By Panos Katsiroumpas/ info@eurohoops.net
The Magnifying Glass wishes you a happy new year, analyzing the first EuroLeague Round of 2017 which kickstarted the second stage of the competition’s regular season.
Great games, big European derbies, so let’s go ahead and focus on the Greek “battle of the eternal rivals”, Brose Bamberg’s easy win over Barcelona and the derby in Madrid between the last two EuroLeague champions.
Bamberg – Barcelona
Bamberg once again gave out free lessons in offensive functioning and spacing. With Strelnieks on a great day and being the bandleader, Andrea Trinchieri’s team played amazing basketball at times. Miller scored six three-pointers and on most of those he didn’t even have an opponent near him. Bamberg’s spacing and movements in offense are worthy of a seminar.
Tyus and Melli’s domination
Complete domination from Bamberg’s big men in the game. Amazing defenses both in the post as well as in back-ups and switches. They kept Tomic and Dorsey at just 8 points without allowing them to have a role in the game. Aside from this, with their shooting ability, they opened up spaces and created big problems for Barcelona. Their tally: 28 points, 16 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks.
Jerell McNeal. In 15 minutes of playing time he had just 2 points, but also 5 assists and a very important role in Bamberg’s game. He’s going to contribute and give the German team what they were missing to a great extent. Along with Causeur’s ascent, they are going to be a problem for any defense that is going to have to face them.
Problems
Coach Bartzokas is still looking but it seems that he can’t find solutions. For a long time he tried small line-ups, but they only produced temporary results. With Tomic and Dorsey he always gains something and he always misses something, Rice holds on to the ball for too long and no matter how much he scores, he probably makes the offense more dysfunctional rather than helps it. Barcelona are playing slow and poor basketball and don’t seem able to change dramatically something in their game. The only reason the Greek coach has to smile about is Vezenkov’s amazing performance in yet another game.
Ioannis Papapetrou was amazing. He was the player that largely decided the game in Olympiacos’s favor. The Greek forward was decisive in the most crucial part of the game, scoring 8 points in transition in 90 seconds, tipping the balance in Olympiacos’s favor.
Defense of steel. Olympiacos’s team defense made the difference in yet another game. Essentially, they threw all of Panathinaikos’s offensive weapons off rhythm, they interrupted their transition game and immobilised Calathes, who is a player-barometer for his team.
Only nine…. This is how many assists Panathinaikos had. A negative performance for Pascual’s team in this year’s EuroLeague, it shows the magnitude of the visitors’ dysfunction in offense. Panathinaikos were playing a game they don’t know how to play well, one of isolation and individual plays. In the end, it didn’t work out for them.
A 25-3 run! This was a side scoreline that Olympiacos produced during Panathinaikos’s dead time in the first and third quarter. In the context of the game, these long periods of misfires proved catastrophic. Even with Spanoulis and Printezis on a mediocre – for their standards – day, Olympiacos won it fair and square.
Enjoyment! I don’t know what your view of Sergio Llull is, but personally, I love him and enjoy every game of his. Against CSKA he was truly wonderful, he made unbelievable shots, even from 10 meters out, he struck on every gap of the Russian defense and scored 7 of his team’s last 8 points, turning 87-85 into 95-85. He helped out creatively as well with 6 assists, and he generally gives his team a different image when he’s on a good day.
The weak spot. If CSKA have a weak spot, that’s their difficulty in responding to switching defenses when Kyle Hines is not on the court. At the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarter, Real took full advantage of Augustine’s presence and pounded on him in every play he had to switch in defense. Llull, Doncic, and Randolph all scored big shots against him.
Jonas the great. He took full advantage of everything CSKA’s defense offered him, as they clearly risked the Lithuanian’s shot and were punished for it. He made really big shots at crucial points in the game, without abusing his attempts. He scored a total of 20 points in 7-for-10 shots.
They turned off their engines. Real’s defense is not particularly efficient, but in the last stretch of the game they were what finally decided the contest. They didn’t allow CSKA to score in the last 4 minutes of the game, with their defense along the perimeter being amazing, without allowing open shots from Teodosic and De Colo. In this period, CSKA had only 3 shots, all of them off the mark, as well as 3 turnovers.