The crush of Žalgiris: excellent work of the Maccabi and the inflexibility of Schiller



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Kaunas “Žalgiris” team suffered a very painful failure in the Euroleague, when 57:85 the basketball players “Maccabi” landed in Tel Aviv. The Krepsinis.net portal offers the most interesting aspects of the duel.

Islukshtenta Tactics. Martin Schiller applies side / ice Defense has been a forgotten item for many EuroLeague coaches, as has how to remember those equations there after a long time out of school. Some team leaders The coaches did not open that old textbook before the game with “Žalgiris”, some may have opened it, but they had problems with the composition and it was not enough to achieve it with victories. Pablo Laso and Ioannis Sfairopoulos were the last two strategists who carefully prepared for the defense of Kaunas.

Before the game, we calculated that Maccabi would miss 80.4 points per game, and the defense index was only 14, but all these numbers were canceled on Thursday, when Žalgiris’s team was only able to throw 57 points. Maccabi made it clear which ice There are defects in the defense, although we have also seen them in the duel with Real. Already in the first quarter, Maccabi’s defenders made way for the defense invading the protected court and thus leaving the ball, usually in the corners, where everything ended with a free triple by Žalgiris. In other situations, the hosts’ player, covered by the Žalgiris, would come to the aid of the barriers, simply moving to the other side, thus creating space for a free kick from mid-range or three points. This is how Chris Jones, who scored a total of 15 points, calmly collected the points.

Žalgiris also suffers from not having a really fast and mobile center to apply with. leaveThere are many doubts as to whether Žalgiris could defend the entire match in this way, because neither Joffrey Lauvergne, nor Martin Geben or Augustine Rubit are capable of dealing with very fast rival defenders. Next week Kaunas will host CSKA Moscow, which features Mike James, who teaches how to make the most of advantage situations when a slower opponent is in front of him.

In the first half, the Žalgiris players exchanged defenses when the Tel Aviv team played without a real center and in episodes it worked very well. In the second half of the match, there were more substitutions that held back the career rivals, showing 32 points lost in the second half of the match, when they scored 29 in the second quarter alone.

Notably, not only the team’s defense was poor, but also the personal one, where the Žalgiris did not catch up with their opponents at all and simply surrounded them on the first step or after a deceptive play.

In the first half, Maccabi did not allow the Žalgiris people to play their game at all: only 1 shot three points in 10 minutes, which is an unprecedented phenomenon this season. On defense, the “yellow” gave the Kaunas medium shots, which initially fell well and “Žalgiris” took the lead (8: 2), but then everything flew beyond the country. The pitchers were completely out of the game. The fact that the attack on Žalgiris has stalled is also demonstrated by only an effective transfer in the first quarter. The final result is not brilliant either, only the eleventh.

Another weird thing that caught my eye in the first half was four changes at once. “Žalgiris” was behind at 10:12 and then all the players were replaced, except Marius Grigonis. Coincidence or not, but Maccabi finished the half in 12: 2 and gained a double-digit lead: 24:14.

The idea of ​​”Žalgiris”. The Kaunas residents had prepared their strategy for the start of the match, which worked: attacking Ante Žižičius with J. Lauvergne. This worked very well until the Croatian sat on the bench and until M. Schiller put 4 of his players on the bench at once.

Dragan Bender came as something of a surprise, as he had scored 2 of 13 points from three points before, but he took advantage of Žalgiris’ freedom when he hit the first 2 of 2 and finished the duel with 3 of 4. At this place, Žalgiris took a moderate risk, but it didn’t work at all. As Maccabi gained a huge lead early on, the players’ hands parted and confidence in their strength increased, and then even the most difficult shots start to reach the goal.

There was also a big highlight in Scottie Wilbekino, who was very actively supervised by Thomas Walkup and was still ready to be helped by other players, but the American cautiously took a back seat and often spent time not with the ball but somewhere in the game. margin. In the first part of the game he scored just 5 points, of which he scored only a triple, when the difference had already exceeded 25 points, and added the other two points with penalty kicks. S.Bilbekin’s “plus / minus” indicator looks impressive: while on the floor, “Maccabi” scored up to 35 more points than “Žalgiris”. That’s even 11 points more than runner-up Tyler Dorsey, who posted a 24 plus.

It is worth noting another aspect that you will not find in any protocol: the lack of aggression of Žalgiris. The team seemed lacking in enthusiasm and wanting to win during the first part of the match. Maccabi players were faster everywhere and fell for every ball. It seemed that the people of Žalgiris only thought that one attack could solve all the problems, but not much less. When the game and the difference reach 30 points, it is very difficult to show great combativeness and enthusiasm, and it is not turned on by M. Schiller, who looks at the game with a listless look, whose face is exactly the same in plus 30 and minus 30 .

There is no place for experiments. Basically, the fate of the match was clear after two halves, as it was naive to expect Žalgiris to be able to eliminate the 30-point deficit. In such situations, the coach has a good opportunity to try out some innovations or give 11-12 players playing time, but M. Schiller followed his change plan. Marekas Blaževičius and Karolis Lukošiūnas appeared on the floor 1 minute before playing. and 49 seconds, although he knew how to appear bravely on the pitch in the third quarter, as Žalgiris had no room to regain his intrigue.

Especially since A.Rubitas did not shine in “Žalgiris”, who hit only 1 shot of 5 in 12 minutes and scored -3 points. Artūras Milaknis also 20 min. and 22 sec. came out empty – lost two points and three triples and scored the same minus three points. Why keep a sniper on the field for someone who is a bad day, and suffers on defense when he was bathed “one on one” by the speedy representatives of the Maccabi, T. Dorsey or E. Bryant? Steve Vasturia himself again scored 2 points in his 19 minutes, scored 4 fouls and ran out of utility points. Commenting on the match, Robertas Petrauskas said at the beginning of the match that he liked S.Vasturia and did not give in to the negative opinion of others, as if the American was playing wisely on both sides of the court, but Tel Aviv did not see him. and boyfriend. In the Euroleague.

Continuing with the experiments, it is difficult to understand why, even in such a situation, M.Blaževičius and K. Lukošiūnas do not have the opportunity to test their strength in the Euroleague. In the Euroleague, there are rare cases where “Žalgiris” desperately wins or loses, so any such “window” can be very useful for experiments.

Another thing that can be proven is Nigel Hayes in the “third problem” position. Schiller actually spoke to Paul Motiejūnas and is well aware of the Patricio Garinas situation that the club will not buy a newcomer and there will be no Argentines for at least a few months. Why not try this American light edge? The opponents clearly took advantage and will enjoy it. CSKA has Will Clyburn, which will be a very difficult task for M. Grigonis or S.Vasturiai to stop. Perhaps a redistribution of minutes at the expense of S.Vasturia would be more beneficial? For example, does Hayes get minutes in the position of a light edge forward and is replaced by A. Rubitas instead of the “fourth number”? There are variants, but M. Schiller is not willing to experiment even in LKL fights.

conclusion. “Žalgiris” lost by a big difference, scoring 1 point out of three from 14 (7.1 percent). If those shots had fallen better because they were made from good positions, the defeat would not have been so painful, but it sure would be, since the problem is not in the action in the opponent’s basket, but in theirs. Especially since the mistakes did not ruin the need, as there were only 8. It is worrying that the opponents are preparing better and better for the fights against “Žalgiris” and then the talent in attack may not be enough for the victories. Hopefully Schiller and the players will come to the right conclusions and in the duel with CSKA we will see a different picture on defense, as the attack will definitely not be easier than in Tel Aviv, and an even more talented opponent is waiting. in defense.

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