Day 11 Euroleague

Maccabi Tel Aviv - Bamberg

* Bamberg got a tactical decision before the night begun: they are giving up attempts to take offensive rebounds in favour of a fast defensive recovery (Had just one single offensive rebound in the first half, and a total of seven at the end of the night . That is against Maccabi, a team who traditionally allow opponents to break offensive rebounding records). It was proven right - Tel Aviv could have not make easy points in transition as they usually do. Additionally, Bamberg were doing smart fouls, to hold back Maccabi's half court offence. Goudelock has 8 points in the half time, none of them from the field. Tel Aviv had more free throw attempts (24) than three points attempts (20).

* Fouls are sometimes an indicator of a though, non-compromising defence, just like Bamberg's defence in the previous paragraph. Sometimes they are deceiving, like in the Case of Zirbes. He made three fouls in four minutes. Tough defence is not his cup of tea. He had two offensive fouls and one more foul pushing for rebound.

* Landesberg has some bad defensive elements, which keep him from being a top Euroleague player. Or at least from becoming a significant player in Maccabi. In the end of the first quarter, after a screen, he stayed back too long and allowed Lo to score a buzzer beater. There was a second left on the clock - Lo could have not done anything else but shooting. But Landesberg failed to realize it. That second in defence makes the whole difference.

* Maccabi is playing a sagging defence; Trinchieri's Bamberg is playing some nice plays, at the end of them there is a good 3 points shooter standing free on the arch. The combination of the two led Bamberg to a fantastic first half of 9/14 from beyond the arch, and 13/27 after fourty minutes of game.

* Sometimes Maccabi are insisting on playing inside, with Iverson as an offensive anchor. With all the respect to Colton Iverson, he is one of Maccabi's least talented players offensively. Not the best idea. Also, coming back from a timeout, 2 minutes to the end of the game, and than shooting a three from 10 meters - is that the best move Tel Aviv could come up with? I don't think so.

* During the halftime Rami Hadar probably thought: "If Bamberg are not even trying to take offensive rebounds, I can play small ball. Maybe that way my team can run the court and score points in transition". So he tried small ball, playing most of the 3rd quarter with Alexander as a center. It was not a great success. Bamberg used it to score some points from the paint.

* Beside Melli, who burned the nets in Tel Aviv with an amazing shooting display, Bamberg's silent assassin was Theis. He put on impressive defensive show. It is not just providing three blocks (and blocking super athlet players like Weems and Goudelock). Even with four fouls, he was able to deny Weems and Smith from taking the ball to the rim and bringing Maccabi back to life. Another surprise was Maodo Lo. In his 8 minutes in the first half, he had some very impressive moves, offensively as well as defensively. I would like to see him getting more minutes.

#Euroleague #Bamberg #MaccabiTelAviv