Diamantidis takes defensive excellence to new heights

ROME (The Friday Eurovision) - I just spent a whirlwind couple of days covering European basketball in Treviso and Rome and had a few of my beliefs reconfirmed.

Chief among them is that Dimitrios Diamantidis is what turns a great Panathinaikos team into an awesome one.

After watching CSKA Moscow win a tough game at Benetton Treviso on Wednesday at the Palaverde, I took a long train journey south and witnessed one of the great defensive performances of the year.

Panathinaikos, thanks largely to Diamantidis, held off a resilient, much improved Roma and won 79-69 at the PalaLottomatica.

The 1.96m Diamantidis has been winning praise for his defense for a few years but this season, he’s taken his extraordinary ability to new heights.

And you better believe those new heights are above the rim.

Diamantidis started against Roma, played just over 29 minutes and blocked five shots. His shot-swatting presence also forced Roma players to alter several other lay-up attempts and miss.

I can’t remember one occasion when a player took Diamantidis on and scored. He is as disruptive a player as they come in Europe on the defensive end.

Zeljko Obradovic, the Panathinaikos coach, and his assistants strike me as the most demanding and intense coaches in Europe but not once did they take Diamantidis to task on anything. He is, because of his willingness to play D, a coach’s dream.

Diamantidis is a point guard yet his defense actually impacts a game like a shot-blocking center.

On fast-breaks, he got those long arms up which led to Mire Chatman and others missing lay-ups at crucial times.

Big man Alessandro Tonolli went in for a dunk after a steal in the fourth quarter but there was Diamantidis, hustling back to block the shot.

The best analogy I can give you for the Diamantidis impact is an NFL one.

Linebacker Lawrence Taylor is arguably the greatest defensive player the NFL has ever known. He played with the New York Giants in the eighties and early nineties, and opponents were so afraid of him that their game-plans were designed to avoid him at all costs.

Roma were not drawing up plays to avoid Diamantidis, but when he was on the floor, Jasmin Repesa’s players were edgy, almost as if they were looking over their shoulders to see if the Panathinaikos star was close by.

I spoke to Diamantidis after his incredible performance at EuroBasket 2005 following Greece’s gold medal performance.

Diamantidis had been excellent defensively, but is best remembered for hitting a game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds against France in their semi-final.

One thing we always tend to ask the great players in Europe is the NBA question.

“Dimitrios, how difficult will it be for you to leave European basketball if you ever have a chance to go to the NBA?” I asked.

“I never want to go to the NBA,” he said. “I know what I can do, and I know that I can't play over there. So I will play here."

Well, first of all I’d rather Diamantidis stay in Europe his entire career because he is exactly what makes the game so special over here.

He is 100% quality, a guy who would walk into the starting line-up of any team.

I put him in the same league as Luis Scola and maybe Diamantidis’ fellow Greek, CSKA Moscow guard Theo Papaloukas who, by the way, prefers to come off the bench.

As long as players like that trio remain here, I believe there is a certain credibility that exists in the European game.

On the other hand, I was surprised Diamantidis said, “I know that I can’t play over there.”

That is self-deprecation in the highest order and utter rubbish.

On Friday morning after Panathinaikos’ latest win, I phoned one of the NBA scouts I’d met in Treviso to ask about Diamantidis.

This is what the scout, who is an Italian, had to say.

“He is one of the best European players and for sure he can play in the NBA,” he said.

“I trust in his possibilities. I don’t know if he wants to go, but he deserves to play in the NBA, he is a complete player. This year he is playing more as a point guard.
I don’t know if there are contract problems, or a buyout for an NBA team to Panathinaikos. I don’t know the contract.”

As Panathinaikos are undefeated, and Diamantidis is clearly their main man, I think he could be on his way to Euroleague MVP honours.

“He is one of a kind,” team-mate Sani Becirovic told me after the win against Roma. “Each and every game he surprises us with defensive plays as a point guard and all I can really say is that I’m glad that he’s on my team.”

“But Sani,” I said, “he blocked five shots and altered so many others.”

“Yes, that’s his game,” Becirovic said. “That’s why he is Diamantidis.”

Switching gears, Roma continue to improve under Repesa.

Last week, the play of Ognjen Askrabic stood out in the triumph over Maccabi Tel Aviv, while against Pana what stood out for me was the relentless effort of Luca Garri.

When he first played for Roma a couple of seasons ago, he struggled and was loaned out to Pallacanestro Biella where last year he rediscovered some form.

The 2.07m Garri that I watched against Panathinaikos was not the long-range shooter who won a silver medal with Italy at the Athens Olympics.

He was a fighter, whose willingness to compete under the hoop against heavyweights Dejan Tomasevic, Robertas Javtokas and Demos Dikoudis gave the Romans a chance.

Referees have a tough job controlling the positioning battles sometimes and I thought they really made it difficult for Garri, who from my vantage point played hard and fair but was whistled undeservingly for a few fouls.

As for Wednesday night, the Benetton experience is always first-class. Anyone outside of Europe who wants to see a basketball game here should go to Treviso.

One theme in that game was the return of CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina to his old club where he is still held in high esteem.

Messina has achieved so much in his career, from the Italian national team to Virtus Bologna to Benetton to CSKA, where a collection of wonderful basketball athletes have truly become a team under his guidance.

This CSKA looks stronger than the one that beat Maccabi in last year’s final in Prague.

“What is different this year is our frame of mind,” Messina told me after the 68-60 win over Benetton. “This year we have more confidence.

“Last year, we didn’t know what we could get, especially after the injury to David Andersen, which meant we didn’t know if we’d even get to the Final Four.”

Andersen is the team’s sweet-shooting Australian international power forward.

“So we have confidence, even in the bad moments of the game,” Messina said.

“Everyone knows what to do and even against a match-up zone as tonight, we still get good shots.

“We play hard on defense, we rebound. For sure, we are a little bit ahead of last year.

The tour de force in CSKA’s win over Benetton was Slovenian Matjaz Smodis, whose size, skills and aggression were the determining factors.

He was a perfect seven of seven from the field, and one of two from the arc.

Benetton fans reacted angrily when his three-pointer was allowed at a crucial phase in the second half because it appeared the ball had been released after the 24-second shot clock had expired, but instant replay showed he had got the shot off in time.

If there is going to be a team to prevent Panathinaikos winning the Euroleague title, it’s going to be CSKA.

And their Greek star, Theo Papaloukas, is hell-bent on making sure his team not only get to Athens for the Final Four, but win it.

“Greece is the only thing I think about,” Theo told me before leaving the Palaverde.

“Waiting to go back home to play there. The Final Four is in Athens.

“It’s my only goal right now, my only target, is to get to Athens.”

The confidence level is soaring at CSKA.

“It’s because we’ve lived so many things together,” Papaloukas said. “We’ve been in these situations many times.”

There is a long way to go in this competition but right now, it would seem CSKA and Panathinaikos are on a collision course and that will happen in Athens.

By Jeff Taylor, FIBA