By Panos Katsiroubas/ info@eurohoops.net
The Magnifying Glass focuses its attention on all the European courts of Turkish Airlines Euroleague and each week it will choose to examine through its basketball lens some of the games that stole the show in the top competition!
Unicaja, flawless in Moscow, too
In the derby of the undefeated the surprise came with Unicaja Malaga getting a very big win against CSKA Moscow. A win that was perfectly reasonable when we consider that, throughout almost the entire game, Dimitris Itoudis’s team was lagging behind on the offensive end. In addition, they couldn’t control the defensive rebounds with consistency at any point, with the Spaniards getting 14 offensive boards. The key for the win was Unicaja’s very tight defense in the fourth quarter, which restricted CSKA to just 13 points, the Russian team’s second-worst quarter this season. Aside from the defense, also very important was Joan Plaza’s inspired move to follow CSKA’s small lineups and play almost the entire fourth quarter with Carlos Suarez and Mindaugas Kuzminskas in the two frontcourt positions. This decision created greater spacing on offense and threats from the perimeter with several players.
Both players can read the game, see open passes and punish a badly positioned defense. The trio of players who saw the most playing time at the two, three and four positions (Kuzminskas, Suarez and Edwin Jackson) scored 52 points on 11-for-17 three-point shooting! The minds of Unicaja’s guards were concentrated and Stefan Markovic and Nemanja Nedovic controlled the pace and read the game amazingly well. They collaborated for 13 assists and just 3 turnovers, opening up the defense on their initial passes, resulting in open shots through good circulation of the ball. Unicaja continue to surprise with their prolific game and what remains to be seen now is whether this level of performance will last.
Cedevita: The third consecutive win is an achievement
Cedevita Zagreb registered a huge win against Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz with a 76-66 decision in a game between two teams that came in into the game with winning streaks. After the first 20 minutes, nobody would have thought it would develop into an easy win for Veljko Mrsic’s team. Laboral was visibly better in the first half, striking with pick-and-rolls on Miro Bilan’s slow feet and finding open shots through good ball circulation, even though most of them didn’t hit the target. The visitors found several lanes and finished numerous plays from inside the paint with Ioannis Bourousis, but also with drives by Mike James and Jaka Blazic. Overall, Velimir Perasovic‘s team spread the court well on offensive, but its six-point halftime margin was small if we consider the picture of the opening 20 minutes. During that time Laboral, had just 2 turnovers.
Cedevita scored almost exclusively with Bilan on pick-and-rolls, but also from the post. The second half was an entirely different story. The guests lost their concentration on offense and this cost them on defense as well, with many easy baskets in transition. The pick-and-roll stopped being a weapon, the passing vanished and the ball didn’t even reach the post. Darius Adams and Mike James made just 2 of 16 shots and, in total, Perasovic‘s team made just 8 of 33 three-pointers. The passes didn’t find the paint, where Laboral performed quite well, making 13 of 18 shots, and turnovers were damaging (8 of 10 in the second half).
Cedevita had full control over rebounds (49-30) and offensive rebounds (11-3), and found the scorer they were looking for in Jacob Pullen. He scored in every way to get 21 of his 26 points in the second half. Laboral’s defense of the pick-and-roll was quite bad, while Pullen and James White beat their opponents in one-on-one situations multiple times. The result was a third consecutive win for Cedevita, who are now entering the hunt for Top 16 qualification with good chances.
Fenerbahce wins a crazy showdown at the finish
In the big showdown for Group A’s first place, Fenerbahce Istanbul managed to defeat visiting Khimki Moscow Region 88-83 in a strange and crazy game. The game was played at a high tempo and with great aggressiveness from both teams, but as it neared the end, the defenses got tougher and the teams scarcely scored . The improvement of the defense along the perimeter at crucial points in the game played a big role in the win of Zeljko Obradovic‘s team. In the beginning, following screens on the ball, Tyrese Rice and Alexey Shved easily drove deep inside Fenerbahce’s defense and scored. As time passed, the pressure on the ball increased, the Turkish team’s big men shut off the lanes and forced the visitors to shoot a lot from the perimeter, without finding the target. Rimas Kurtinaitis’s team shot the very poor 6 out of 30 from the three-point line and its only consistent threat was Paul Davis with his excellent quality in the low post.
Fenerbahce had a better reading of the game, sought to punish every mismatch they encountered on offense, and took advantage of Jan Vesely‘s ability to finish plays from the post. The Czech center finished the game with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Luigi Datome was also solid with good shooting from mid- and long-distance, his teammates working hard for his shots. In the final minutes, both teams made some important turnovers. Khimki’s two wrong decisions proved fatal. Paul Davis’s unsportsmanlike foul gave Fenerbahce 5 points, while Kurtinaitis’s decision to foul Kostas Sloukas in order to have the last possession proved mistaken. The Greek guard had already made 10 out of 11 free throws and his career percentage in the Euroleague is over 80%. Earlier, Fenerbahce had missed 2 defensive rebounds, giving Zoran Dragic the opportunity to tie the game. Both teams have to make improvements to their defense and offense in order to play the role that – based on their rosters – each knows it can in the Euroleague this year.
A great game took place in Istanbul between Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Olympiacos Piraeus, two more teams that have aspirations to go all the way this year. In the opening 15 minutes, Olympiacos‘s defense completely dominated, with the offense clearly finding its rhythm through the reactions of the defense. The red-and-whites managed to control the rhythm, but their defense – formed by a first line of traps and hedge-outs and a second one with the rest of the players – was dominant. They pushed Efes away from the basket and went all out to block the circulation of the ball when it left the guard who was under pressure. Its covers and rotations were so good that Efes didn’t have any width to its offense and Olympiacos imposed itself on the defensive end. By the 15th minute Dusan Ivkovic’s team had scored only 15 points with bad percentages and bad circulation of the ball, with several choices that lacked common sense. Olympiacos had quite good choices in their set game, controlled but successful transitions involving many different players, but also good reading of the mismatches inside the paint with Othello Hunter and Ioannis Papapetrou the beneficiaries. More
Maccabi, against the ropes
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv is up against the ropes after a defeat at home to Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul. Maccabi has two big problems. The first is that they can’t use defense to take over the momentum of a game. Maccabi have the second-worst defense in the competition (after Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari), conceding an average of almost 84 points. Darussafaka scored against every type of defense Maccabi used. The zone of the home team wasn’t pressing at all. It was an easy zone for the opponents to locate all the gaps in, either with some simple screens on the ball, movements into open spaces, or screens away from the ball. Oktay Mahmuti’s players found not only open shots, but also lanes to finish plays inside the paint. Manuchar Markoishvili and Milko Bjelica had big second halves and scored 22 and 11 points, respectively.
Things weren’t much better in terms of individual defense, either, for Maccabi, with the visitors creating points inside the key for Semih Erden, who made 7 of 7 two-pointers among his 16 points. The second thing in which Maccabi falls short is offensive chemistry. Yet again, the hosts relied on individual moves and finished the game with 6 fewer assists than Darussafaka (14 to 20). The big men were not a threat and offensive diversity was missing due to a lot of shots from the perimeter, many of which offered easy defensive rebounds. Out of Maccabi’s 61 shots, just 14 were attempted from inside the paint. The image is of a team that is not very convincing and in danger of being disqualified. Darussafaka got a good debut from Scottie Wilbekin, who scored 9 points, managed the game well and played some good defense. There was a first appearance for Furkan Aldemir, too, but he barely got to play.
A 2-meters-17 creator!
Ante Tomic shined in FC Barcelona Lassa’s tough win over Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar. He returned to his good old performances, not just in terms of scoring but creating as well! The best passing center in the tournament last year, Tomic this week remembered the playmaker inside him that hadn’t showed up with such consistency yet this season. With the role of facilitator following pick-and-rolls along the perimeter, Tomic got the ball after the screen and opened up Barcelona’s offensive spacing across the length and breadth of the attack. He finished the game with 7 assists, most of which ended up becoming important baskets in the fourth quarter, scored by Brad Oleson, Alex Abrines and Samardo Samuels.
The 7 assists were a Euroleague personal best for the Croat center. It was confirmed that Lokomotiv is a tough team that can do damage against any opponent. They won a lot of battles, got second chances with the 14 offensive rebounds and scored a lot form inside the paint, both in open court situations but also on drives by Dontaye Draper and Malcolm Delaney. The two of them scored 38 out of the team’s 68 points, but they were also the fateful players at the end with missed shots and turnovers like Draper’s that decided the game. Barcelona is still introducing elements into its game, especially on offense, and changes a lot depending on whether Justin Doellman or Samardo Samuels is on the court. Spacing changes to a large extent, as do the directions and positioning of the rest of the players. In the end, the Spanish team won fairly as they had a better circulation of the ball, better choices but also greater offensive diversity.