The Virtus defense in the pick and roll that caught Olympiacos, the oxygen from Dobrich and the clutch Hackett

THE Olympic he didn’t make it in Bologna. Although he was in the lead for most of the game, finally lost in the 15th game of the EuroLeague with 69:67 against Virtus and now has a negative profit-loss balance (7-8).

The Sportish uses Hudl Instat to analyze the defeat of the “Red-Whites” against Virtus, which is now firmly in second place with a record of 11-4.

The EuroLeague’s best regional defense cut Olympiacos’ lead

One thing to keep in mind when dealing with Virtus Bologna: According to Hudl Instat, Luca Banki’s team has the best perimeter defense in the EuroLeague, which is shown by three numbers: They have the best pick and roll coverage defense ( allowed in this situation only 0.81 points per possession), best defense in isolation (one on one – only 0.55 points per possession in this situation) and second best in handoff (hand-to-hand passing game – 0.76 points per possession of the ball).

In the absence of Jalin Smith, the 1.93m tall and built Daniel Hackett is the smallest player in the Italian squad. Virtus has a lot of big bodies on the perimeter and has the ball in his hands constantly. He usually uses (6’4″ tall and great athlete) Isaiah Cordinier to mark the opposing player (like he did against Olympiakos by dropping him on walkup) and Hackett to the opposing shooter (like he did with Kanaan did). In a few words: Virtus smothers her opponent in the belt with her size. And he did that against Olympiakos.

According to Hudl Instat, Olympiacos scored only 5 points against Virtus in 7 possession pick-and-roll situations in which the regional shot occurred (0.71 per possession), 1 point in 5 attacks in a one-on-one One point scored (0.2 per possession) and No point scored in handoff situations on 4 possessions. Even if the first two numbers do not make much of an impression (Olympiacos does not have any other player with vertical play apart from McKissick, who played little), the fact that Virtus kept the “Red-Whites” to zero in handoff situations certainly is sure speaks volume.

Virtus’ size and pressing defense effectively shut out Walkup and Williams-Goss, who finished the game with a total of 5 points (3 and 2, respectively) on 2/12 shooting (1/6 each). Williams-Goss had better moments – mainly due to the 7 assists he dished out, of which Olympiacos scored 19 points – but that doesn’t change the fact that Olympiacos got little from its two guards. Here is their public throw chart against Virtus:

*With a circle the targeted shots, with “x” the missed shots

Milutinov-Fal’s dominance and Virtus’ defense in the 2nd half did not allow the ball to pass to them

It’s a fact that even on a night when too much went wrong for Olympiacos, a night when Peters and Kanaan were left in the shallows and Walkup couldn’t score, Williams-Goss was close to victory. In fact, despite this impression – especially with his image in the first half – he gave the impression that he was going to win, largely thanks to the dominance of Milutinov and Fal near the basket.

The two big men from the “Red and Whites” dominated the first part. However, in the 3rd and 4th periods they were fed little. But the reason wasn’t that the team’s guards…forgot about her. The reason for this was that the way Virtus defended in the second half did not allow the “Red and Whites” to pass the ball close to the basket. And it all started with the way Luca Banki’s team defended in the pick and roll, something that was combined with the characteristics of Olympiakos’ great players. But what does that mean?

Virtus generally defends by playing the pick and roll flat (for good off-the-dribble shooters like Williams-Goss) or drop (for mediocre off-the-dribble shooters like Walkup or Brazdeikis), with the big guy staying back to pass the shot . This defense primarily ensures that the center stays close to the basket. At the same time, defensive wingers usually play more closed. This makes it difficult to get a pass to the rolling center, forcing the opposing guard to shoot. Here is an example:

Williams-Goss requires Milutinov to have a screen to play pick and roll. Dunston stays behind.

Williams-Goss takes over the screen. Dunston plays flat while at the same time Hackett and Cordinier, who are on the side, close the bat to cover a possible throw from Milutinov.

Williams-Goss takes a difficult, marked shot and misses.

This weak attack from Olympiakos came at the end of the game and shows two things: 1. Virtus really knows how to close spaces and prevent possible flashovers. 2. Olympiacos didn’t have enough speed off the ball, nor a quick roll to the basket, nor were the distances good enough to hurt the Virtus defense.

Milutinov and Fal have a lot of good stuff. Quickly scrolling after a screen in pick-and-roll mode is not one of them. They are not rim runners. Against a defense like Virtus’s, which sometimes seems to “play” by closing the gap and missing the shot, a dynamic throw would result in an imbalance and possibly a free shot. This is something Olympiacos cannot achieve consistently with its big players.

This lack of speed in throwing, combined with poor spacing (in the left corner at this point is Walkup, who is a mediocre shooter), allowed Virtus to close spaces more easily. Don’t leave overtaking curves to the big guys. To neutralize in a few words Milutinov and Fal, who dominated the first part.

Dobrich’s oxygen and Hackett, who spoke at the end

Since the game was decided by less than 70 points, it is clear that it was at Olympiacos’ pace. The “Red-Whites” attack was poor again, but this was also due to Virtus’ defense. However, Olympiacos’ defense was good. Excellent accuracy, he conceded just 0.87 points per possession. However, in a game with little possession, any attack from a player is enough to make the difference.

This Virtus burst came from Ognien Dobrich, who “hurt” Olympiacos by scoring all ten of his points in the 4th quarter. The Serb gave life to a weak attack and hit two big 3-pointers. He opened up the field, gave the Italian attack movement, created situations. This is how he scored:

However, the epilogue in this game was given by Daniel Hackett. The experienced guard showed a mature performance and finished the game with 8 points and 6 assists (of which Virtus scored 14 points). In the end, it was he who beat Olympiacos’ almost flawless defense in the pick and roll.

The “Red-Whites” decided to defend with a drop in the pick and roll and clearly left the shot to the opposing guard. They were justified as they only conceded 7 points on 12 possessions (0.58 points per possession). The irony, however, was that the most important basket of the game came from Hackett in a pick-and-roll situation, with the former “Red and White” finding the space he needed to make the score 69-67 , which remained in place until the end of the game on matchday 1 . Here is the phase:

Hackett sets up pick and roll with Dunston while Milutinov stays deep to the basket.

Hackett goes in, walkup on the back, Milutinov in the bat.

Hackett creates space and shoots from the height of the free kick.

A bad defeat considering how the game went

The defeat against Virtus in Bologna is something… special for Olympiacos. The Italians are in second place in the EuroLeague. They have a solid team, a strong defense and know how to make a living on both ends of the field. However, it is the manner in which this result came about that hurts Olympiacos.

The “Red and Whites” felt like they had control of the game. They gave the impression that victory would be easy or difficult for them. However, in the end their attack was to betray them again. Virtus’ pick-and-roll defense, the way it passed the ball to Kanan and Peters and didn’t allow them shots, the closed lanes that didn’t allow Olympiakos to feed Milutinov and Fal all contributed With this result, Larentzakis’ performance also went wrong. The bad thing is that history seems to repeat itself.

Olympiacos has lost ground but still manages to turn the tables. Petrusev’s presence was promising. Williams-Goss will gradually find his rhythm after an injury. Milutinov seems to hit better. These are positive signs. The question, however, is when Olympiacos Piraeus will get going so as not to end up in a really difficult situation.