Round 3 brings a showdown between Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade and AS Monaco. Both teams have top quality and depth at the guard spots. How to use it and stop the opposing backcourt will be critical.
Zvezda hosts Monaco in Battle of the Guards
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Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade and AS Monaco are set to face each other on Wednesday at Stark Arena and the keys to this duel may sit with their respective backcourts.
Both teams made it a priority to improve their respective guard rotations in the off-season and on paper are two of the deepest teams in the competition.
Star guards galore
Zvezda landed 2009-10 EuroLeague MVP Milos Teodosic, "The Magician", who has gone full circle by returning to Belgrade. Teodosic won a EuroLeague championship with CSKA Moscow and lifted the EuroCup trophy with Virtus Segafredo Bologna. He has taken part in eight Final Fours with CSKA and Olympiacos Piraeus and is one of four players in EuroLeague history with 3,000 points, 1,000 assists and 500 three-pointers. The others are Vassilis Spanoulis, Sergio Llull and Sergio Rodriguez.
Shabazz Napier was another marquee signing for Zvezda. The two-time NCAA champion has plenty of NBA experience. Last season he joined EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in the middle of the year and averaged 15.0 points and a PIR of 16.4. Yago Dos Santos also comes off a strong season in which he won the German League and posted strong numbers in the EuroCup (13.0 ppg., 6.1 apg) with ratiopharm Ulm. He has yet to make his EuroLeague debut.
Rounding out the backcourt, Nemanja Nedovic offers elite scoring skills and team captain Branko Lazic is one of the best on-the-ball defenders in the competition. Head coach Dusko Ivanovic has plenty to choose from.
Monaco also invested in star guards, but has been unfortunate with injuries. Its star signing, Kemba Walker, is nearing his EuroLeague debut. Walker, a four-time NBA ALL-Star, averaged 19.3 points in 750 NBA career games. Fun fact: Walker and Napier won the 2011 NCAA championship as teammates with the University of Connecticut.
Former Zvezda scorer Jordan Loyd is injured, too. Monaco managed to keep the core of guards who worked very well together last season, leading the team to its first French League title and a Final Four berth.
Mike James leads the team as Monaco's franchise player. He needs just 42 points to become the fourth player with 4,000 points scored in EuroLeague history, after Spanoulis, Nando De Colo and Juan Carlos Navarro. Elie Okobo and James
have found the recipe to be both effective and decisive, and Matthew Strazel can change any game with his shooting from downtown.
It is down to Coach Ivanovic and his Monaco counterpart Sasa Obradovic to make the most out of the great talents they have available.
Different ways to stop them
Both teams know strong showings from their guards improve their chances to win the game. Of course, the rival will try the exact opposite, and both teams have many defensive options.
Zvezda can count on Lazic to put pressure on James. In Round 1 against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, Lazic guarded De Colo and held him scoreless in the first quarter and to just 4 first-half points. At halftime, Zvezda led 52-31 and was well on its way to winning the game.
Coach Ivanovic can also opt for a taller lineup with Rokas Giedraitis and Dejan Davidovac together on court, as Zvezda did in Round 2 against Zalgiris Kaunas, looking for low post situations. Former EuroLeague Best Defender Adam Hanga is also a good choice to guard James or Okobo due to his mobility and long arms.
Monaco also has its own defensive weapons. John Brown is a steals specialist who can switch in pick-and-roll situations and work his magic to deflect the ball or force a turnover. Terry Tarpey is also a blue-collar defender with size and energy. Coach Obradovic can turn to Alpha Diallo and Yakuba Ouattara as well to give Zvezda's guards trouble.
Of course, there is much more to this game, but EuroLeague fans can expect plenty of good passes, thrilling three-pointers and brilliant execution. It is not often that one sees so many good guards on a basketball court, and the fact that the game is in the Serbian capital, in front of an outstanding crowd, should make it even better.