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Early on Tuesday morning, the US team escaped with 93-92 win in overtime on Turkey in their second match of the FIBA 2019 World Cup in China, in the group stage, and improved to 2-0 in the tournament.
The spectacular victory of the Americans, which was only possible thanks to some huge mistakes made by the Turks at the end of regulation time and overtime, was the subject of much attention and for good reason, but far from the only exciting game of the day. .
A few hundred kilometers to the west, in Nanjing, Greece and Brazil staged their own thriller. Led by 22 points and nine rebounds of Anderson Varejao, Brazil has imposed 79-78 to rise to the top of the group F. The most interesting note of this match is however that the MVP in title, Giannis Antetokounmpo, finished with only 13 points. and five rebounds on 3 out of 7 of the field.
After the victory, Brazilian coach Aleksandar Petrovic, brother of NBA star Drazen Petrovic, said: no time wasted boasting about the performance – both of himself and his players.
"When I was preparing this game, a lot of people talked and joked about how to stop Antetokounmpo," Petrovic said. "For six months, since the semi-finals between Toronto and Milwaukee, I wondered how to stop Antetokounmpo.
"Why is this sport wonderful?" On the other side, you have a guy who won the MVP, he is 23 years old and who stops him tonight? The guy who is 40 years old and who breaks his feet on the court! It's basketball! "
Forty-year-old Alex Garcia, 39, assumed initial responsibility for protecting the Milwaukee Bucks superstar and set the tone with his deafening, physical defense.
After Brazlian's successful performance Tuesday, and his coach's enthusiasm about his game plan, it should be checked whether NBA teams could take or implement their efforts to prevent the Greek Freak from winning a second title of player in a row.
At the beginning of the match, Giannis was particularly badly taken by Greece. Two mistakes were made in the first 30 seconds – one against Bruno Caboclo and one against Garcia. But although Garcia committed this early fault, he showed with this possession how it would make life difficult for Giannis all night long.
Garcia, who is only 6-foot-4, would seem to be an imbalance compared to the Giannis of 6-foot-11, but the veteran has a PJ Tucker-style build; he is strong enough not to be intimidated into the post, and fast enough to stay with the MVP in motion.
He was often able to use his strength to prevent Giannis from going to his places.
And when he could not do that, he made the process painful so that help could come.
In the first quarter, Giannis managed to make four fouls, but he finished with just six points and two turnovers, and it was clear that Garcia's physical defense was bothering him. Using a much smaller defender seemed to annoy him a little, and also allowed Brazilian players to remain free on the weaker side.
Later in the match, even Leandro Barbosa should have stayed a few moments in Giannis's custody and, although he did not have the strength of Garcia, the strategy was still working – largely thanks to the work of Barbosa that prevented the Greek Freak from even getting a hold.
The first successes of the Giannis defense by the Brazilians paid off during the second half of the match, the Greeks being less and less numerous to join him. He took only three shots in the second half and one in the fourth quarter. There were large portions of the second half where Giannis simply floated on the perimeter, offering little threat.
When Giannis succeeded, it was often because he was able to go out in transition, where it was almost impossible to defend him, or the few times he was able to romp in the pick-and-roll .
At the final whistle, the Brazilian defensive plan was so successful that Giannis finished with an equal number of shots and turnovers – three – and one assist. So what can we draw from their game plan?
Would it work in the NBA?
Overall, Brazil decided to protect Giannis with a small wing instead of a large, sent as much help as possible and did everything to avoid the ball. The most unique part of this process is obviously to use the smaller Garcia to protect Giannis.
Can this be translated into NBA? Well not really. On the one hand, very few players have the kind of physical tools to achieve what Garcia was doing, eliminating this strategy for most teams. Moreover, although this should in no way be considered a criticism of the game of Brazil, Giannis was presented as a single match under FIBA rules and while he was playing for Greece.
As we have already noted, after failing early, Greece was largely away from Giannis for most of the second period, which would never happen with the Bucks. He is not only the focal point of Milwaukee on the offensive, but they also use it in a very different way.
While the Greeks often place it in the pole or float around the perimeter, Mike Budenholzer puts the ball in his hands as much as possible and allows him to create from the top of the key or pick-and-roll. Brazil's defensive strategy would simply not have been as effective if Giannis was able to operate in space, as shown by the few occasions when he had these opportunities.
In addition, the Bucks are part of the NBA elite teams and surround Giannis with all kinds of shooters. The teams can not collapse and send several supporters of the help in the same way as Brazil. On the six different occasions when Giannis was forced to hit the ball to the perimeter of the game, his teammates managed 1 out of 5 and returned once.
Petrovic is to be congratulated for his game plan. Garcia and the rest of the Brazilians have done a terrific job to run it, but NBA coaches will not be watching this band when they will want to keep Giannis next season.
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