By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
There are some moments or games even early during a season that may eventually define a team’s path. Like the stunning win of Aris Midea Thessaloniki at 2024 BKT EuroCup finalist Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse.
While there’s still a long road ahead in the season, Aris coach Giannis Kastritis believes that this victory can have significant, positive long-term impact on the Greek side as it looks to mount a deep run in the EuroCup.
“Such an important win gives us a lot also when it comes to having confidence,” Kastritis tells Eurohoops. “Trusting in your capabilities for what comes next in the long, difficult season that we have ahead of us. We expect some ups and downs until we stabilize ourselves at a steadily high level of performance.
“These types of wins help you buy some time. [They] build confidence, boost your psychology to improve and progress.”
There are multiple kinds of fruits that Aris can reap and enjoy from this result.
First of all, it was a matter of simple logistics as Aris had dropped to 1-4 prior this game, thus needing a lift in the standings. Also, while the players already had a firm belief in their capabilities, they have now actually proven on the floor that they can take down an opponent as mighty as last season’s runner-up and a legit contender for the title this year.
“The victory arrived at a moment in the season where, first of all, we needed it,” Kastritis explains. “We needed to not fall behind. We are also at a moment where we’ve started entering an upward trajectory. The team just needed to show that it has consistency and endurance against a very competitive opponent and in a road game. It’s always important to win on the road, even more so for a new team like us that had many problems during preseason.”
The case of Aris in the 2024-25 EuroCup so far has been rather unique and peculiar.
Aris made what seemed like a statement performance in Round 3 with a 92–74 over 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys in Lithuania. It only seemed natural to expect that they would carry that momentum into the next games, but both Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem and Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana didn’t allow them to emerge victorious in back-to-back home contests.
And then… bang. Against most odds and predictions, Aris went on to beat Bourg while putting on a bona-fide basketball show behind Vassilis Toliopoulos’s 21 points and 6 out of 9 triples.
Where does Coach Kastritis attribute the fact that Aris performs significantly better away from Thessaloniki?
“Honestly, I don’t think it has anything to do with whether we play at home or not,” Kastritis answers. “We always feel very comfortable playing in front of our fans. Our home court is our great strength. I’d say that the wins happened to have arrived on the road. We faced some very good teams at home, like Cedevita, Hapoel Jerusalem and Turk Telekom. In all of those games we had some pretty good stretches, at least for a half, and we were in play for the win. We didn’t get what we wanted for various reasons.
“The EuroCup is a tough and competitive competition. Some details in close games determine the winner. We have to emphasize on being consistent and be who we should be on both ends of the court.”
Aris escaped Bourg thanks to the team’s most productive quarter in the season so far. The Thessaloniki side put up 35 points in the final period to fight fire with fire against Bourg’s own scoring prowess.
Is that a testament of Aris’s underrated offensive capacity? Kastritis doesn’t feel his team needs to prove anything like that.
“We know that we have really quality players on our roster that have the ability to create for the team and for themselves while being able to score the ball well,” Kastritis explains. “In general, we aren’t a team that likes to separate the game between offense and defense. We want to be consistent and as correct as possible on both ends of the floor.”
Kastritis always preaches the need to maintain a robust and energetic defensive behavior that can feed the offense.
“Without any second thought the foundation of our game is our defense. Always. We want to start everything from defense, give our best self and find the rhythm we need on offense. Good defense will lead you to easy points in transition and also give you higher confidence and make it easier to read offensive situations well and execute.”
One of the aspects of Aris’s offense that Kastritis definitely wants to improve is the assist-to-turnover ratio.
Entering Round 7, Aris and Dolomiti Energia Trento are the two EuroCup teams that have more turnovers than assists with the Greek outfit registering 16.0 and 14.0, respectively. It’s a malady that Kastritis hopes to cure as soon as possible.
“It definitely concerns us,” Kastritis admits. “This is an important indicator. Every team and all coaches want the best possible assist-to-turnover ratio. We need to limit our turnovers. I think that the more games we play and the players get more acquainted with each other on the floor, the less turnovers we will commit.”
It’s a work in progress for Kastritis to make Aris maximize its offensive potential and chemistry. Until then, the Greek coach will be trusting in his players’ defensive discipline and “fighting spirit” to bring the results the team needs.
“Although our assist-to-turnover ratio isn’t the best we could’ve had, we’ve shown several times – in both EuroCup and the Greek League – that we can get wins,” Kastritis says. “The most important thing until we reach the level of uniformity we want to achieve, is display fighting spirit and attitude. This will allow us to win games, despite committing many turnovers.