By Panos Katsiroubas/ info@eurohoops.net
The Magnifying Glass focuses its attention on all the European courts of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and each week chooses to examine through its basketball lens some of the games that stole the show in the top competition!
Surviving in Izmir
Panathinaikos Athens survived Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir’s counter-attack in the final minutes and got a road win that gives the Greens one foot in the Top 16. The first half clearly belonged to the visiting team, who were able to control the rhythm, produce some good possessions and open shots, and maintain a lead that was close to 10 points and could have been larger if Aleksandar Djordjevic’s players didn’t commit 13 turnovers, too. Karsiyaka looked totally confused, with numerous poor choices on offense, and movement of the ball that was based on the dribble, not the pass. Even in their transition offense their choices were quite bad. The home team might have made 10 steals and committed 9 fewer turnovers but their numbers were awful. To be precise: 8-for-33 field goal shooting with 1-for-11 from behind the three-point line. Panathinaikos shot 13-for-24 until then.
Right when the game seemed to be leaning in the Greek team’s favor, Ufuk Sarica looked far down his bench to find Can Altintig and Muhammed Baygul. They helped Karsiyaka extend its defense with zone presses and half-court traps to both steal balls and stall the Panathinaikos attack. Aside from their good defense, Altintig and Baygul also read the plays well on offense. They scored on switches, getting to the basket against bigger defenders, and they created easy baskets for Colton Iverson and Kerem Gonlum. They finished with 20 points and 6 assists between them (after having combined for just 30 and 8, respectively, over the previous six games). In the end, Panathinaikos survived because they were able to find big shots and punish the home team’s traps and double-teams. James Feldeine, James Gist, Nick Calathes and Antonis Fotsis, all scored some killer three-pointers after extra passes in the gaps of the defense, giving their team the win.
A night of miracles in Belgrade
A huge win for Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade against Real Madrid in yet another game that revealed the big problems that the defending champions face on defense. Zvezda responded to all the game’s difficulties and brought to the surface young players who contributed without any signs of fear or stress. At first it was Stefan Jovic who made the difference as he struck at the inability of Madrid’s guards to break up screens, but also at the big men who couldn’t play good switching defense. The visitors’ lane was open at every level as their the defense in the post wasn’t good and Zvezda’s drives were many. Dejan Radonjic’s players made 24 of their 34 shots inside the paint, a fact that demonstrates the tremendous ease with which the ball got deep inside Madrid’s defense. After Jovic, it was Quincy Miller who picked up the torch in terms of scoring. He was amazing on both ends of the court. He played with lots of energy, scored big shots and during much of the game was the one who provided solutions, with Madrid’s defense unable to respond when guarding him.
The only point at which Pablo Laso’s team got into a rhythm was towards the end of the first half and the start of the third quarter. That’s when they could run, make some defensive stops and compile a an 8-30 to lead 50-60. They read the game well, got the ball to center Gustavo Ayon, whose work inside attracted defenders and led to power forward Trey Thompkins hitting shots from the perimeter. From that point onwards, however, the Spanish team couldn’t produce a single good defense, despite the fact that Jovic and Miller had foul trouble. Youngsters Nikola Rebic and Marko Guduric became the leaders of their team and in the last quarter they “killed off” their opponents. They used good screens away from the ball and the right spacing to lead Vladimir Stimac and Maik Zirbes with passes that resulted in basket after basket. The German center was invincible while scoring 15 of his team’s 26 fourth-quarter points. Now, after seven games, Madrid sits last in the group and is in danger of being eliminated before the Top 16, something that has never happened this century to a sitting Euroleague champion.
Brose Baskets Bamberg to the Top 16
Bamberg got another great win against the disappointingly off-target Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul. Andrea Trinchieri’s squad were clearly the better team on the court and even if they scored less than their previous games, most of their attacks were well structured, with good spacing, good ball movement and the resulting good looks at the basket. Alas, many of their shots missed and Bamberg had 14 fewer points than its seasons average of 79. But this time Bamberg’s victory came mostly through defense, and in particular by forcing their opponents to circulate and shoot the ball poorly under difficult circumstances. Overall, despite the aid of recent additions Scottie Wilbekin and Furkan Aldemir, Darussafaka had problems in terms of cohesion, ball circulation and decisions. Wilbekin was unrecognizable: he couldn’t create for his teammates and took forced shots.
The rest of Darussafaka’s players had no better luck. The home team made just 13 of 43 two-point shoots, or 30%, as compared to more than 51% before this week. They weren’t much better behind the three-point – 3-for-17, or 17%; this figure was over 30% before Bamberg came to town. With this kind of shooting inaccuracy, Darussafaka couldn’t expect much, and if Bamberg didn’t have those blank periods offensively, it could have won even more comfortably. Whether it does so with offense or defense, Bamberg now has five wins in the last six games, and with three left, and can even challenge for first place in Group D.
Olympiacos Piraeus: Specializes in dropping the opponent’s averages
First place was in play when Olympiacos Piraeus hosted Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz on Thursdya in an “ugly” game that was marked by the many mistakes and bad shots. The home team managed to get the win despite the absences of Patric Young, Georgios Printezis, Matt Lojeski and Nikola Milutinov. In the last 7 minutes, the Reds lost Vassilis Spanoulis, as well, left the court with a sprained ankle. Yet again, Olympiacos‘s weapon was defense. The pressure started at half-court, as the hedge-outs of its big men were very aggressive and essentially didn’t allow Laboral to move the ball. It’s telling that Velimir Perasovic‘s team scored only 6 points in the first quarter, with only 2 field goals and 11 turnovers! One look at the statistics is enough to realize the total defense that Olympiacos played. They kept the Spanish visitors to 37 points below their average of 89 in the first six games. Laboral also dished out 10 assists, 6 fewer than their average (16) and committed almost the double amount of turnovers, 23 in total (from an average of 12).
Perasovic tried to strike inside the paint with Ioannis Bourousis but, especially in the last minutes, with continuous double-teaming, the defense blocked off all the scoring lanes. The defense along the perimeter was also very good with continuous switches on screens that limited Laboral to 3-for-14 three-point shooting. On offense, the visitors did the bare essentials. They circulated the ball well in many instances, but couldn’t finish strong. Overall, it was a game in which both teams shot their worst percentages so far. Olympiacos won because they were more cohesive, something that was evident in several offensive plays but also because they were fortunate enough to be on target with two big shots from the perimeter in the last 2 minutes, one from Vangelis Mantzaris and another from Ioannis Athinaiou. With this win the Greek team becomes a favorite to finish first in their group.
Alive and more productive without the top scorer!
A huge game took place in Group A as host EA7 Emporio Armani Milan got an unexpected win against Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Unexpected because the home team were lined up without Alessandro Gentile, who contributed 20 points and 4 assists on average in the first six games, but also without Milan Macvan, who was injured in the midst of the team’s five-game losing streak. Despite their problems, Jasmin Repesa’s team had a great game mostly on offense and stayed alive in the Top 16 race. In Gentile’s absence, the organizing and creating fell to Krunoslav Simon and Andrea Cinciarini. The two of them orchestrated the offense masterfully, distributing the ball, aiming it where the mismatches were, especially inside the paint, and spreading the offense out wide. Jasmin Repesa’s team was less predictable and more functional. The two of them also worked together to produce 10 assists, some of which were rather impressive, too. They played with common sense, through good teamwork and punished every mistake the opposing defense made. Something that nobody would have expected is that the winners scored 88 points, exceeding by 16 their average in their first six games, without the top scorer of the Euroleague on the court! They dished 6 assists more compared to their previous games. A catalyst in terms of execution was Jamel McLean, who had a magnificent performance, essentially destroying the Efes forwards.
He scored 26 points with only a single missed shot, reminding us of his appearances last season with ALBA Berlin. He took full advantage of the difference in strength against Derrick Brown and Dario Saric, while he also scored several baskets on Efes‘s switches and slow turns. For the Turkish team, the defensive part didn’t work well at all for yet another game and this should be of great concern to head coach Dusan Ivkovic. On offense, after point guard Thomas Heurtel left with an injury in the second half, Efes missed his ability to read the game. The visitors didn’t use their strengths and didn’t make good choices on crucial possessions. A characteristic play came 30 seconds before the end, when the ball ended up on the perimeter with Brown. He had an open extra pass to Jon Diebler on the wing, a pass he didn’t see, and he chose instead to pass to Saric who was guarded and who made a mistake, giving the win to the Italian team. It was a surprise performance for Milan in a group where everything is still open for the qualification and where there is going to be a great battle to the end.