By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
After four rounds into the EuroLeague regular season, Olympiacos Piraeus star forward Sasha Vezenkov was arguably the hottest player in the competition. He was averaging 23.0 points (on 71.85 percent True Shooting), plus 10.2 rebounds for a league-high 28.8 in Efficiency, leading the Reds through a 4-0 start that included away wins over Barcelona, Real Madrid and Baskonia.
These numbers took a dip Thursday (27/10) when Vezenkov found himself handcuffed by Monaco defender extraordinaire John Brown III.
“He [Vezenkov] didn’t get his average, did he?” Brown told Eurohoops with a wide, loud laugh after Monaco’s away win over previously undefeated Olympiacos. It was mostly the American forward’s personal effort that restricted Vezenkov to a season-low 13 points on nine shot attempts, six less than what the Bulgarian player was taking in each EuroLeague game.
“Guys like that [Vezenkov] bring the best out of me,” Brown added. “Of course, he’s definitely a great player to be averaging these numbers so far. I definitely took that personal.”
From the very first second, Brown was tasked with haunting Vezenkov’s every single move, being a continuous nuisance and an annoying thorn in his side. With constant vigilance, he limited his otherwise splendidly smart off-ball motion and stayed in front of him to make him an unavailable target for passers.
In the third period, when Monaco was making its comeback attempt from down eight to take the lead, Brown ensured that Vezenkov will be left out of the offensive equation of his team. Olympiacos‘ go-to nuclear weapon was all but completely disarmed, having a mere 1-2 from the field (a 3-pointer) over the first nine minutes of the second half and under Brown’s surveillance. That triple was the only moment that Brown lost him, just for a bit.
The third quarter is usually when Vezenkov is having fun. He had 10 points in that period against Real Madrid while producing 16 vs. Baskonia.
With Brown at the bench, Olympiacos scored 17 points over six minutes. He entered the game again with the score 66 – 72, now guarding Joel Bolomboy while operating as a “5” and returned to his duties on Vezenkov again to render him into a non-factor down the stretch as crunch time was approaching.
“As a guy in my position, I have to be able to shut down guys like that and contain them even more,” Brown said.
Monaco erased a 41-33 deficit early in the second half thanks to a 0-10 run and buckets by Jordan Loyd (eight during that turnaround) and Mike James. They finished up 51 – 56, outscoring Olympiacos 14 – 23.
Brown considers Monaco’s performance in the third period as the decisive aspect of the match, especially since his team struggled during that stretch in previous matches, including a tough victory over Panathinaikos Athens and a loss on the road to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“We normally come out slow in the third quarter,” Brown said. “In all the games, including the French League games we come out slow and the other guys make runs. So we tried to put emphasis on that. That we got to come out tough, make a few fouls if need be. We tried to focus on that, on not letting our third quarter pass and then figure out what was going on.”
During the previous season, Brown was widely considered as one of the frontrunners in the race for EuroLeague DPOY. He had some standout individual performances with lockdown defenses while being the main reason behind Unics Kazan allowing 75.5 points per game.
When the war in Ukraine began, Unics was expelled from EuroLeague, together with the other two Russian clubs (CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg). Now, Brown is looking to re-establish himself as one of the most prominent defensive guys in the competition and – why not – become a major candidate for the DPOY award.
“I’m just trying to pick up where I left off defensively,” Brown. “My role here is not really different but I really want to up my level on defense. I got guys who can make shots and make plays. I just got to do my part. A little part on offense and help out little bit but my defense has to be there every night.”