By Panos Katsiroubas/ info@eurohoops.net
In the Magnifying Glass of this week we will focus in the games of Real Madrid against Panathinaikos and Nizhny Novgorod against Efes. Moreover we will have a look in the most important factors that affected the results in the other 6 games in the 4th week of the top 16. First of all Real Madrid against Panathinaikos
Analysis
A classic game of 2 European Basketball giants took place in Madrid, Panathinaikos visited the Spanish city with many absences that affected the identity of its game. After 25 balanced minutes with Real always in front, the Spanish team exploded in the 4th quarter to win the game easily.
Both teams started the game without any rhythm. The main target of Real Madrid was to stop Batista and his pick n roll plays with Diamantidis. The team of Pablo Laso used help from the weak side in order to make the execution more difficult. This was easier when Batista took the ball away of the basket and not in the center of the paint. In the few times he took the ball in the center he scored more easily but from the wings he faced a lot of problems with the double teams, committing some turnovers or delaying the ball movement in search of creation for some open shots
If we exclude Diamantidis the problem in the offensive end of the Greens was obvious. The ball was not moving enough even though the Greens tried to create unbalance with the screens away of the ball. In the majority of the plays they finished the possession with difficult shots with low percentage of success. Diamantidis was excellent in the creation, with pick n roll plays with Gist mainly and with great passes that opened the floor in the weak side or for shots from the top of the paint.
On the hand Real Madrid tried to play more quickly. They tried to run the floor in any opportunity even though they didn’t find many open spaces. In the set offense they used 2 sources of creation, Llull and Rudy Fernandez. Llull was trying to set pick n roll plays that were more accurate and successful with Reyes than any other player. Rudy was taking one screen in the wing and immediately the pass was made to him. With the possession of the ball he was trying to attack to the basket to take the advantage of the miss match.. Then he was just his choice to execute or to pass the ball. Rudy was good in both creation and execution in this game. In fewer plays they used post up play with Ayon.
The difference of this team was again Sergio Rodriguez. He is a real rhythm changer. In the 2nd and 4th period he was doing everything. He scored in the transition he played good defense, he made some really great passes. Panathinaikos from the beginning took the risk to let open shots from the power forward position and Nocioni punished this defensive plan in the 2nd quarter. Real Madrid also tried to force some problems with post-game of Maciulis or with the shots after screen with Carroll but in both aspects Panathinaikos defended well.
Felipe Reyes was again the MVP for Real Madrid scoring in multiple ways and winning many battles in both offensive and defensive end. His mid-range shoot is an extra threat and his also very efficient in both pick n roll and post plays. He is having maybe the best season of his career. Panathinaikos was in the game for 27-28 minutes but in the end the absences and the quality of Real Madrid mattered.