La Copa 2014 Live Blog
sJacas, 09/02/2014, 22:18
Llull drains long jump shot 0.1 from the buzzer, RMB win Copa
Brilliant decision-making by Sergio Rodriguez freed Sergio Llull for a wide open jump shot from the left corner, which swished with 0.1 seconds left. With Serrod threatening to score past Sada, Papanikolaou rotated over from the near corner. Serrod went up for the shot, adjusted in mid-air and made a difficult pass around two defenders while falling backwards, right into the Llull’s shooter’s pocket.
Huertas’ brilliant playmaking performance
There is no defense Marcelinho Huertas hasn’t seen, and so he gets the job done. Attacking the “under” / losing his defender via change of direction and re-screens, Huertas found plenty of mid range space against the deep-sitting RMB pick and roll defense, connecting on his marquee floaters more often than usual in a game that Barcelona largely dictated. The Catalonians’ demise started and ended at the free throw line, where they went 15 for 27.
sJacas, 09/02/2014, 12:43
Shot Charts
RMB (6) and Barcelona (4) combined for just 10 outside-paint two point attempts in the semis.
Real Madrid (left) vs Zaragoza (right)
Barcelona (left) vs Valencia (right)
Source: acbdata.net
sJacas, 09/02/2014, 12:15
Navarro opens with three triples
Barcelona attacked Rafa Martinez with Juan Carlos Navarro and off-ball screens early on. Valencia bigs were unwilling to help. Martinez was unwilling to create contact with Lorbek’s moving screen. Navarro made all three spot up shots.
sJacas, 09/02/2014, 2:01
Nachbar stretches floor, Barcelona ease past Valencia
Promising to be a even-leveled clash between 16-2 Valencia and 12-6 Barcelona, the 2nd semifinal did not deliver. Barcelona cruised past Valencia, creating a double digit lead before a late Valencia push brought the game into single digits. A 31-9 1st quarter took all energy out of the building. Fans had been rooting against Barcelona with passion — Alex Abrines, who had not made any new friends by forcing himself out of Malaga — in particular.
Nachbar stretches the floor, Doellman does not
RMB and Barcelona have been getting away with locking up the paint, bumping the roll man with their fours before recovering to their original matchups. Neither Sanikidze, Baez/Martin, nor Doellman were able to punish help D, Doellman arguably bothered by playing with a mask, settling for mid range pull ups that were usually blocked or way off target. His frontcourt colleague Bojan Dubljevic, posting elite scoring numbers this season, was a disappointment in Malaga, getting outhustled, outrebounded, showing inability to finish against long arms close to the basket.
Nachbar, on the other hand, played one his best games of the season, finishing the 1st half with 13 points, including 3 for 4 from long range, as Barca were dissecting the Valencia defense with methodical pick and roll play and near-perfect accuracy from the outside.
sJacas, 08/02/2014, 21:04
Still Cruising: RMB through to the finals
Another otherworldly dominant display saw Real Madrid through to the finals. Zaragoza had 19 turnovers in the 1st three quarters, at the end of which the game was out of reach. Simply “avoiding” these turnovers does not do the complexity of shot creation justice. There are risks involved when you attempt to reach the goal of creating a quality shot, and Zaragoza do not possess quality individual shot creators to score on a top-level defense.
Llull playing at top speed
Llull’s athleticism is something else to watch live in person. Long mocked for his supposedly poor decision making, Llull seems to be channeling his physical talent into the right direction now. His limited role in half court playmaking, for point guard standards at least, is contrasted by his increasingly deadly transition playmaking. He’s making good decisions at high speed.
sJacas, 08/02/2014, 13:21
Lafayette: Intended to go 2 for 1
Lafayette said post morning practice that going 2 for 1 was intentional. Wanted to get a quick shot — for Rafa Martinez, initially — to get the ball back.
sJacas, 08/02/2014, 12:15
Carroll talks Copa del Rey
We caught Jaycee after morning practice. Questions by Rob Scott / Euroleague Adventures.
sJacas, 08/02/2014, 11:32
Roll in today’s semifinal, despite finger injury
Michael Roll, entrenando con una inmovilización en el dedo, pero tirando con normalidad https://t.co/V8V53aNsws
— Liga Endesa (@ACBCOM) February 8, 2014
sJacas, 08/02/2014, 1:53
Shot Charts
Valencia (left) vs Baskonia (right)
Barcelona (left) vs Tenerife (right)
Source: acbdata.net
sJacas, 07/02/2014, 22:09
Baskonia vs Valencia 74-75
Heartbreaking loss for Baskonia, who held the upper hand through most of this matchup. San Emeterio fouled Rafa Martinez 0.4 seconds from the buzzer. Martinez sank the 1st free throw, then intentionally missed the 2nd.
Scariolo increasingly went to Nociono down the stretch, with decreasing efficiency. Tibor Pleiß had 10 points in 9 first half minutes but fouled out at 16 with 4 1/2 minutes left. Pleiß, the top per-minute scoring center in the ACB, blocked 3 shots, but foul-trouble has long been an achilles heel for the German.
Dubljeviv: Shaky Finishing
Bojan Dubljevic’s continuously rising shooting numbers have reached outrageous spheres this season, but this game once more exposed his inability to finish strong against length inside. Bothered by the long Pleiß and the far-from-impressive defensive effort of Lamont Hamilton, Dubljevic missed a number of blunders down the stretch.
sJacas, 07/02/2014, 16:34
RMB Defense
Sequences of Real Madrid defense from yesterday’s Copa opener.
Courtesy of paperdeplata
sJacas, 07/02/2014, 0:29
Shot Charts
Real Madrid (left) vs Granca (right)
Unicaja (left) vs Zaragoza (right)
Source: acbdata.net
sJacas, 07/02/2014, 0:11
Zaragoza go against the flow
Tall Zaragoza reach the semis with a thrilling 2nd half comeback. Zaragoza play 2.08m forward Rudez at the three — he’s limited as a ballhandler, but so are smaller small forwards. Viktor Sanikidze was tireless in attacking off the dribble.
Llompart and Roll answered the various pick and roll defensive looks Joan Plaza threw at them with solid decision making, had 13 assists on 4 turnovers. Suffered immensely from Unicaja’s transition game and offensive rebounding but were the far more potent team in half court.
Shermadini was solid in catching on the roll and understanding not to commit the charge against the late-arriving far corner defender (usually a guard).
Kuzminskas, Dragic behind Unicaja’s 2nd quarter surge
Zoran looks ready to step up the career ladder this summer. Signed a 2+2 deal with Unicaja in 2012. Had 18 points in 23:46 minutes. Went just 5 for 13 from the field but is so active all over the floor. Finished with 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Is one of the best per-minute close range scorers in both ACB and Euroleague.
Kuzminskas had a phenomenal 2nd quarter but totaled just 16:28 minutes, where he had 18 points. Is at his best when cutting, getting post touches, flying down the court in transition.
sJacas, 06/02/2014, 21:10
83-60: RMB cruise to the semis
Photo: ACB.com
Bourousis had 5 assists at the half, largely in transition and broken plays. Mirotic with 11 first quarter points. Little news from RMB, who have so many options in half court and so much creativity when playing off the stop.
RMB Defense
Whistling and booing as Real Madrid enter the floor, but to no avail. Real Madrid are so quick and athletic. They challenge the first double-high pass of the set offense with such aggressiveness, opponents struggle initiating offense in time. RMB get stops and score early on the clock. Granca frustrated in half court possessions. Granca Fours Baez and Nacho Martin had the semi-contested three all evening, went 1 for 11. Ben Hansbrough brought RMB’s high-up D down with a trio of drives.
Tavares: 16, 12 and 4
Tavares, who looked like he had retro shorts on in his apparent (and easily believable) 2.20m / 7-3ft frame, has averaged around 25 minutes a game through the 2nd part of the season so far. Top-level per-minute shot blockers with low minutes per game averages sometimes fail to translate into larger, 20+ minutes roles, but Tavares is producing in such role.
Tavares was outsprintedjogged occasionally by Bourousis, getting up and down the floor in short strides and failing to gain speed. But he was a monster in half court defense. Finished with 4 blocks and altered a many more.
sJacas, 06/02/2014, 16:50
Height & Wingspan: Copa Edition
Data: Draftexpress Pre-Draft Measurements Database
sJacas, 06/02/2014, 14:31
Graph: Dubljević’s 3pt Shooting
With the Stretch Five increasingly en vogue, Bojan Dubljević is causing headaches with his elite-level long range shooting. Three point percentage has been on the rise on a three season basis. 37.2 percent of his field goal attempts (3PR) come from down town this season.
Stats are for all competitions combined.
Data: RealGM
sJacas, 06/02/2014, 13:45
Dubljevic: Pleiß, Baskonia’s most dangerous player
Bojan Dubljevic on acb.com:
At this moment the most dangerous player for Laboral Kutxa is Tibor Pleiß. We will have to defend well against both him and Nocioni.
Valencia, 2nd in the ACB with a 16-2 record and 1st ahead of Real Madrid in offensive rating, face Baskonia tomorrow at 7.10pm.
sJacas, 06/02/2014, 10:05
Preview Podcast
Copa Preview Podcast with Rob Scott and Sam Meyerkopf is up on Euroleague Adventures (Link)
sJacas, 01/02/2014, 10:16
Sada’s Season Trends
Victor Sada’s minutes are on the rise — not unlike past season — but depending on opponent strategy, is another playoff collapse on the cards?
sJacas, 31/01/2014, 22:32
Team Trend Graphs
Will point you to my BBL post for the methodology of the graphs below. From the post:
The team graphs below show offensive and defensive rating adjusted for strength of schedule. If you drop 110 points per 100 possessions on an opponent that conceded 100 points per 100 possession in all remaining games, that means you’re plus 10 in offensive rating for the game. The graphs are not game-by-game, though, but show three games running averages, to not follow every one-game variance (although three games is a fairly short range already). The black line is offensive rating, the invisible line on the other end of the painted area is defensive rating. If the area is red, that means defensive rating has been worse during the three game stretch than offensive rating. Remember: defensive rating is the lower the better. Also consider the scale of the graph, on the Y-axis, which is not consistent.
Advanced Team Stats
Team Trend Graphs
Real Madrid have cruised through this season with a so-far perfect ACB record, but defensive performance has dropped in recent weeks.
Valencia lead the league in offensive rating and they’ve yet to have a single below average three game span.
Navarro’s occasional he’s-still-got-it performances were the talk of the town recently, but defensive performance — certainly helped by the return of Brad Oleson — is the true force behind Barça’s return to form.
Malaga, too, have played well lately, and if you wonder how the blowout loss in Madrid fits in here: A 21-point defeat in the Palacio de Deportes is a still-better-than-average outcome for a road team.
Gran Canaria play elite defense (third in defensive rating), which is consistent with previous seasons (4th in 2011/12, 2nd in 2012/13). Still, the Granca defense has performed worse than the rest of the league against recent opponents.
Zaragoza’s defensive performance has bounced around league average, but offense dropped deep throughout December before rebounding in January.
It’s been a typically chaotic, roller-coaster season for Baskonia, who are struggling to maintain their status quo and keep producing a remarkable player turnover. And just as they’re starting to play well, they lose a Euroleague game at home to Efes.
Tenerife aka CB Canarias are the outsiders of this year’s Copa. They move the ball well, ranking 2nd in Assist Percentage (58 percent of made field goals are assisted), a quality that has helped get the best out of the functional but hardly elite-level skill set of Blagota Sekulić.
sJacas, 31/01/2014, 21:48
¡Hola!
Will be traveling to Málaga next Wednesday to report live from this year’s Copa del Rey, unquestionably the second most important one-weekend event in European basketball. Will be teaming up with the outrageously productive Rob Scott from Euroleague Adventures and the inimitably imaginative George Rowland from Trendbasket Talkbasket.
Will use the upcoming Copa build-up days to dump graphs, docs and notes here.
The folks at acb.com wasted no time in focusing on Málaga. They regularly outperform their ACB Finals selves during La Copa, which is typically celebrated on Twitter through the #CopaACB hash tag.
The quarter finals draw, as most of you lot will know, brought us the following quartet of games:
Photo: ACB.com
There is quite a bit of upset potential, as Unicaja host this off-season’s big spenders, Zaragoza, while Real Madrid face the league’s number three defense of Gran Canaria. Barça versus Tenerife looks one-sided on paper now that the Catalonians are playing their best basketball of the season. Valencia — league-leaders in offensive rating ahead of Real Madrid would you believe — versus eternally proud Baskonia has blockbuster potential.
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