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Kaunas Žalgiris’s team will close the double week of the Euroleague on Friday with a match against the basketball players of Milan AX Armani.
Both teams will want to rehab as Žalgiris’s team landed at CSKA Moscow on Tuesday 78:87, and AX Armani suddenly lost 79:87 at home to the men of Belgrade’s Crvena Zvezda. Is Ettore Messina’s team really as threatening as it was before the start of the season?
We remember the Euroleague friendly tournament that took place at the “Žalgiris” stadium. At the time, AX Armani looked much better than the people from Žalgiris and easily won 88:70. During the fifth quarter show, during the tournament analysis, it was noted that the Milan team arrived in Kaunas after playing 9 matches, as the Super Cup tournament was held in Italy, where the teams fought in groups and before that AX Armani put their strength to the test in a friendly match.
The shape of AX Armani resembled what teams usually show off in late November and early December. So it was agreed that now is the time and “Žalgiris” will raise arms again with the Milan club, which now looks no better, and sometimes even worse than in mid-September.
The “designers” started the Euroleague season with three of the four possible victories, beating Bayern Munich (81:79), Vilerban’s ASVEL (87:73) and Real Madrid (78:70), but at Olympiacos of Piraeus (75: 86). AX Armani then became hostage to the rivals’ problems: he could not play against Zenit in Saint Petersburg or ALBA in Berlin because the coronavirus was devastating those teams.
So the Milan team returned to Euroleague battles three weeks later and lost 81:86 in Valencia to Valencia. This was followed by another forced pause and a missed meeting with Chimki in the Moscow region, as a suspected outbreak of COVID-19 was recorded in the team itself, as repeated tests showed that the players were healthy and faced with answers. false in the tests.
AX Armani have played in the Italian league, but there is a different rotation, with Andrea Cinciarini spending 14 minutes on the pitch, Davide Moretti and Paul Biligha 11 each, although they have practically no game in the Euroleague. In the local championship AX Armani dominates, where he won all 8 games with an average difference of 20.8 points. This indicates a serious shortage of rivals. By the way, the Italians themselves explain that the large gap between AX Armani and other teams is due both to this strengthening and to the weakening of other teams, which was caused by the contraction of budgets due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When other Euroleague clubs announced budget cuts, AX Armani owner Georgio Armani confirmed that there would be no real reduction in support, and this was reflected in the lineup: Kevin Punter, Zach LeDay, Malcolm Delaney, Shavon Shields, Kyle Hines and Luigi Datome. All of these players together are estimated to cost around $ 5 million. per season without taxes. Not surprisingly, AX Armani was immediately named a member of the Euroleague Playoffs, and possibly a finalist. However, the current sporting form and the game on display are certainly not of this caliber yet.
The Milan team has suffered injuries that make it difficult to improve relations: L.Datome, M.Delaney missed a Euroleague match, Vladimir Micov – four, and K. Punter – only stepped on the floor for the first time in the last round. It should also be noted that in the case of M. Delaney, he would have missed more games, but it was after the injury that AX Armani had a forced stoppage of 2 rounds in the Euroleague due to problems with other teams with the coronavirus.
E. Messina has assembled a team with several strong players in one position and this is reflected in the minute distribution: Sh.Shields competes after 30 minutes, but this is an exception to the rule, because V. Mikov did not play for long time, so the American replaced both the Serbian and the assisted in the position of defender or heavyweight forward. All other players do not play for more than 24 minutes. The idea is very simple: you want to maintain the intensity of the defense, which is highly emphasized by E. Messina, and the rhythm of the quick attacks.
However, sometimes it seems that E. Messina makes changes just because it is necessary to rotate the lineup and give all players minutes, because M. Delaney or V. Mikov will not understand if the game is after 10 minutes.
At the quarterback, E. Messina begins the game with Sergio Rodríguez and K. Punter, and they are replaced by M. Delaney and M. Rollas. If a player fails that day or chooses a foul, Riccardo Moraschini is always ready to appear, registering an average of 18 minutes in 4 matches. It is true that when K. Punter was already playing in the last match, this Italian did not get off the bench.
In the light forward position, we see Sh.Shields, replaced by V.Micov, but there is also L.Datome, who is recovering from injury and did not play against the Belgrade club and will not appear on the floor against Žalgiris. Z.LeDay, who came from “Žalgiris”, is racing mainly on the hard edge, and Jeff Brooks is ready to replace him, who only has 9 minutes left to play, because Sh.Shields or L.Datome took part of the time.
The center of the starting five is K. Hines from CSKA Moscow, and Kaleb Tarčewski, who had to replace him, spends only 12 minutes on the floor, as Z.LeDay also plays in the “fifth number”. It is more suited to E. Messina’s idea of defense, when all players swap defenders. However, with K. Tarčewski, AX Armani shows a very good defense – 95.9 points per 100 attacks and this is the second result in the team, falling only in L.Datome (91.3 points per 100 attacks) . It remains a mystery why E. Messina does not trust as much in K. Tarčewski, who benefits both in attack and defense. Even earlier, Crvena Zveda scored 6 points in 7 minutes, provoked 3 fouls and scored 7 utility points, but committed 3 fouls and did not return to the court.
As for Z.LeDay, he really found his place in the new team and averaged 7.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 10.3 utility points in 24 minutes. The American throws at least 1 triple-one during the game and has been 3-for-7 so far (42.9 percent). A two-point hit is a bit weak: 48.1 percent. (13/27).
AX Armani has a very wide selection of players and this season the strategist tested up to 95 different combinations of five in 6 Euroleague matches this season. The top five players are M.Delaney, M.Roll, Sh.Shields, Z.LeDay, K.Hines (20.5 min., Plus 3) and S.Rodriguez, M.Roll, Sh.Shields, Z. LeDay, K .Hines (14.5 min.) And he captures the section of plus 8 points, which is absolutely the most successful.
The five most unsuccessful were tested in three games and scored -8 points: M. Delaney, R. Moraschini, Sh.Shields, Z. LeDay and K. Hines. The same “minus” was shown by S. Rodríguez, R. Moraschini, Sh.Shields, L.Datome, and K. Hines.
AX Armani
High turnover is an advantage, but it also has a disadvantage: sometimes players do not fully know what their role is and who will have to play in the crucial moments. A great example was the match with Crvena Zvezda, when the most productive and useful player on the team in this tournament (14 points and 15.5 points) S. Rodríguez sat on the bench 4.5 minutes from time. and having -8 or more did not return to the floor, and M. Delaney, who replaced him, did nothing special at the time – he hit a triple. The Italian media, who wrote about the match, did not understand such a decision either, since S. Rodríguez is a player of decisive minutes, which he has shown more than once during his career.
What does Žalgiris have to do to win? AX Armani’s 3 losses have one thing in common: they spent 86 or 87 points in their basket. It was Olympiacos and Valencia who scored 86 points each, and the Belgrade team scored 87 on Wednesday. Milan’s own players were left with 80 points, which is probably a key factor. We have seen the attacking potential of “Žalgiris” more than once this season, but also the eyes were hungry and the defense leaky, which the Milan team can use.
First of all, AX Armani has strong “third numbers”: Sh.Sields and V.Micov. We would add L.Datome to that list if he could compete. It will be difficult for Maris Grigonis, Steve Vasturi or Artūrs Milaknis, so Martin Schiller will be able to turn to Nigel Hayes, who defended himself well from the best lightweight in the Euroleague, Will Clyburn.
It should come as no surprise that AX Armani throws a lot of triples on Žalgiris, as ice The gaps in defense leave a lot of free opportunities for opponents in the corners of what we saw during the match in Tel Aviv. It is true that the Milan team is only 13th (22.3 attempts) based on the average of three-point performances in the Euroleague, but if the opportunity arises, V. Mikov, M. Punter, M. Delaney, M. Roll or the same S. Rodríguez.
“Žalgiris” will have difficulties in the attack, because “AX Armani” will apply exchanges, which are difficult for Kaunas residents to attack, as they do not have tall people playing well on the back who can take advantage of their advantageous situations. Joffrey Lauvergne tries to do that, but usually it all ends with a semicolon from the penalty line. Paulius Jankūnas is probably the best player in Žalgiris.
To win, “Žalgiris” will need a good individual performance from the defenders, as they try to take advantage of the speed advantage over the superior opponent. AX Armani’s perimeter players are also vulnerable on defense, especially Roll or Delaney. Rival defenders shone in every game lost to AX Armani: Aaron Harrison scored 16 points, Kostas Sloukas scored 17 points, veteran Sam Van Rossom scored 21 points and the trio of Crvena Zvezda Jordan Loyd, Corey Walden and Taylor Rochiestie scored 87 points together. By the way, the latter managed to score 9 points in 10 minutes, which is his best performance this season.
AX Armani is a menacing rival, truly deservedly called the repeating caliber club, but at the moment it is not the opponent who does not bite Žalgiris. We will see how Kaunas will manage to try to break the streak of three losses, on Friday from 21.45.
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