From the Euroleague outsiders to the last four contenders: how special is Pascual’s “Zenit”? News

Image: Illustration by BNS, TASS – Scanpix / BasketNews.lt

In summer, more than 10 million. The Zenit club in St. Petersburg, after reducing its budget by EUR 26.7 million (EUR 26.7 million to EUR 16.2 million), has gotten smarter in its off-season composition and is now collecting sweet fruit like Outcome.

Xavi Pascualis has shaken his team’s mechanism so much that now Zenit, with two games less, with 11 wins and 6 losses, are not only seriously proclaiming the playoffs, but are also among the top four teams in the Euroleague.

Remembering that the St. Petersburg club were a league outsider (8-20) last season, it was a truly impressive transformation into an elite team.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Evaldas Beržininkaitis, assistant coach of Kaunas “Žalgiris”, told the “BasketNews.lt” website. – I even classified them as four a season ago. topinių clubs since last year saw the beginning of his successful game. Pascualis really adapts to this team, he does a good job. Clearly its composition is solid, although the rotation is not deep, especially when trauma occurs. However, in my opinion, this is one of the most serious contenders for the final four. “

Zenit, who have a unique style of play, did not escape the coronavirus outbreak at the club at the start of the season, but it did not last long and returned to optimal sports form, and their series of three victories in the last round of the Euroleague was interrupted in Munich after 80:82.

The “BasketNews.lt” website, in communication with the “Žalgiris” assistant coach, Beržininkaiitis, analyzes the reasons for the success of the future competitors of the Lithuanian champions and reviews their game this season.

Smart setup

First of all, when it comes to the success of Zenit this year, we must start with the lineup, as sporting director Manos Papadopoulos and coach Pascual worked from the shoulder in the summer.

Midfielder Gustav Ayon and Colton Iverson were replaced by different types of tall Artūras Gudaitis and Alex Poythress, and after the latter suffered an injury, another well-known Euroleague center, Tarikas Black, joined the club and should not make his debut at the match with “Žalgiris”.

In fourth position, most of the minutes is left by Will Thomas, who remains in the team (average 26 minutes), who is usually taken out for a mustache game, and Andrei Zubkov gives him rest.

Instead of the light edge, Pascualis mainly uses the services of Mateušas Ponitka. The Pole, who plays the second season at the St. Petersburg club, is a very important part of the team on both sides of the field: the basketball player often supervises the opponents’ perimeter leaders and plays well without the ball and , sometimes, it takes over the player (7.8 points, 8 points of use).

On the perimeter line, Zenit also made welcome moves in the summer, where there is a team of pitchers: KC Rivers was a guest from Žalgiris, Billy Baron, who played his career season, was drawn and Austin Hollins was saved.

Of course, the big star and protagonist in Pascual’s puzzle was Kevin Pangos, who recovered quickly after a failed round in Barcelona and is one of the best players in the league this season.

“Pangasius is definitely his most important summer purchase, then automatically and Gudaitis looks much better to him. We must not forget the squad pitchers: Hollins, Baron, Rivers …

Many people have said that this year Rivers does not play like in Žalgiris, but he is a first level sniper, to which the rivals pay a lot of attention in defense and it is a great achievement to have a veteran of this level in the team ”, evaluated Beržininkaitis el Zenit work last summer.

Zenit’s attacks last year were carried out by players like Andrew Albicy and Alex Renfroe, so there is no denying that despite the tight budget, the Russian club on paper looks much stronger this year, which is also demonstrates in the field.

Pascual drawing

Be that as it may, the great star of Zenit is the coach: Pascual, who has four championship titles from Spain and two from Greece and Euroleague trophies in his collection.

The Spaniard, who came to the team in the middle of last season, introduced his system in no time, and this year’s Zenit drawing perfectly reflects Pascual’s understanding of basketball: hundreds of combinations in attack and constantly changing defense systems. .

Zenit plays long positional attacks and generates the fewest number of attacks in the Euroleague during the match (average of 67.5 each), but performs them with a high percentage, since its attack index is fifth (average of 113, 9 points for every 100 attacks).

“Pascual’s attacking game is always alive, with many variations, combinations and the composition is very diverse. I have said many times that I do not want to analyze his game anymore, it was the case of Barça, Panathinaikos and now, Beržininkaitis spoke about the uniqueness of Spanish. – Sure, there is a basic base for the combinations, but there are still many variations, with many special combinations after the minute breaks.

Not only does it confuse rival coaches, but it is also difficult at first for its players. But this year, Zenit has already played very well and that mechanism works very well ”.

The St. Petersburg team makes almost all of their opponents play visually: Zenit’s opponents make 67.6 attacks during this year’s match, which is the lowest result in the league.

This style of play allows Zenit to spend the fewest points in the league (average of 73.4 points each) during the match, and their defense rating is fifth (average of 108.5 points each).

„On picnic rolls they use it often stairs, but of course more often stepoutina. If playing 2v2 on the side, push to the finish line. It doesn’t seem like a miracle that other teams play, but they do it very well. Of course, in the defense of the team, they are very helpful, they have the players and the individual in a good position, and all this comes together and gives that result, ”explained Beržininkaitis.

The two most important players and gaps

In the Kaunas game, Žalgiris returned to the game when Pangos had minutes of rest. It is the position of the second player that Beržininkaitis sees as the most vulnerable in the Zenit team, highlighting the enormous importance of the Canadian for the team.

“The Pangos play very well, but if there is an injury, it seems that Zenit would have very big problems. This is exactly what he saw in Kaunas, when Pangos was resting, because there is no suitable change for him in the team,” he said. Beržininkaitis.

The Canadian in St. Petersburg is the player the whole game revolves around, and recently Pangasas has picked up an astonishing form of sport: 15.4 points, 5.8 assists and 16.2 utility points in the last five games.

Beržininkaitis himself worked with Pangos in Kaunas in the period 2016-2018 and knows well where the player is most dangerous.

“Pangos has a good view of the field, a high basketball IQ, reads the game impressively. He has survived since Shar picenrole preparation, many good details. Besides creativity, a good pitch goes a long way.

I don’t want to betray all things tactical, but we plan to keep him in the penalty area as much as possible, because from there it creates a lot of opportunities for the attack to continue. Pangas is not tall, but runs bravely, has an exceptional throw when resisting and throwing with the same hand. Very, very good player ”, the Žalgiris coach congratulated the future competitor.

Beržininkaitis singles out Gudaitis as Zenit’s second most important person, who has also been showing impressive play lately.

The Lithuanian (25 points), who improved the Euroleague performance record in the Athens duel a week ago, has a stat of 17 points and 21.8 utility points over the four-game period.

“Of course the situation is ungrateful for them – Poythress is traumatized, Black will not play as far as we know, and only Gudaitis remains in the center position. He is an important figure at Zenit, but in the 40th minute Gudaitis does not play. , and when it is not, it costs them more, they lack strength both in defense and in the fight for the balls. In my opinion, when there are no Pangaas or Gudaitis in the square, they are the ones that have the most problems and then it is necessary to use it ”, Beržininkaitis assured.

The duel between Zenit and Žalgiris in Saint Petersburg is already tonight at 7:00 p.m.