We took a closer look in Baskonia vs Panathinaikos (23-11) and Olympiacos vs Real Madrid (22-11). Home team on Basque country won against coach Pascual's team and a 33 point effort from Keith Langford, having a better team effort overall. Olympiacos defeated Real Madrid (played without Sergio Llull & Gustavo Ayon), with Vassilis Spanoulis as the leading scorer.
Baskonia: Low post play for Shengelia
Coach Perasovic focused inside the paint, with the Georgian power forward being the main target.
In this play, he sets a down screen and gets a post-up position through a baseline screen.
In this play, he sets a down screen and gets a post-up position through a baseline screen.
Panathinaikos: Double pin down & Pop out
A commonly used play by coach Pascual this season, this option for Deshaun Thomas popping out after setting a wide pin down screen for Matt Lojeski. Defense chases, so Thomas's defender had to help on the curl, leaving him open for a 3p shot.
Olympiacos: After time-out play
During the second quarter, Real Madrid has tied the game at 35-35, so coach Blatt called for a time-out, in order to disrupt opponents' momentum and design a play to score. Simple box play with a baseline screen for his center Nikola Milutinov and a correct read from Spanoulis on the screen away.
Real Madrid: Miss-match read & trap reaction
After a pick n' pop action in which the defenders switched, coach Laso's players read correctly the miss-match and with two quick passes had Trey Thompinks posted-up against the opposing point guard, Mantzaris. Olympiacos responded by trapping from the strong side and rotating, but Real Madrid's players passed the ball perfectly to reach sharpshooter Jaycee Carroll for the corner 3.
