Pasqual didn’t use Navarro after some discomfort on the leg, plus Eidson permanent absence so it was time for Pete Mickeal to show his leadership. Barcelona doubled Schortsianitis in the post and that was the best practice for Sofo’s passing skills and attitude in double team situations. It’s a piece of his game that needs to work although the last couple of years has really been improved. Blatt tried to keep his team close with his favorite match up zone and he manage to control game’s tempo and slow the pace,knowing this is the way to have a shoot for the win. With Blu out, he used Hendrix next to Sofo at “ 4” spot, something that is not so common this year. Barcelona dominate the boards and that was the key part of the game (44-30) although they turnover the ball 18 times and Maccabi had more possessions. Except Mikael ,Marcelinio Huertas was desicive for Barcelona ,with Pasqual spliting equal the playing time for everyone, giving Rabaseda 15’ and the youngster Jose Perez 5 minutes. Both teams need a lot of work, due to a playoff series with the Catalonians being the favorite against Kazan and David Blatt’s team prepare for the rivalry against Panathinaikos.
“Defending” champ
Obradovic tried to give a sense of freshness to his team starting the game without Diamantidis-Batiste and Sato and by putting Maric at “ 5” to match Jawai’s size. The greens’s defense target on Henry Domercant. Zots put Kalathes on him with the order to play “deny” on a one-pass distance. Domercant had big difficulties to receive the ball on a hot-spot,practically he couldn’t breath from Kalathes pressure but his experience and quality made him think and not take hasty shots. Kelly McCartys’s defensive plays give a boost to Unics. Panathinaikos played great defense on the second quarter, using zone press and changing on man to man under circumstances. It was interesting how they put the “red hot” Leen Greer in a “cold ice” situation. Although Greer found Jasikevicius to defend him, he didn’t manage to hit in Lithuanians slow legs due to the immediately help that was offered to Saras from his closest teammate,exactly the time that Greer was starting his way to the rim. As a result Unics didn’t take advantage the isolations that uses for Greer. Pashutin facilitated Obradovic’s plans by putting Samoylenco on the court, cause Saras could defend the Russian guard. In this part of the game,Lyday’s absence was obvious.
Moneyball
Those games justify why Zeliko Obradovic insisted for the sign of Jasikevicious last summer. Saras is like a “secure” for the big games. After his “in all-zero” performance against Milano last week the Lithuanian clinched the win for Panathinaikos with his incredible speed of thought and mentality. The way he found Maric alone for consetitive baskets in crucial moments proves that he remains the best “pick n roller” on Europe . His speed of thought is faster than any other baller’s legs and that’s why Saras can still make the difference on 1-2 regular season games and all the playof’s games that his coach really needs him through the season. Although Domercant could score even with 0.5’’ given time, Panathinaikos took the gold win and home court advantage for the post season. Unics qualify to,after Armani Milano’s win against Fener. That was the fairest result for the group..
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