ATHENS (Greece) - As the curtains are about to rise for the showpiece of Basketball Champions League Season 9 here in Athens, let's take a look at what to watch when the teams take to the floor.
AEK Betsson BC
And so we come to it, another Final Four in Athens, and another weekend of the highest drama you could ever hope to witness on a basketball court on this continent.
We know exactly what to expect from those fans in the SUNEL Arena, and we know there is no team out there with a stronger connection to their home fans than a Dragan Sakota coached, AEK team.
Sakota has built another team full of shot makers like Hunter Hale and Prentiss Hubb but also one with size and playmaking upfront from the likes of Grant Golden, Mindaugus Kuzminskas, and RaiQuan Gray.
Sakota has said all season that his team is one of the best in the world at moving without the ball, and whilst we will see the perimeter players like Hale and C.J. Bryce or Rayjon Tucker running off screens away from the ball, the vast majority of the off-ball movement pivots around the passing of their big men.
Without question, however, the first thing to watch for tactically is the crowd.
It may sound strange to describe the crowd as a tactical factor in the game as they don't necessarily play the game, but when it comes to this AEK crowd, they absolutely do play and this AEK team understands perfectly the type of plays they need to make to get them engaged.
What you see in that video above are two possessions where AEK were able to force their opponents, Nanterre 92, to take a timeout during the Quarter-Finals.
In the first possession, it's the on-ball defense of captain Dimitris Flionis that initially gets the crowd going.
These AEK fans are tuned in to his energy and willpower to impact the game defensively, and when he gets the stop, Gray instinctively senses the opportunity to amp them up even further with a coast-to-coast drive to the rack.
In the second clip, we see AEK in a Horns set in the halfcourt, and the lead at breaking point, with AEK up 10.
If this team gets their noses in front, at home, the mountain to climb for their opponents just gets steeper and steeper. Hale feels the moment and sprints off the pin down and knocks down a contested shot.
The defense hasn't made a mistake, and Hale could wait for a better shot in the offense, but in situations like that, this is the best shot AEK can make because of the crowd.
The second thing to watch out for is AEK hunting matchups in the post. And specifically for their most experienced player, Mindaugus Kuzminskas.
If you have had huge games against Team USA in the FIBA Basketball World Cup, then a game like this won't be too big for you, and AEK will know they can throw it down to Kuz when they need a bucket.
Finally, on the defensive end, AEK will need to find a way to have an impact against the most efficient offense in the history of the BCL.
Unicaja push the pace and score at a rate of 125 points (!) per 100 possessions and if AEK allow them to play the game they want on the offensive end, winning the game will be an almost insurmountable task.
Watch for Grant Golden in particular to be aggressive and disruptive in his pick-and-roll defensive coverages.
This isn't an attempt to predict the tactics that Sakota will employ against Unicaja, but more an observation of the way Golden was employed in the Quarter-Finals to hedge out extra high on pick-and-rolls in the middle of the floor and then use his foot speed to recover back to his man.
If Golden and Gaios Skordilis, in his minutes, can disrupt Unicaja's playmakers in the ball screen, AEK may just be able to disrupt the flow of this Unicaja offense.
Unicaja
There isn't really much more to say about Ibon Navarro's defending champs, Unicaja. They are one of the very best teams on the continent and have developed into ruthless winners who have now settled into a routine of collecting trophies.
They have won five trophies in the last two years and could end this Final Four celebrating a quadruple, with the Liga Endesa Play-Offs still to come. They are the textbook definition of a juggernaut, and as Dragan Sakota said in the pre-tournament press conference, Unicaja really are an unbelievably good team.
We already mentioned that this is the best offensive team we have ever seen in this league, but what needs to be said first, and what we also need to watch for in the Semi-Final, is that the offense usually starts with their defense.
As you see in that video above, this team will extend their defensive pressure up the floor, invariably starting with captain Alberto Diaz, and make life difficult for opponents before they even cross half court.
Once that defensive pressure has eaten time off the clock and forced opponents into rushed shots or turnovers, Unicaja are looking to run the break or get into early offense looks that enable them to keep the pace of the game high.
Time and again, we have seen Unicaja blow games open with sequences like you see in that video above, where their defense turns into quick shots going the other way.
They can kill games in the space of two-three minutes like this, and if they are to have any chance of silencing this crowd, it will be with runs caused by their defense.
The second thing to watch for with Unicaja is how they approach the game when they want to play a slower, more half-court oriented game.
Kendrick Perry has assisted 42 of Tyler Kalinoski's 102 points this season and the majority have come from Kalinoski running off a series of screens away from the ball and knocking down a triple from a pinpoint Perry pass.
Last but not least, we need to talk about the way this Unicaja roster is engineered to spread the minutes out like butter on freshly toasted bread.
Nobody plays more than 20 minutes, and nobody plays less than 12. The upshot of that is that any player on this roster can beat you on any given night.
It was Kendrick Perry winning MVP at last year's Final Four in Belgrade, and it was Dylan Osetkowski in the 2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup. This year it could be Tyson Carter, the 2023 Copa del Rey MVP, or just as easily Kameron Taylor, the 2024 Spanish Supercopa MVP.
One player who came to the forefront in the Quarter-Finals was Tyson Perez.
Perez is never likely to explode for 30 points, but his ability to impact the game on both ends could be decisive for Unicaja in a game like this.
As you see in that video above, Perez has the ability to switch on defense and defend all five positions.
Then on the offensive end, he shoots 37.5 percent from behind the arc when he's spacing the floor and has that bounce to catch lobs.
With AEK's playmaking weapons, we may well see Perez become a factor with his ability to switch on defense and stretch the floor.