FIBA Europe Cup Quarter-Final Play-Offs Week 2 Review

We look back at this week's action in the FIBA Europe Cup Quarter-Final play-offs which brought about the first Final Four participant in Elan Chalon and the end of Fraport Skyliners' undefeated run.

 

Elan Chalon went against the trend this week as they clinched the only road win since the start of the Quarter-Finals, 83-79 at Khimik Yuzhne, to complete a two-game sweep and become the proud holders of the first ticket to the Final Four.

The winner of the series between Openjobmetis Varese and Port of Antwerp Giants will be the opponent of Chalon in the Semi-Final and they can already make a mental note to not draw conclusions from this week's Ukraine game when they start their scouting of the French team.

The reason for that is what Chalon showed us on Wednesday was not representative at all of their usual attractive, free-flowing style of play.

The French side scored 20 points in transition but a lot of those buckets came in a rather circumstantial way and not as a result of their silky-smooth up-tempo game.

They created some open looks, but their ball movement was not as fluid and effortless as usual, as the exceptionally low (by their standards) 30% conversion rate from beyond the three-point arc reflects.

One useful conclusion that we can draw about Chalon from this game however is that, unlike what perhaps they had led us to believe so far, they are capable of winning even when they play ugly.

Chalon are a perfect 8-0 at home, where they usually impose their game and showcase their beautiful brand of basketball, but had lost three games on the road when the opponents forced them to play somewhat out of character.

Khimik meanwhile exited the competition with their head held high and an excellent 12-5 overall record in the competition.

The Ukrainian team were a perfect 7-0 at home up until this week and the fact their first home loss costed them elimination is a testament to Chalon's strength but does not take anything away from Khimik.

"We played 16 games in the FIBA Europe Cup and it was a great school both for players and coaches," said Khimik head coach Oleg Yushkin.

 

With the exception of Khimik every team made the most of the home-court factor this week and consequently Cibona Zagreb defeated Enisey Krasnoyarsk 77-69 and Maccabi Rand Media Rishon outlasted Fraport Skyliners 88-84 in overtime to tie their respective series at 1-1.

On Thursday, Openjobmetis Varese followed suit and grabbed a 92-81 victory in the opening game of their series with Port of Antwerp Giants.

One common thread in all these games was that the home side out-scored their respective visitors by a margin of at least eight points after the half-time break (15 points in the case of Maccabi, including overtime), when the home crowd's support normally surges to lift their team in a tight game.

Another similarity is that the visiting team in all these games shot the ball far below their season average, doing justice to the old cliché that the rim on an unfamiliar court is always harder.

Enisey shot a catastrophic 32% from the floor when they had gone 47.6% in Game 1, while Skyliners were 39% from the field in Israel despite entering the game on a 50% average field goal percentage.

Antwerp, who unlike the other two managed to find easy scores and got 17 points in transition, fared a little bit better but still shot only 42% from the floor in Varese.

 

It will take a while longer to know the names of all Final Four participants but what we learned this week is that there will not be an unbeaten champion in the inaugural edition of the FIBA Europe Cup.

The Skyliners' loss in Rishon on Wednesday snapped the German side's 15-game winning streak and it means there is no longer any team in the competition that has not tasted defeat.

Frankfurt are in a position right now where they can only lift the trophy if they do not lose another game, but from a statistical viewpoint it is worth noting that they stand a good chance to finish with the best global record in the FIBA Europe Cup even if they don't go all the way.

Only two teams can theoretically pursue the Skyliners and their 15-1 record, in Elan Chalon who stand at 14-3 (82.4% win/loss percentage) and Port of Antwerp Giants who are at 12-3 (80% win/loss percentage).

Does it matter? Of course not, because the aim in a cup competition is to take the silverware home and the name of the champion is what the vast majority of people will remember.

But on the other hand, the win/loss percentage is still the most reliable metric a team have to measure just how good they were within a competition throughout the season.

Nothing beats the Final Four in terms of suspense, excitement and atmosphere, but as a format it rewards current form and momentum, not consistency.

 

There are occasions where an overtime game can inflate a player's stat line, but that was not the case with Darryl Monroe's stratospheric display on Wednesday in Maccabi's win over Frankfurt.

The Rishon center was an assist away from a triple-double well before the end of regulation and it is unfortunate that he did not get that tenth dish in the extra period.

Monroe collected 28 points, 14 rebounds, three steals and an eye-popping 11 drawn fouls to go with his nine assists, registering an efficiency index rating of 42.

He shot 10-of-15 from the floor and 8-of-11 from the free-throw line and while it's true he committed four turnovers that is rather low for a player who stayed on the court of 43 minutes and 32 seconds and attracted double or even triple coverage for most of that time.

It was difficult for any other player to contest top performer honours from Monroe this week but Varese's American duo of Chris Wright and Brandon Davies put in excellent efforts to propel their team to victory.

Wright reached an efficiency rating of 25 as he finished with 21 points on 7-for-9 shooting and added six rebounds and two assists.

Davies meanwhile collected a double-double of 22 points (on 9-of-15 from the floor) and 12 boards, for an efficiency rating of 24.