Day 19 Euroleague: Bamberg - Real Madrid

* Without Luka Doncic, Real started the game with a tall line-up, having Taylor as a gaurd. His task was defensive: to stop Zisis and by that to undermine Barmberg's offensive game.

* Instead of trying to shift the playmaking task to another player, Bamberg chose to attack him in offence. They took him out of the game by drawing three fouls from him, after using (also) smartly the pick'n'roll.

* On the other side of the court, Radosevic's fast two fouls forced Trinchieri to bench him. Ayon enjoyed that and dominated Bamberg's paint.

* After several attempts to play with tall line-ups (Ayon-Thompkins-Randolph), they moved on to a more conventional line-up with two real gaurds. It worked well. Which such a (quicker) line-up Real managed to translate every german turnover to a fast break and an easy basket.

* Bamberg raised their defensive intensivity level in the second half. They put more hustle in their game. Real did not score as easily as in the first half, but still dominated the paint. It is not just Real's winning 37-23 in rebounds (and 14-4 in offensive rebounds); the spanish team had 61% from the 2 point range.

* Bamberg made many points in transition. Their half court offence is beautiful - Trinchieri is making an increadible job there, and implanting some very creative impressive offensive plays.

* Laso was playing with fire tonight (as he often does). In such a close game, he benched in the fourt quarter Llull and Ayon, his best two players. True there is still a long way to go in this season, he probably does not want to exhaust his players and a good coach should always think (also) long term. However, sending Llull to the court just 4 minutes before the end (and Ayon two and a half minutes before the end) is taking a big risk.

* Melli is a great player. Scores from the inside, the outside and middle range; he is a rebound machine and a good defender. Personally he had a nice game with 17 points, 6 baords, 3 assists and 17 RKG. Seems fair enough. That being said, let's take a look of Melli's performance in the money time: he lost the ball under the basket after a great pass from McNeal; he made a stupid foul on Carroll in the paint, letting him complete two plus one; missed a three point shot (did not even touch the rim; made an offensive foul against Thompkins after when struggeling for a rebound; and generally zero contribution in the last minutes. If there is something keeping Melli from being a super star, it is exactly that: he is not the guy who wins the game in money time. Unilke, for example, Sergio Llull.

#Euroleague #Bamberg #RealMadrid