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[1/8 finals - Day 2] Finland - Serbia

  • Thread starter Thread starter slice me nice2
  • Start date Start date

[1/8 finals - Day 2] Finland - Serbia

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slice me nice2

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Serbia looks so complete team and they are doing well together. They have played flawless until now and they were one step ahead of every opponent. Finnish basketball again succeeded to reach this stage and they want to crown their sustainable success with a great game.
 
Well, Finns have to hope that Serbia would underestimate them, however how they played against Iceland doesn't give much hope for them in that regard.
Defending Teo is the key, I think Salin will take over that to keep Koponen fresh for the offensive stuff, than again Serbia has so many offensive weapons it's hard to predict where they'll start hitting from, Raduljica should definately be an issue, Bjelica the same as ussual.
I know that the attitude with which Finns will come up with will be trying to win this game, however it would take a complete game from them, some players having good days and exposing issues within Serbian game other teams haven't yet managed to. Not exactly impossible, but not all that likely either.
 
Well basically the way to expose and attack Serbia is a combination of following things.

- Willingness to commit to offensive rebounding and attack the boards with a lot of intensity. In general this is where you can expose Raduljica especially since he is not an elite rebounder feeling-wise. He has a lot of size but not really the best feel for it, he gets caught napping a lot and that leads to easy second chance points. This is why Bjelica cleans up the boards not Raduljica.

- Regarding Bjelica, there is not much you can do about him on offense since he is so versatile and finds great solutions, but one way to eliminate him is to get him in foul trouble. He rarely gets there, but if attacked regularly in the post he can be baited. With him on the bench and Erceg/Simonovic in the lineup the boards become much more manageable and outside of Kuzmic noone to defend the paint.

- Run PnR at Teo/Raduljica combo, others will smash it, but this duo on the floor that's the opening. Basically make Teo over-commit and pass to the roller to attack Raduljica at the rim and make him make fouls etc. This is a way to force a rotation and see more of Markovic/Nedovic Nedovic/Bogdanovic duo in the backcourt if Teo is leaking too much on defense. Those two options are much more manageable to defend then Teo running PnR and Raduljica rolling.

- Rely less on the three point shot, cause you will not get a lot of clear ones from Serbia who are very aggressive on the ball, and try to cut more to the basket behind screens and attack the paint. Then out of that, try to facilitate outside shot with spot shooting. On the ball running and shooting can't work, as Spain saw and they are the best at it in the world.

Basically that is a recipe. The holes are not that big to exploit, meaning noone is a complete liability on Serbia to exploit and this is why it has to be a combination of things you do well and hope that creation/shooting wise Serbia doesn't have a good game. The main issue is that most of the things I have mentioned would be more suited to Poland, than Finland. So I am sure that they will be pissed that they have lost the game vs them for 3rd. On the other hand that would take them to Spain, where similar issues would arise :D
 
CoachZ said:
Well basically the way to expose and attack Serbia is a combination of following things.

- Willingness to commit to offensive rebounding and attack the boards with a lot of intensity. In general this is where you can expose Raduljica especially since he is not an elite rebounder feeling-wise. He has a lot of size but not really the best feel for it, he gets caught napping a lot and that leads to easy second chance points. This is why Bjelica cleans up the boards not Raduljica.

- Regarding Bjelica, there is not much you can do about him on offense since he is so versatile and finds great solutions, but one way to eliminate him is to get him in foul trouble. He rarely gets there, but if attacked regularly in the post he can be baited. With him on the bench and Erceg/Simonovic in the lineup the boards become much more manageable and outside of Kuzmic noone to defend the paint.

- Run PnR at Teo/Raduljica combo, others will smash it, but this duo on the floor that's the opening. Basically make Teo over-commit and pass to the roller to attack Raduljica at the rim and make him make fouls etc. This is a way to force a rotation and see more of Markovic/Nedovic Nedovic/Bogdanovic duo in the backcourt if Teo is leaking too much on defense. Those two options are much more manageable to defend then Teo running PnR and Raduljica rolling.

- Rely less on the three point shot, cause you will not get a lot of clear ones from Serbia who are very aggressive on the ball, and try to cut more to the basket behind screens and attack the paint. Then out of that, try to facilitate outside shot with spot shooting. On the ball running and shooting can't work, as Spain saw and they are the best at it in the world.

Basically that is a recipe. The holes are not that big to exploit, meaning noone is a complete liability on Serbia to exploit and this is why it has to be a combination of things you do well and hope that creation/shooting wise Serbia doesn't have a good game. The main issue is that most of the things I have mentioned would be more suited to Poland, than Finland. So I am sure that they will be pissed that they have lost the game vs them for 3rd. On the other hand that would take them to Spain, where similar issues would arise :D
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F..k CoachZ, you're leaking classified national info:D
 
I think most coaching staffs must be aware of this already. Even if there might always be some surprising exceptions :)

I've seen PnR issues on Teo and Raduljica in friendlies against Slovenia, however rarely exploited at the eurobasket. Spain tried that a lot and got Raduljica out of the game as he wasn't efficient, but I've either missed others doing it, they actualy weren't trying to or they weren't capable od doing so? what exactly do you think was the case there?
One thing where Raduljica or Kuzmić can be exposed is in case there is a stretch 5 out there, but that's more of a game style than actualy exposing a weakness, if Finland would have a C, PF combo able to play like that, that would make their job easier by a lot for everyone else included as well, however I don't think Murphy would even switch to 5 and ... Kotti to 4 in order to achieve an all 3point dangerous lineup with Koponen attacking Teo in case the paint is still clear.

Basicaly I think Finland's best hope is for Koponen to break the defense repeatedly and create from there, the way they exploded in 11 and 13, however he'll be tired down eventualy, I've got a feeling he'll get himself a healthy dosage of Marković and Nedović out there.
What you've said about the reliance on 3point shot is true, but not exactly working in Finn's favour.
 
Joško Poljak Fan;1000465 said:
I think most coaching staffs must be aware of this already. Even if there might always be some surprising exceptions :)

I've seen PnR issues on Teo and Raduljica in friendlies against Slovenia, however rarely exploited at the eurobasket. Spain tried that a lot and got Raduljica out of the game as he wasn't efficient, but I've either missed others doing it, they actualy weren't trying to or they weren't capable od doing so? what exactly do you think was the case there?
One thing where Raduljica or Kuzmić can be exposed is in case there is a stretch 5 out there, but that's more of a game style than actualy exposing a weakness, if Finland would have a C, PF combo able to play like that, that would make their job easier by a lot for everyone else included as well, however I don't think Murphy would even switch to 5 and ... Kotti to 4 in order to achieve an all 3point dangerous lineup with Koponen attacking Teo in case the paint is still clear.

Basicaly I think Finland's best hope is for Koponen to break the defense repeatedly and create from there, the way they exploded in 11 and 13, however he'll be tired down eventualy, I've got a feeling he'll get himself a healthy dosage of Marković and Nedović out there.
What you've said about the reliance on 3point shot is true, but not exactly working in Finn's favour.
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PnR issue is still there it's just masked with a scheme. Our initial lineup in the prep period was with Teo-Markovic-Kalinic-Bjelica-Raduljica. When PnR issues were exposed by quick guard C combos, we switched and put Kuzmic in first line up. He is an excellent defender for European standards and he follows it well and the problems stopped. Also another slight adjustment was made and that is to put Markovic most of the time on the primary ball handler. That way you are running PnR most of the time vs Markovic - Kuzmic and noone wants that. You don't have a lot of chance there. Unless you have a lineup with 2 guards who excel on PnR then you won't get much there the way we play it now. Teodosic is mostly guarding SGs in Eurobasket when in lineup with Markovic. Teo-Raduljica combo comes later in the rotation when we rotate out Kuzmic and then go more offensive lineup after initial pressure on D and trying to build a gap.

Playing stretch bigs is the worst thing you can do vs Serbia since our bigs move very well (Raduljica being worst but still decent) and Kuzmic, Bjelica, Simonovic, Kalinic who might play at PF when needed vs stretch F will handle that with ease. We will go small ball and then you will have to play vs Bjelica-Erceg or Bjelica-Kalinic. That ends bad for stretch players (ask Mirotic). The way is to attack the paint and post up. The size might be issue for Fins but still it works better than other option. Reyes had a decent night and he is undersized. You just have to be persistent and keep coming, fouls will come etc.
 
Also Murphy needs to be a monster this game rebounds and points wise and our 3-point shots have to land on good %.

Good news is that Jamar Wilson plays in this game. He didn't play against Poland as a precaution because he has a small wrist injury.
 
Serbia is a clear favorite, but they definitely aren't unbeatable. Finland, even as major underdogs, can give them a run for their money.
 
No diss to Mika Hakkinen, but if I were to choose I'd go with Jane Ahonen with his potential windmill dunks all over the place :)
 
Joško Poljak Fan;1001364 said:
No diss to Mika Hakkinen, but if I were to choose I'd go with Jane Ahonen with his potential windmill dunks all over the place :)
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Sorry there can be only one. My idol Kimi Raikkonen and his amazing drives to the basket :-)
 
when they asked Finish coach how do they feel he said "We feel same as Serbia would feel if they met us in hockey" :D epic
 
Well I don't know. If Djokovic is that accurate with tennis ball he should be able to shoot some threes as well so I'd just bench Teodosic to create some space.
 
Liha said:
Well I don't know. If Djokovic is that accurate with tennis ball he should be able to shoot some threes as well so I'd just bench Teodosic to create some space.
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Kimi vs Djokovic, I would pay good money to see Kimi shut that bitch Djokovic up :-)
 
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