“You know I’ve never tried it before?” grinned Denzel Valentine talking about the jumper under his legs that made it 67-40 when Jarrod Uthoff put it on the glass.
The things of the Harlem Globetrotters, which few can say they have seen live in a top European basketball championship. We’ll talk a lot about the 67-40 basket, but how did we get to 65-40? With another no-look assist behind Valentine’s head for Brown’s triple, you could say. Fair enough, but how did we get to 62-40?
It’s strange to say in a game characterized by scenery and long runs, but the difference in opening the advantage margin comes from the forward department: Uthoff, Johnson, Brooks and Candussi are the authors of a very high level performance in all aspects. in the game where this game ended in 107-81 will not be remembered.
Coach Christian explained: “I don’t like to adapt other people’s strategies: do you want to send a small quintet to the field? Alright, we’ll bounce you!“
In fact, between the second and third quarters Trieste took thanks to the presence under the basket of Brooks and Johnson, who changed the mistakes of their teammates into points, giving way – with bombs by Uthoff – in a partial 19- 2. The result of those five minutes was more than twenty points that the visitors could not question.
On the surface everything seems very simple, but it is not: to create a situation of that type is possible only for high-level teams, not in terms of individual talent, but in all aspects that can never be touched or measured.
Unity of purpose, willingness to sacrifice, mutual support.
Varese is deadly in transition, so it is important that everyone, especially the big players, return with great discipline and agility to avoid easy baskets; Not only that, Varese have more players on the perimeter of the pitch, which means more space for the defense to cover and therefore a greater effort to counter shots and not lose on the dribble.
These are the necessary conditions to allow the big men to make the difference in their own way: attacking all the rebounds to get the pace of the strong attack of the visitors. Mission accomplished, with 26 total rebounds for Brooks, Johnson, Candussi and Uthoff alone, just a few short of the 32 earned by the entire opposing team; to this should be added the standard 9 of Valentine, who like other wings covers the back – by the way, Brown’s usual blocker – in his big boys called to protect more from the basket.
Beyond the raw number of rebounds obtained by the red and whites, the percentage of offensive rebounds obtained compared to the total rebounds available on that side of the court is representative: more than 30% ended up in the hands of one of Johnson or Brooks, an impressive figure and puts in black and white what was said a few paragraphs ago about the partial division of the game.
All these factors mean that it is the attack on Trieste, led by many parts of petition Ruzzier on a complicated night for Ross, running like clockwork, scoring every player on the pitch and allowing space for the creativity of all Coach Christian’s boys.
Perhaps the secret of this team is exactly this: they are ready to do all the dirty work necessary to entertain and entertain the public with assists like Valentine’s, the one above Ruzzier’s head for Candussi’s triple, dunk by Brown and nine by Uthoff. meter triple.