started with Laboral creating big problems with the individual attacking virtues of its players, but also with a very good transition game. After defensive rebounds, the visitors showed a willingness to quickly threaten the Efes basket and make it work thanks to the talent of the perimeter players. Darius Adams was impressive, scoring in every way, with simple screens on the ball but also in transition. Tornike Shengelia created problems for both power forwards on Efes coach Dusan Ivkovic’s team, with which Laboral was able to establish leads of 8 to 10 points. The presence of the youngster Ahmet Duverioglu gave momentum to Efes’s attack, with the Turkish center scoring 8 fast points, almost all of them after a pick-and-roll.
In the second half, the home team tightened up its defense in the first 8 minutes and somewhat contained Laboral’s accuracy from the perimeter, where the visitors had started the game by making 8 of 10 three-point shots. Dario Saric took on offensive initiative for Efes and provided solutions for his team with pop-out plays, helping them take the lead in the third quarter. From that point onwards, you could see that Efes played more as a team and read the game better than Laboral, which relied on accuracy from the perimeter of 14-for-27 shots made from downtown for the game. In the end, Thomas Heurtel, who is even more efficient when he plays with Jayson Granger, decided the game. He passed amazingly well on screens and into the gaps created by the turns, and he scored with frequency, finishing the game with 25 points and 9 assists and only 2 missed shots. For Efes, it was more of a group effort with 21 assists for 33 shots on target, when Laboral had only 14 assists for the same number of shots on target. That’s the difference in Efes’s better reading of the game, scoring 54 points in the second half as a result.