THE Olympic forced against Maccabi, but in the end he avoided mischief and defeated the Israelisto take an important win so that it stays at the top of the organization.

The “red and white” did it right the departure of Kostas SloukasThey handled Maccabi’s outbursts with maturity and deserved the positive result.

the Sportish Analysis using InStat Scout The Victory of Olympiacos.

“Read and Respond” in Maccabi’s Defense and Melee Attack

Oded Katas is known to like complex defenses. That shaped his career and that’s what he did against Olympiakos. The Israel coach tried – once again – various things to confuse the ‘Red-Whites’ in order to disrupt Olympiacos’ style of play.

On several occasions – notably when Fal was on the court – Maccabi opted to body-pack the racquet when the Frenchman was involved in pick and roll. As part of this logic, the defense often turned into a zone when Olympiacos started playing pick and roll, giving the shot to the weak side. This gave Tomas Walkup the opportunity to see the right passes and take free shots.

But that was just one of Kata’s tricks. The young coach implemented – often after baskets – a 2-3 zone, with the central defender (who was the center) playing as the “extractor” and rising in the pick and roll, turning the zone into a 3-2, somewhat last season, Dimitris Priftis also tried his hand at the Olympiakos – Panathinaikos derby with Papagiannis. Other times she chose a plain belt. At other times, he turned to man-to-man, with the big playing flat (remaining behind). He also tried hedge outs (the big one came out strong), pick and roll changes and – for a short time – a 1 guard 4 forward formation, with Braimo Sluka tagging.

Faced with so many different situations to deal with, Olympiacos followed a standard tactic of ‘read and react’. In other words, he read the game and reacted accordingly, taking what the defense gave him as that’s generally his philosophy. Somehow he’s capitalized on a key weapon of his game that has been underestimated: that he has players who can attack to close down defenses (where the opponent comes out to mark the weak side and the attacker makes an instant decision and must attack). .

Olympiacos have players who can attack such defenses properly (Vezenkov, McKissick, Papanikolaou). Result; Showing a total of 13 attacks in this way (record this season in EuroLeague), getting 15 points. According to InStat Scout, this was his second-best performance of the year in such a situation (catch and drive), after the 19 points he scored a few weeks ago against Virtus Bologna, also known for his complex defences. He had also scored 15 against Baskonia, who also implemented various things in their defence. In general, this is by no means accidental.

Walkup’s 33 points on assists, Vezenkov’s 23 points on 2 dribbles and black

In an offense that relies on constant movement – and lost its best creator early in the game – it was Walkup who initially set the tone. The American forward set a career-high 12 assists, with Olympiakos collecting a total of 33 (!) points from them. 11 of those points came after a pick and roll set up by Walkup, while the rest came from his teammates’ constant movement, with the Red-Whites’ point guard reading the play correctly.

At the same time, Vezhenkov confirmed his promotion. Playing against a team that, like Maccabi, has opted to play mostly defense, the Bulgarian forward did what he does best: moving into the gaps he found and scoring 23 points with just two dribbles ( both in the same phase in a tight defence). )!

Finally, Black delivered what Fal couldn’t: speed on both ends of the floor. With Olympiakos defending with screen changes from the 2nd period, the American center was always in the right place to either provide assists or face a guard. According to InStat Scout, Black was the main defender in 12 of Maccabi’s attacks. In these situations, the katas players only had 3/10 shots (7 points) and two misses, meaning Black conceded only 0.66 points per possession, a large number.

More importantly, he failed to get a point in the 4 possessions he switched to pick and roll and faced a small player, a sign of how important he was to Olympiakos at critical points. And all without mentioning his contribution to the attack, where Olympiakos’ best big man in pick and roll (because he makes the best “dive” near the basket and pulls the opposing defense from the weak side) conditions for better conditions created recordings of his teammates.

Baldwin’s relay and why Sorkin became a factor

With Lorenzo Brown out, Olympiacos knew they had to turn their full attention to Wade Baldwin. A player who is great at one-on-ones but lags behind when reading the game. To wear him down, Giorgos Bartzokas changed a total of 4 players in his cover. It started with a walkup, but then Kanan, McKissick and Luntzis passed the American. They all had the same command: send him to his left hand. At the same time, his marker changed in the pick and roll, with the big man who marked him a step behind him to give him the shot.

The American had 14 points and 8 assists (which added another 19 points), but he was shooting 4/16. According to InStat Scout, Baldwin attempted a total of 10 attacks in isolation (one-on-one), from which he received only 8 points, a good number for Olympiakos. At the same time, he again showed his inability to read the game, with the clearest evidence coming from the following: Olympiacos often hid his shorter cover (Sluka or Kanan) over Bonzie Colson, a player who’s good at posting (although he can’t t like contact). But the American was only fed once at the post (in the second period) when he fouled under pressure from Sluka.

Finally, the explanation of why Sorkin had a career night with 23 points and 6 offensive rebounds: The Israeli is one of the top offensive rebounders in the EuroLeague. As Olympiakos opted to tag Maccabi with pick-and-roll changes, Sorkin routinely found himself near the basket with a smaller opponent. So he didn’t really want to take advantage of that and got points in a row. But that’s the price of a defensive change, coaches know that – and it’s one of the reasons Giorgos Bartzokas avoids it unless absolutely necessary. This is also why Larentzakis set a career record with 9 rebounds, as he often fell on a larger opponent.

A professional win

The game against Maccabi was something special for Olympiakos. The Israelis have a special team, with good athletes, lots of adolescent bodies and – oddly – marginalized peripherals that could potentially offer solutions (Hilliard, Hollins). They are a team that runs and can easily bait an opponent if they fall into their trap and get confused by Oded Kata’s tricks.

Olympiacos knew all this. With the exception of one period when he got carried away – in the third period – he generally showed the maturity he needed. He stayed true to his game, took things from many players and filled Sluka’s gap. He saw Black step forward – again. With walkups, Larentzakis, he pulled out the right defense when needed. He took crucial points from Peters. He scored a total of 33 points in catch-and-shoot situations, a great number. Overall it did what it was supposed to.

Olympiacos, who share the top spot with Real, have reason to smile. From the positive results to bringing more players into the rotation. He just has to keep building on it. The sequel will be very interesting.