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In such cases, it is unfortunate that the Euroleague is not the NBA, and we have no interesting statistics showing what the team’s win-loss balance looks like at least 7 points behind 2 minutes. If the final quarter of the game was a real rollercoaster, the rest of the game passed at roughly the same pace and with few changing tactics on both teams. Let’s talk more about them and the crazy decisive half of the game.
VIDEO: Decisive assault: a determined and victorious stretch of the Žalgiris
Plans “Olympiakos”
As other teams like to do, with slightly more mobile and not as tall front-line players, Olympiakos offered Žalgiris a tactic to change everything from the start of the match. The maneuvering to slow down the speed of the Kaunas defenders and their creativity is perfectly understood. The Greeks offered the people of Žalgiris to overcome them through their heights, and it can be said that there was very little shortage before the implementation of this plan.
In the first half, Olympiakos failed to lure their opponents into slow positional attacks, in which they would be forced to seek advantage in the penalty area. We saw incompletely focused Greeks and fresh “Žalgiris” players, who did not forgive opponents for mistakes such as help from the closest person or passive exchanges to the defender’s barrier for the defender. The first ended with a triple by P.Jankūnas, the second with a goal by L.Lekavičius floateriu. By the way, using faster play and fantastic first-half ball distribution, Kaunas managed to create many effective 3-point shots from the spot, of which even 4 were hit.
VIDEO: The right-hand man of Kaunas “Žalgiris” coach Arne Woltmann, who is that tall German?
In the other three-quarters, the picture changed. Most of the combinations of “Žalgiris” lost their meaning, because at the end of them I expected the change of “Olympiacos”. After that, I had to look for advantages in the penalty area or try to wait for the success of the creations of the 1v1 defenders, which certainly was not the most effective on Friday night. All Kaunas defenders scored between 4 and 8 points, and contributed significantly to that change everything the defense and subsequent compression of the Greeks during the advances and their defensive defensive defense on the perimeter.
On the other hand, defending the exchange of everything is always an opportunity to shine high. Until now, however, Kaunas’ plan against such defensive tactics has always been a 1v1 game of defenders on the perimeter. Before Olympiacos, the Kaunas were looking much more for J. Lauvergne and A. Rubito, who played fantastic games under the basket. If the ball cannot be thrown directly, tall short Situations were immediately rushed to help by an additional partner. Such a move fueled good action against Olympiacka’s changes, and Žalgiris’s attack in 2-4 halves balanced out at 20 points. In these actions, when throwing the ball, the surnames of M. Grigonis and P. Janankūnas were the protagonists, who finished the game with 6 and 7 points, respectively, but also 7 and 2 assists.
VIDEO: How did CSKA make Žalgiris comfortable and what was missing until the perfect match?
The Žalgiris plan
I won’t say anything new about Žalgiris’s plan on defense. Typical schiller Ice (Weak) a defense system that pushes opponents towards their weaker hand and avoids the use of barriers. We can only examine how it was used against the two most important opponents: K. Sloukas and V. Spanoulis.
K.Sloukas played in the first half, finishing it with 9 points and 1 result. Scored three points later Ice defense application against A. Harrison, when Th.Walkup, who covered him, helped too much being just a pass from the American and K..Sloukas – as soon as he got the ball, he scored 3 points. Later, knowing the extremely profound help of “Žalgiris” in the application of this defense system, the Greek made a wonderful transfer across the field, after which Ch.Jenkins attacked from afar. Sloukas kept finding ways to make a rough pass to the penalty area or to score points for himself, so Žalgiris’ pressure in the penalty area increased, after which the good guys were not lacking. Ice moments of defense.
Photo by Rokas Lukoševičius / 15min / Konstantinos Sloukas
V. Spanoulis sanctioned with three triples in 15 minutes and even 2 of them – after Ice defense errors. In both cases, the defenders of “Žalgiris” failed to prevent the Greeks from using the barrier, and such a mistake left the tall people of Kaunas on the exact opposite side. Spanoulis made great use of the freedom he won and the excellent view of the basket.
The Hollywood movie is worth the ending
The most dramatic fourth quarter was hardly invented. With a 7-point lead at the start (67:60), Kaunas dispersed it in just 3 attacks, when K. Sloukas stood out perfectly. Ice Defensive defenders and attacking Olympiacos, and Rokas Jokubaitis fell asleep passing the ball from hand to hand (67:67).
After this mini-jet, Žalgiris stopped bleeding with Grigonis triple tall short Combinations to attack opponents swap. Olympiakos responded with a very fast 3-point shot from Vezenkov at the end of attack time after Kaunas tried to make a triple substitution (70:70).
Without expecting anything, the guests organized another streak, the epicenter of which was V. Spanoulis, who threw many important pitches in the Euroleague. While Marius Grigonis lost one shot after another without being able to beat the heights of the rivals, the Olympiacos legend penalized the 2 free triples already mentioned. They fell after Žalgiris’ inability to close his way to the barrier Ice during defense. Between these two shots, Printezis’s free kick from afar also intervened after Kaunas’ lack of communication in the team’s defense (72:79).
Photo by Rokas Lukoševičius / 15min / Vassilis Spanoulis
Invisible at the end of the tunnel of light, he was turned on by Olympiaca’s own mistakes. Sh.McKissic managed to hit the free kick from under the basket, and after such an error, the blinded Greeks quickly missed J. Lauvergne’s post in a quick attack (74:79). In another attack, L.Jean-Charles failed to launch the ball in time in the attack, and in defense he came to the aid of A.Milaknis, who launched a free kick with a long bomb even while being one meter from the line three points (77:79).
But even here, the gifts of Olympiacos did not end there. After two rebounds in the attack, Spanoulis scored his own Step back on the right he tried to close the game, but his shot bounced off the goal. At this point, the guests have forgotten one of the original rules of basketball: during the pitch, at least 2 players must retreat to the center line after a moment, thus protecting themselves against quick attacks. Olympiacos defenders stayed on their three-point line and completely forgot about Lauvergne, who defended himself from Spanoul’s shot and stepped aside. Another French scale of field and game stabilized (79:79).
After all, should that be the end? We’re going to an extension, right? Not in this Friday night thriller.
I don’t want to talk about the referees, but let’s say that in the most important moment of the game, they made a lot of contact. Th.Walkupas knew he was in trouble after throwing an opponent back and tried to kick the ball out of K. Sloukas very aggressively. The American managed to pass the ball and finish the attack with a strong shot from under the basket. Like in a real Hollywood movie, Jean-Charles was only inches from the block, though at the same time he could have been freely whistled for a foul from his body contact with Walkup.
VIDEO: The magic ending: Walkup’s throw-in, which gave the victory to Žalgiris
Summary
The happy ending, crowned by an incredible game, provided the opportunity to enjoy two dry victories against the Olympiacos team. This is a great way to boost team morale after a failed double week in Russia, but more importantly, from one perspective. As never before in the battle tied for Euroleague Eight, the dry win series against the Greek team could be a cornerstone.
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