By Panos Katsiroubas/ info@eurohoops.net
The Magnifying Glass will once again follow this year’s competitive action in the new EuroLeague. The column is going to be slightly different and will be presenting in a concise and relaxed way all the points that decided the most important games of every week.
- The Spanish team won the game essentially by changing the way they imposed themselves in offense. In the first half they took advantage of the slow reactions of Olympiacos’s defense behind the screens. Llull and Carroll scored between them over half of their team’s points with shots that Olympiacos’s defense didn’t even have enough time to check. Overall, Olympiacos’s defense was sluggish in the first half in the 5-on-5. They conceded 42 points without allowing surprise attacks and without second-chance points.
- In the second half Real looked for the mismatches and in most instances they found them. Olympiacos were not focused and this showed at several points. Hasty finishes in transition, needless fouls, very poor block outs (Doncic and Rudy had 7 offensive rebounds between them).
- Luka Doncic, the boy wonder – we’re talking about a very intelligent player with a harnessed enthusiasm and with a great competitive spark and nerve. He was decisive: 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in 17 minutes. He looks capable of making history.
Crvena Zvezda – Darussafaka
- Zvezda relied on the classic, driven 2-on-2 pick-and-roll game. Jovic and Kuzmic collaborated brilliantly and exposed the defense of Blatt’s team on many occasions. 16 points in 8-for-9 for the former center of Panathinaikos, and 7 assists for the super talented guard.
- Even the small ball of the home team had great results in the first half, with Milko Bjelica in the ‘5’ position opening up the court and creating spaces that either he or his teammates took advantage of.
- In the second half Zvezda were very poor. Personal attempts, many rash shots, and in general the direction was lost in offense. Darussafaka’s defense tightened up, they had better positioning and good awareness. The game was turned by the offense, not in set plays but in fast and intermediate transition. Many immediate drives on Wanamaker’s switches, fast screens away from the ball, and executions by Bertans as well as isolations from the top so it would be harder for help to arrive on Clyburn.
- Clyburn, Moerman, and Bertans showed that they can help their team. Especially the first has many good elements. Darussafaka need to improve a great deal in order to succeed at the top level.
UNICS Kazan – Barcelona
- Nothing to be afraid of with such a Juan Carlos Navarro! With his team having scored just 21 points in 25 minutes after the opening ten minutes, the leader of the Catalans got the ball in his hands, worked excellently behind every screen, and with 11 points led his team to a 5-25 run in the last six minutes for the escape from Kazan.
- Despite their 69 points, Barcelona had good movement in offense, many screens from the ‘4’, but also from the ‘5’ position, blocks in the defense’s gaps, but were having a very bad day in terms of execution until the 35th minute. Especially Rice, with 2-for-15 shots, was disappointing.
- The quietest keys for Georgios Bartzokas’s win were two. The first was the great defense that Oleson played on Langford, mostly in the fourth quarter. The American was forced to make very tough shots with a final tally of 5-for-16 in total.
- The second key was that, in the closing minutes, Pashutin forgot on the bench his – at least for as long as he was on the court – key player. Latavious Williams was great, helped out in offense, won all the hustle plays, grabbed 15 rebounds, and in defense made it difficult for his opponents to finish plays.