By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Eurohoops will select 3 players from each team in the Final Four whose performance we consider crucial regarding how their teams will fare in Madrid and will present them in 12 different parts. One by one they will “parade” through and we will focus on their role and the reasons they are important.
Why he’s a catalyst
It’s simple! Real Madrid might not be indifferent to playing defense and try hard to press the ball, but they remain a team that relies more on fast pace, transition, the speed that is characteristic of their 5v5 game and the individual talent of their players. Well, Rudy Fernandez is the most charismatic player in the execution part, therefore one of their biggest keys!
His performance in offense directly influences Real and it’s not by chance that during his break outs the “queen” usually gets into streaks and finishes games. If Rudy reaches his averages or surpasses them in the final four, Real will be closer to their first European title since 1995.
He’s the player who, if the team gets stuck offensively, can create and finish plays on his own from the isolation game, something that is crucial and that forces the defense to adjust accordingly and opens up passageways for his teammates. Lately he’s shooting averages have been somewhat low, but that doesn’t predetermine anything ahead of the big meeting.
His role
This will be his role in the final four as well. The big bet? To make the difference and tip the scale in Real’s favor in crucial areas, when what is at stake is qualification to the final and the title of the European champions. The truth is that in the finals against Olympiacos and Maccabi in London and Milan respectively, he had good moments (21 points with 5/13 shots and 3 assists in 2013, and 15 points with 4/11 shots, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in 2014) but lower averages than usual and with no impact when the ball was hot.
The point is for him to become a real leader and to push Real towards the title. This is what everyone expects from Rudy, this is what his class and his quality call for.
Wrong reaction
He’s not the easiest character, or the most likeable opponent, or the most sociable teammate in the locker room. Everyone knows that. In the final against Olympiacos in 2013 and while everything had been decided going into the last few seconds of the game, the Spanish forward could not control his emotions. With the deficit in double digits, he committed two consecutive hard fouls, one of them in an emphatic manner against the leader of the Greek team Vassilis Spanoulis. Rudy’s attitude wasn’t exactly what we’d call Fair Play or knowing how to lose. The two of them had a scuffle in last year’s playoff series as well, after a foul by Fernandez on the Greek guard.