Defensive momentum is like gold dust, especially in the postseason, and these teams are building theirs now.
Stats review: What defenses are tightening the screws
Stats
3 Mins read
The postseason push is upon us as just five more rounds remain in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. At this stage of the season, teams have had their ups and downs, have made and faced adjustments, offensively and defensively, and are looking to build momentum and maximize their playoff prospects. Momentum is a difficult thing to achieve at this level, but several teams have been thriving over the second half of the season.
The table above looks at the teams that have been playing the best defense, in terms of points per possession, since the calendar turned to 2024. FC Barcelona and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens have held steady towards the top of the overall defensive leaderboards all season but have stepped up over the last two months to distance themselves from the rest of the teams near the top of the standings.
For Panathinaikos, the formula has changed in some subtle ways. The Greens have slowed down the pace of games and made some adjustments to how they defend off-the-ball in pick-and-rolls. The result has been more effective rim protection and limited spot-up opportunities for their opponents.
FC Barcelona has stuck to their strengths, as well, allowing the fewest transition points in the EuroLeague and doing a tremendous job with their rotations off the ball and against quick hitters.
Among the top five teams in defensive efficiency from the first half of the season, Panathinaikos and Barcelona are the only two to have improved in the new year, although AS Monaco deserves credit for being consistent throughout.
The top two defensive teams from the beginning of the season, Real Madrid and Valencia, also appear on this list. But after averaging 0.88 and 0.93 points per possession, respectively, at the end of 2023, Real Madrid and Valencia have fallen back to the 1.00-point-per-possession mark – which is the EuroLeague average. That has allowed Barcelona and Panathinaikos to close the gap on Real, which still leads the EuroLeague in defensive efficiency for the full season, but only by a slim margin that continues to shrink.
While Madrid is a near-lock to finish first in the standings, whether its defense can get back on track is something to monitor, especially given how dominant Los Blancos were until the end of 2023. Since then, letting opponents run in transition has been the culprit behind Real's defensive inconsistency. Over the regular season's final month, the defending champs have no opponents currently ranked higher than eighth in the standings, so whether they can revert to their earlier defensive dominance in time for the postseason will be an interesting theme to watch.
Barcelona's defense will take on a fascinating test during the double-round week when they visit Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, among the EuroLeague's most efficient offensive teams in 2024, before heading to Athens to take on Panathinaikos.