Panathinaikos abstained from a decision and a turn from the double

Last but not least, the image Panathinaikos OPAP had at the Sinan Erdem Dome was diametrically opposed to that of the game against CSKA Moscow a week earlier. As if you were seeing a different whole, especially in terms of effort and intensity. Partly justified considering the week of practice was enough to get everyone back on the path of racing habit.

What taste does Dimitris Priftis and his players have after a game like this? Sweet on the one hand because of the optics. Bitter, on the other hand, because of the way the negative result came about.

And if we talk about it in many such cases “a good defense“That can judge a game, in this case it was about a decision. The one that Jeremy Evans made (didn’t do) at the moment when the ball left Vassilie Micic’s hands, after the trap at the top of the three-pointer .

The eternal foul question

Of course, what preceded the game doesn’t matter when a phase decides the final outcome. Even if it’s Okaro White’s missed shot at 14.7” at the end – the objection that can of course be raised is that this shot would completely differentiate the approach of both teams, but we repeat that this is just the tree is, not the forest.

In any case, from Ergin Ataman’s break on the bench at Panathinaikos OPAP, the eternal question of such situations arose: to foul or not to foul.

In this case, Dimitris Priftis opted for the second, considering the dates of the game but also the objective difficulties that exist (cf Absences and small rotation). The Clover’s technical staff couldn’t be expected to make that decision as the greens looked exhausted (evidence that their percentages dropped in the last five minutes), showing that they couldn’t bear to play at the same intensity for an additional five minutes.

The trap that spawned the rotation

In the second year (while the team went down the path of “non-fouling”), the scenario of everyone’s purely personal defense was left aside (so the responsibility only concerns the performance and not the decision), with Dimitris Priftis deciding that the result should not be immediately judged by the hands of Vassilie Mitsic (although he had 0/7 three points), but by one of his teammates.

Somehow he sent the strong flanker (Howard Sand Ross) into a trap before even the Anadolu Efes superstar started the last possession event of the night. The extension of this decision by the technical staff resulted in a duty to rotate, as in fact someone was left alone.

And that’s where the speed of the (right) decision and the reaction time of the defense come into play.

The theory of rotation in both scenarios

The whole discussion that started seconds after the game finale has to do with the rotation on Adrien Moerman, which never happened, giving him the ability to run from 6:75 with no defense in front of him.

So the lot of the decision (which we mentioned above) fell to Jeremy Evans as he was the “Libero” (sic) in a defense against two players (Timber Plays and Adrien Moerman). What options did the experienced tall Panathinaikos OPAP have in this case?

• Follow the course of the ball, make the first spin and “force” the weak side player (Ioannis Papapetrou) to sprint to the only free player.
• Let him go to the player who was on the 45th, both because he’s a better shot than the one from the corner and because he’s the most obvious threat (at a distance from Vassilie Mitsic). Or more correctly, because this “should” be done, since after Howard Sand Ross’ trap, everyone else (except him) is forced to do a (clockwise) turn.

In practice, however, Jeremy Evans chose the former. In any case, he came up with this scenario after very little thought, which forced him to take a half step towards Adrien Moerman and then return to the player he had taken over.

So this half-step was enough to confuse the others and not lead anyone (necessarily) to the Anantolo Efes striker.

If you look closely at the critical Turkish cast (frame by frame), you’ll find that Ioannis Papapetrou sprints to the baseline precisely because he needs to do it to complete his own rotation. As a result, two players land on Timber Plays over the course of the stage, and Okaro White makes a desperate attempt to get close to Adrien Moerman’s mark, even though his own rotation wasn’t anywhere near as far.

somehow mA decision Jeremy Evans had to make within a second (or even fractions of it) was enough to determine the outcome of the night. A decision and a twist that didn’t happen was enough to turn the joy and excitement of a great double in Istanbul into sadness and bitterness.

No result (win/loss) changes the essence of this year’s course of Panathinaikos OPAP in the EuroLeague. But for a team so battered this year, the double at the Sinan Erdem Dome would greatly ease the pain of those who preceded the tournament, namely the crash of CSKA Moscow a few days earlier.