EuroLeague Women Quarter-Final Play-Offs review

MUNICH (EuroLeague Women) - Women's basketball specialist Paul Nilsen reflects on the EuroLeague Women Quarter-Final Play-Offs as the line-up for the 2016 Final Four was confirmed on Wednesday. 

The history makers
You have to start with Nadezhda Orenburg Region and a considerable slice of history as they cemented their first-ever appearance at Final Four. While former head coach George Dikeoulakos had delivered Final Eight, this was a new peak under the reign of Roberto Iniguez, whose remarkable love affair with the tournament continues to blossom.

Credit to Dikeoulakos for putting some of the main ingredients in place, but it was the Spaniard who had to cook them up and he came up with a perfect dish. To have beaten Dynamo Kursk 2-0 was a super effort and I thought that it was a great team display across the two games. They also inflicted a first ever home loss in the tournament on their opponents, which further highlighted the scale of their accomplishment.

Iniguez had hailed DeWanna Bonner as the best player in EuroLeague Women prior to the series, and she certainly got the pendulum swinging in her team's favour in that second leg when she hit a huge shot and made an exquisite move to the hoop heading into crunch time.

But the 'X-Factor' was Angelica Robinson and Natalia Anoikina under the hoop. They were sensational and especially the latter, after a quiet regular season in the wake of her failed experiment deep on the UMMC Ekaterinburg bench.

Now we can look forward to Dikeoulakos against Iniguez at Final Four. Sensational because Iniguez did not only follow Dikeoulakos at Nadezhda, but also at Fenerbahce where he led the Istanbul giants to consecutive Finals in 2013 and 2014. 

Fenerbahce find radar central
There is shooting the lights out and then there's shooting the lights out. Are you kidding me? In the first game against Wisla Can-Pack, Fenerbahce shot 59.3 percent from the field and 67.4 percent from two-point range. That was the best of the season, but they beat their own record in the second clash with a jaw-dropping 66 percent and 75.7 percent from two-point range. They are quite boggling numbers and I am not sure I have ever seen better at the highest level!

Extraordinary by any measurement, what a season it has been again for Jantel Lavender in particular. One of the most consistent EuroLeague Women players in history? She might just be by the numbers alone. She was previously outstanding for Schio and Wisla. She has now shot above 50 percent for the last seven games and was a staggering 11 of 13 in that first match-up with her former team.

Fenerbahce will feel they have a great chance of making a third Final in four years with Nadezhda in the Semi-Finals and especially with their frontcourt looking like a guarantee. If they can also hit shots from outside as well, they will be tough to take down. It's been a great season for Coach Dikeoulakos after his return last summer - but could it get a whole lot better?

Familiar Final Four favourites
I could not believe what I was seeing when UMMC were so ordinary in Istanbul - without wanting to take credit away from Galatasaray who were excellent in squaring the series. The Russian club were then poor in the deciding game during the second quarter, when they got trigger-happy and were firing indiscriminately. It was a bit of a mess for 10 minutes.

I mention it because despite this, they still swept aside their opponents and that in itself underlines just how talented they are. Coach Olaf Lange obviously welcomed the locker room time he had, made adjustments and I thought UMMC played like you would expect favourites to play. And, with Diana Taurasi in their side - unlike last year when she missed the Final Four due to injury - they look like a completely different side ahead of the season climax. 'Dee-T' is still the best and for me, she always will be until she checks out of the sport.

Stranger things have happened
The script was torn up last year as part of ZVVZ USK Prague's so-called 'fairytale' first title. But you can put that book back on the shelf as it was no one-off at all. I thought Natalia Hejkova and her team showed they are more than capable of going the distance again if their second game performance against Beretta Famlia Schio is anything to go by. I adore Kia Vaughn, love Laia Palau, could watch Sonja Petrovic play for hours, would put my life in the shooting hands of Katerina Elhotova and have Marta Xargay as my bodyguard any day. Need I continue? There is so much to love and taking into account this team perhaps has UMMC's number on the biggest occasions of late, don't rule it out. Stranger things have happened.

Quarter-Final Play-Off gongs
Team Performance of the Quarter-Final Play-Offs: It is difficult to look past Nadezhda winning at Dynamo Kursk to seal that historic chapter.
Individual Performance Quarter-Final Play-Offs: The standout performance for me was Anoikina - although harsh on Lavender I know. She hadn't scored more than 12 points all season and only hit double-digits twice in some 14 outings. She then produced a season-best 16 points in the first game. Remarkably, she did even better in the second historic game on the road when she shot 80 percent from the floor for 18 points. Clubs need players to step up like this to make big things happen.
Unsung Hero: Lavender has rightly been receiving rave reviews for her sublime shooting displays, but note that Quanitra Hollingsworth was a flawless five-of-five for Fenerbahce in the second game against Wisla. In fact she didn't miss a single shot across the two games from the open floor, while harvesting a combined 18 points.

Footnotes
I have to tip my hat in admiration to Dynamo Kursk. They may have fallen short of securing successive Final Four spots, but their home record has been truly stellar. To have never lost on their own floor until that thriller with Nadezhda is an incredible accomplishment and shows tremendous consistency.

Galatasaray have some thinking to do during the off-season, since that is now consecutive years they have missed out on the Final Four since their glorious first-ever title success in 2014. It has been hard to put a finger on what they have been missing - but a combination of athleticism and quickness is my observation.

Wisla Can-Pack are still my 'Team of the Season' so far (but could yet get surpassed by three teams at the Final Four). Their display in Istanbul when they came back from a double-digit deficit instead of lying down to die, epitomised a fine campaign. Congratulations to all involved with the Krakow club, who have over-achieved by getting back into the top eight of the competition, taking into account their modest resources.

Finally, it was unpalatable to see Beretta Famila Schio to have this season's European candle blown out so comprehensively by Prague. However, that disappointing end in the Czech capital should not mask the fact that head coach Miguel Mendez and the players did post a club-best Regular Season.

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