EUROLEAGUE FINAL FOUR 2013 (Men) FC Barcelona

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Euroleague Final Four 2013 FC Barcelona

Team Characteristics

The roster was changed significantly before the beginning of the season, bringing in Tomic as a low post threat on offense that this team was missing in previous seasons. The selection of three point guards has been matched very well having Huertas as the up tempo player, Jasikevicius as the master of set offense and pick & roll and the all round defensively skilled Sada. In each position you will find the principle of matching profiles of strength and weakness. What is though the biggest threat this team possesses is outside shooting. Barcelona is an experienced Euroleague team that can break any inexperienced team in one or two minutes.

Transition

Good transition starts with good defense is the strategy of this team. Their scoring percentage after steals in transition is very high and related to their cost to cost attacks their stealers run. They attack strong one on one or even in handicap. All other teammates really run up court to go for a possible offensive rebound in transition. This is the team with the most second chance offenses in transition. Generally they can initiate the dribble or pass the ball in transition with all players, and this team really runs whenever they can. As soon as they see the defense a bit structured in transition they will run the early pick & roll or even use curls for their shooter. They rely on drives and shots from outside mostly in transition.

Transition - Fast Break

Transition - Secondary Break

Offensive Tendencies

A very skilled and versatile team with different strengths combined so that you never know who will punish you in one game. You can’t even tell in which segment of the game you would focus most on defending, because they can even execute poorly during most of the game, but still win in the end. They are mentally very tough and stable and that combined with their deadly shooting can bring change in any game. At home this team is virtually unbeatable and they play to entertain at home.

Set Plays

Horns: In their Horns offense they usually focus to bring the ball down low for Lorbek. Lorbek then first tries to score himself if not he is a great ball distributer for his teammates. In end of quarter situations or when Navarro is on the court they will look for the weak side curl.

Navarro Weak Side cuts: Navarro usually doesn’t need more than the typical diamond offense set with its baseline exit in order to score, since he is a master in the off ball game in terms of cutting and his speed of release in shots. In this set he is demonstrating his help side threat he poses off the ball, but not only that he exits in the weak side well he also usually gives another threat to the opponent’s defense and he can choose either side to exit depending on how he reads the defense.

Zone Offense

There are not many teams in the Euroleague that dare to play any kind of alternative defense against Barcelona. Their players are very quick to read the alignment of a zone and Navarro is usually the first to tell his teammates and they communicate it very well. They can use any strategy such as continuing playing a regular set offense, creating overload situations on the ball side, using bumps, or simply just looking for the direct game to the low post. They even have a special option for their zone offense with the clock running down, with Navarro using a Horn set to execute.

OB Plays

In Baseline OB they focus on quick scoring opportunities in the middle of the paint or after some stagger or double screens sets for their shooters. If they assume that the opponent sets up a zone or just switches everything they will go for the safety pass to half court and initiate as a first option a side pick & roll or they will run a random set play.

Defensive Characteristics

Their defensive strategies and tactics are set up in an engineering way. They have rules and standards for all situations which are executed in harmony. One should point out their help and recover, rebounding, chasing behind screens as technical elements but what makes this team strong is the psychological pressure they impose with their defense. The only thing this team is missing on defense is physical dominance.

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