By Panos Katsiroumpas/ info@eurohoops.net
In the magnifying glass of this week we already focused in the games of Real Madrid against Panathinaikos and Nizhny Novgorod against Efes. And now it’s take to take a look in the most important factors that affected the results in the other 6 games in the 4th week of the Top16.
No Weems, no problem for CSKA Moscow. The Russian team played total basketball in the offensive end. We have seens beautiful cooperations, automatic moves, players always looking for the best option, and a variety of plays with all players involved and executing. De Colo proved he can play extremely well togeter with Jackson and Teodosic. He has the role of the small forward, and he can create a lot of problems with his ability to shoot, penetrate to the basket, or pass to his open teammate.
The defense of Malaga was terrible. They couldn’t follow the attacking players in the pick and roll plays, they were very slow in the transition defense and the defensive rotations were too slow. Malaga has now 8 straight losses in Euroleague
Galatasaray vs Alba Berlin
Without Arroyo and Arslan, it was very difficult for Galatasaray to win this game. The sources of creation were limited for the Turkish team. Guler did well in the first half in this role but Carter is not a real point guard. The sum of only 12 assist in comparison with the 21 assists of Alba was the real difference.
Alba is a good team! Despite the mediocre performance of their star Jamel Mclean, they found solutions during the game. Redding, Stojanovski, King and Banic were all factors. They played great defense in the perimeter and made big shots in the end. Patrick Young is the youngest version of the quick and powerful undersized centers in Europe. He is very quick, tough in individual defense, he has great athleticism and he is very good in the defensive rotations and switches.He could be a factor in the future when he will understand better European basketball.
Fenerbahce played much better team basketball in Milano. The ball didn’t stuck so much in isolations, with the exception of Goudelock and Bjelica sometimes. The movement was better and more players were involved. Savas in the first period and Vesely in the last were very crucial.
At the moment the three most important players for Fenerbahce are Bogdanovic, Vesely and Zisis. The first is extremely effective in defense, he can pass the ball well and he is a great shooter. The second is the best defender in the paint, he fights for every ball and he is good in the defensive rotations. The third is the mind in the court. He set the rhythm and begins many plays with his passes and his court vision.
After the win in Malaga and the first elements of team basketball that Milano showed there, they came again back to their bad habbits. Individualism in the majority of plays, and in the end only 14 assists compared to the 21 last week against Malaga.
Olympiacos vs Laboral kutxa
He is the real game changer! With Olympiacos on the ropes, without rhythm, without good offensive decisions, with poor execution in the first 25 minutes Vasilis Spanoulis stepped up in the 3rd and 4th quarter and finished Baskonia. He had 15 points in the 3rd quarter and 27 in total. Add his 6 assists and he made the difference in a close game. The defense of Olympiacos in the 4th quarter was insane. Attacking hedge outs with Hunter, quick recoveries in the rotations, and close outs that denied the execution stopped Baskonia that remains scoreless for more than 5 minutes.
The ups and downs of Baskonia is a fact. Another fact is that many players don’t have court vision with Bertans being the biggest example of this. Adams and James had foul trouble and Baskonia got out of rhythm in the second half. A better chemistry is needed.
The depth of Maccabi did the job in Kaunas. With Pargo in a poor execution night and Ohayon also out of the offensive game with many bad passes Landesberg kept Maccabi in the game. He scored 20 points, most of them in parts of the game that Maccabi didn’t have solutions.
What can you say about Alex Tyus? With his defense, he stopped all the penetrations and execution attempts in the paint. He was great in switches and he didn’t let anybody score an easy basket. He finished the game with 6 blocks!
The weaknesses of Zalgiris were pretty evident in their game. They had a good second quarter gaining leads of 7-8 points but they finished the half trailing. The same story was repeated in the second half, with a huge defensive third quarter and a very bad fourth on both ends that caused their defeat.
Barcelona vs Red Star
Barcelona played like Barcelona again for the firsgt time in the 2nd round. They had good ball movement, court vision in high standards with Tomic doing extremely well as a creator, variety in scoring in multiple ways and with many options. 92 points with 6 players scoring more than 10 points.
The defense of Red Star has disappeared in Top 16. The basic weapon of the Serbian team is not there and they don’t have the offensive talent to win 90 point games. For me personally, they are a disappointment till now, I was expecting more from them in the Top 16. Their transition defense is really bad right now. The injuries of Navarro and Oleson cost in experience and that’s also a reason for Barcelona’s two Top16 defeats. But I will be honest. I love watching Abrines and Hezonja playing like that and improving their game. They both have a bright future.