MIES (Switzerland) - If Spock - the character in sci fi series Star Trek - had a favorite team in the Basketball Champions League, it would unquestionably be Falco-Vulcano Szombathely, and not just because of the Vulcan part of their name.
When any champion of logic, and that includes us earthlings too, watches Milos Konakov's team play, they are left with the overriding sensation that everything about them is just so logical. Not only that, but their logic is so strong that you are also left wondering if the 2024-25 iteration of the team is their best ever.
Let's jump straight into some film from their 78-71 win over Pallacanestro Reggiana on Wednesday. Before you press play on this clip below, I want you to pay close attention to #6, Akos Keller.
He's the only player who doesn't touch the ball, but at the same time he's the main catalyst powering the play. Also, if Keller is the catalyst, then undoubtedly Zoltan Perl is the lever controlling the throttle - we will explain both of those statements later.
The play starts with Keller screening for Perl to catch the ball on the wing. The ball then moves to the top of the key into the hands of Marcell Pongo, who waits for Keller to set the ball screen.
Reggiana trap the ball screen so Keller slips out quickly on the roll. That, in turn, forces a rotation from the weak side corner to cover the roller.
Instead of forcing the pass to Keller, Pongo reads it perfectly and skips the pass straight to a wide-open Kristof Bognor in the corner.
Now watch Keller again. If you hadn't noticed it on the first watch, the defensive rotations left Bognor with a smaller defender switched onto him, which is why he dribbles into post-up.
Knowing that his man would stay in the paint to help the post mismatch, Keller has a free hit to set a flare screen for Perl to receive the kick out pass. Perl being the best player on the court demands more defensive rotation, and two extra passes later, the ball is in the hands of Trey Diggs who knocks down the shot.
It really is a fantastically executed team possession.
You could probably argue that Pongo making the assist and Diggs knocking down the shot were the key cogs in the machine of that play, but the logic that each player on this team uses to understand exactly what the other will do next, dictates that you always need to pay attention to the action before the final pass.
But why is Perl the lever on the throttle for those actions?
The Hungarian wing is undoubtedly one of the best offensive players in the BCL. If you try to defend him 1v1, or allow him to get out into the open court, chances are that he's going to create advantages and either make easy shots for his teammates, or score himself.
Quite often that leads to double teams and traps to get the ball out of Perl's hands. Unfortunately for teams trying to pick up wins against this Falco team, those traps and doubles only add fuel to the flames for the entire team.
In every single one of those clips above, Perl draws the double, and then as soon as he moves the ball on, his teammates spark into life.
Every player on this roster is well-suited to playing without the ball and sending doubles at Perl only serves to make this team play better basketball.
And that's not to say that the double team will always work to stop Perl either. In these last two clips, the game is on the line and Perl knows that he can't pass up the responsibility. He's so crafty in the pick-and-roll that he can manipulate the screener's defender to leave the double team early or even force him out of position to double up on him at all.
It's not all a one-man band either. Nikola Popovic has been an excellent addition to the roster this season and his averages of 11 points and 4.5 assists over the first two games are a testament to that.
Trey Diggs is shooting 48 percent from behind the arc across all competitions, Marvin Clark is back again for a second stint in Hungary crashing the offensive glass, as is Kristof Bognar, and the core of the team, Benedek Varadi, Matt Tiby, Akos Kelller, and Marcell Pongo all fit their roles perfectly, acting as extensions of the coaching staff on the floor.
It's all just so logical.
Milos Konakov certainly deserves a lot of credit for the way his team has bolted out of the gates with two wins from two so far. They also did that in Season 7 of the BCL when they went on to reach the Round of 16.
Do they have what it takes to go even further than they did in 2022? We will have a better idea on October 30, after the first clash of their upcoming doubleheader with Rytas Vilnius.