Zaragoza made a stupid game in spite of the win over Nizhny
Yesterday, Casademont Zaragoza fought to win their home game against the visitors from Novgorod. The game had to be very easy since the Russian team came without their main scorer Anton Astapkovich who has 22 points per game in Liga VTB and an incredible 3 point percentage.
Nizhny travelled the whole of Europe to meet Zaragoza and they had only 8 players for this encounter. But they played basketball! From the first seconds of the game, they tried to use smart every possession of the ball and defend very actively. After 15 minutes, Zaragoza has only 25 points scored and showed a chaotic offense.
The difference between the teams has made by the coaches and the motivation. Zoran Lukic coordinated very weel his players, while Sergio Hernandez was only looking helpless how his students were wasting the opportunities to score.
One of the biggest mistakes of Zaragoza was insisting too much to score from long distance (where they sucked) instead of penetrating in order to provoke the Russian team to commit more fouls. Imagine this: at the halftime Nizhny had only 4 fouls made!!! This stupid approach of the game made by Zaragoza allowed Nizhny to survive in the second part of the game. The short rotation said its word in the last minutes when Zaragoza came back.
The game ended with another huge error made by Zaragoza. Having the last possession with the game tied at 75 and 12 seconds remaining they shot instead of keeping the ball for a last-second try. Only a lucky offensive rebound saved them and then came the saving 3 pointer that seals the victory.
But what could happen if they missed that shot with 12 seconds remaining and Nizhny had the last possession? You cannot waste opportunities like that. In a situation like this, you have to control the game and better entering the overtime than giving to the opponents the possibility to have the last possession. But where there is no coach and the mercenary are doing what they want on the court this is the result! You made weak games relying on lucky shots.
Image: Basketball Champions League
Gratian Cormos is a life coach, book writer and mentor living in the city of Barcelona, Spain.
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