You can plan and scheme for a lot in basketball. After one game of the Euroleague playoffs, Zalgiris Kaunas may have run into something they can’t simply outsmart. Emmet Ryan on how depth carried Fenerbahce to a comfortable Game 1 win.
This looked on paper as the Euroleague playoff series with the most potential. Game 1 however showed an enormous edge that Fenerbahce hold over Zalgiris Kaunas. While outwitting the defending champions with tactical nuance was always going to be an issue for the Lithuanian club, this was a different kind of challenge.
There’s nothing that can’t be overcome with the right approach. Finding it is the hard part. Tomas Masiulis has about 48 hours to come up with something.
Imposing their will
Zalgiris got off to a tremendous start in the first quarter. They went up by 9 points early and had Fenerbahce genuinely flustered. Then the first set of substitutions happened and Fener turned into prime Lennox Lewis.
In total, Fener had 10 players clocked over 9 minutes in this game with 4 of them scoring more than 10 points. The defending champions were efficient as well. They shot 63.4 inside the arc and went 41.7 from three.
This is a side with no single point of failure. Granted, you wouldn’t expect such a scenario in the Euroleague playoffs but Fenerbahce came across particularly insulated in this outing. Rough and all as their back end of the regular season was, this was a team that looked refreshed and ready to go at full speed on Tuesday night.
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They also play D
The final score was a fine distraction from when the game effectively ended as a contest. Perhaps Fenerbahce recognised the complaints of so many fans about games in the Euroleague playoffs overlapping. To help out, they decided to end this one before Valencia and Panathinaikos tipped off.
Between the early Zalgiris Kaunas lead and halftime, Fenerbahce outscored the visitors 42-14. That was buffered substantially by a simply nasty start to the second quarter. Only an unexpected Moses Wright three landed in the early part as Fener wholly shut down the Lithuanian club.
The scariest part was that Fenerbahce didn’t even have to lean on their physical power. This was simply smart play and solid organisation. Granted, it’s a lot easier to do that when you are spelling everyone routinely. Still, it’s an edge that Fener drove home and ensured the result was all but guaranteed at the break.
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Assume nothing
Zalgiris had a rally in the third quarter but it was never going to be enough to truly threaten Fenerbahce. The hosts kicked back into gear in the final frame to cruise home and secure a win to kick off the Euroleague playoffs.
Game 2 and logic rarely go together. That means the two most likely outcomes, either a Fener repeat or an extraordinary Zalgiris turnaround of untold proportions, should not be expected. The remainder of options are more in the ground out hard-fought realm or hot mess territory.
The only certainty is that Zalgiris need to do something different. Masiulis, long at the side of Sarunas Jasikevicius, has to puzzle his former boss. Workrate and guile can be a potent cocktail but not when the powerhouse you face have both in hefty supply. Something different will happen on Thursday and it will shape the remainder of this series.
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