Panathinaikos is leaving tomorrow (3 p.m.) for Croatia, where it will be facing KK Zagreb in the context of the Euroleague 2nd competition date. KK Zagreb is a team that was analyzed by the “Greens” today with the help of the DVD, and that Dimitris Itoudis knows all too well, since it was the first club that he coached when still studying in Croatia.
“For me this is definitely a special and somewhat strange game, since I have worked there for many years and it will be the first time since then that I will see some of the people that I had been working with. Although many years have gone by, I know that many of them are still with the team, in administrative posts.
From a competition point of view, what we are interested in is that this is our second Euroleague game for the season after the good start we had playing against Unicaja Μálaga, so the point of the matter is naturally the gameplay.
KK Zagreb has new players but also experienced players as well, such as Mulaomerovic and Kasun, who have been playing in Euroleague for many years, but also in other leagues as well; there is May too who also competed in Euroleague last year playing for Fenerbahce/Ulker. This was the kind of ‘mix” they wanted to have: experienced players but also college players. A main element in the way KK Zagreb plays is the use of fast breaks. They want to run in the open court, so it will be very important for us to not allow them easy shots. Even their tall guys, such as Kasun or May run the court very well. We must bear that in mind, because we do not want to end up on the receiving end of easy shots.”
KK Zagreb’s game play is not exhausted to fast breaks and Itoudis goes on to add the second elements: “Playing in half court is linked to the creativity and execution of mainly three players. I will start by Simon, who is a left-handed shooting guard. Many readers might not know him, but he is a players who can both shoot and create, and is the top scorer of the team. He is their best player in scoring, making successful shots and creating; a player that we must limit. He has many different scoring ways, whether coming out behind the screens, or after a pick ’n’ roll, or running for a fast break. There is also Mulaomerovic: with the pick ‘n roll creativity and the experience that he has accumulated he makes a good combination with the third shooter they have, Kasun. These two guards and Kasun have very good combinations finishing a play close to the basket, or event “plunging in” after the pick ‘n’ rolls created by the other guards.”
The analysis of the Croatian team is not limited to these three players: “Heyvelt is very good in opening the game and is an important part for their tactics and our defensive adjustment. Since Vlado Androic took over, he wants to play with players that can play facing the basket, such as May and Heytvelt, both of whom have a good 3-point shot. While Kasun plays more in the paint, these two come out and shoot facing the basket. In this case the defense will open up and we will undoubtedly have a different adjustment. I am saying that because it is an important part of the tactics they too use in their offense arsenal. Apart from that, there are also other newer or experienced players. Garrett is one of those who belong to the first category; he runs quite a lot of pick ‘n rolls and is a highly active point guard. He is an Iowa State University graduate who plays in Europe for the first time. Players such as Ozbolt and Rancic belong to the second category and are both very good shooters. From a defense point of view we expect to see a 2-3 zone defense, whether during base line outs, after timeouts, in the side lines, or a general use of zone defense.”
KK Zagreb having lost in Germany with a big margin does not concern Panathinaikos: “They committed many turnovers, the German team pushed them to making mistakes, but undoubtedly they will be very different in their home arena. We have both the quality and ability to win this game, but what we will say and stress to our players is that Euroleague hides many traps. Being more experienced in this competition we ought to draw the players’ attention on various game elements. We will also work on their weaknesses, but I repeat: they might be the …Cinderella in this Group, but they can cause a lot of damages and we do not want to be one of them.”
