Euroleague: Keys

As I said in the last post, we would be watching some of the last F4 keys by the end of the week.

Well, here you have the last play of the final game between Panathinaikos and CSKA. CSKA is two points down, and they have almost six seconds to play. They inbound the ball from halfcourt, and they run a baseline situation in which they set a couple of off ball screens to create an advantage.

You can see in the video how PAO's defenders switch against the off ball screens, and how Ramunas Siskaukas get the ball to play a one on one against Drew Nicholas, that ends up with Siskauskas' shot. Unfortunately for the Russian team, he missed his shot and now PAO is the 08/09 Euroleague's Champion.

The question is: why didn't Smodis (inbounder) pass to Planinic instead of giving the ball to Siskauskas? Were they looking for the three point shot? In my opinion they were looking for the best option to score, and if we watch the second half of the video, we find out that Planinic is the best situated player to score... But then, something happens. And you'll have to watch the video to know it.

Have a nice weekend!



Euroleague... where Batiste happens.