After losing their previous two games, Olympiacos made it three straight defeats for Real Madrid, topping the Spanish side in overtime 92-83 on December 8th in Greece.
For NBA prospect Luka Doncic, he enjoyed his highest scoring total of the EuroLeague season so far, scoring 33 points on 12-of-21 shooting, 4-of-9 from three, 5-of-7 from the free throw line, six rebounds, four assists, one turnover and a PIR of 36 in 38 minutes.
Offense
A monstrous 33 points for Doncic… What stands out instantly is the efficiency: 12-of-21 from the field and 4-of-9 from three.
One thing that Doncic went to often in this game was the ‘up-and-under’ move, and it was something that worked to great effect:
A nice fake to bait the defender off of his feet.
Again, he uses a similar move in the fourth quarter, after coming off of an Edy Tavares screen, only this time the shot he has to make is a lot tougher:
That’s a tough basket, great shot…
It wasn’t the only tough leaner that Doncic hit, check the one-legged leaner in the first half:
I love how Doncic, once he comes off the screen, has the defender at his hip and then backs into the defender before this shot.
Doncic got to the rim on a number of occasions in this game.
After Olympiacos made some free throws, Doncic literally traverses up the sideline and gets all the way to the rim plus draws the foul:
Doncic shouldn’t really been allowed to get all the way to the rim from where he started but, alas…
In crunch time, coming off of the screen, Doncic skips to the rim, finishing in style with a sweet side-step:
Beautiful footwork.
Doncic made four three-pointers in this game, with the majority of his nine three-point attempts being good shots.
After some nice ball-movement (started by Doncic) the ball finds its way back to Doncic and he hits the three:
As one of the first acts of the second half, Doncic rejects the screen, goes to his left and sidesteps his way into a three:
In overtime, Doncic hits this deep three to put Madrid back in front in overtime:
Doncic is a player that can be iso-heavy at times, and sometimes these iso-like possessions just don’t go well.
Here, Doncic tries to size up the defender, tries to beat him one-on-one but his up-and-under is short and Olympiacos claim the rebound:
Doncic did have this isolation possession (on a switch) and gets to the rim at the end of the clock — though, helped by a defensive slip, literally — and draws the foul and free throws:
Sometimes these iso/one-on-one possessions come off but it seems, more so than not, they don’t. Granted, there weren’t as many of these type of possessions in this game as games past…
Passing/playmaking
Four assists for Doncic in this game and, as usual, many more opportunities created.
The transition game was, again, an area that Doncic excelled at finding the right man.
Off of a block, Doncic does a good job saving the ball and heads up the court after the save. He receives the ball, puts pressure on the rim, draws a crowd and finds Taylor in the corner. Unfortunately, Taylor couldn’t gather the pass cleanly and the opportunity for Taylor is gone:
Off of two made free throws, Doncic pushes again in transition as the second quarter comes to an end. He finds Jaycee Carroll behind the arc, and Carroll converts the three to beat the buzzer:
Again in transition, Doncic plays his part in moving the ball onward to find Jaycee Carroll, again for three:
That’s just a great team play to make this basket possible.
We didn’t see a lot of Doncic pick-and-roll action that led to baskets, but there was this one in overtime, as Doncic finds Reyes after the pick-and-roll, with Olympiacos wanting a foul call as Reyes got tangled up:
Off of a screen with Trey Thompkins, Thompkins fades behind the three-point line. Doncic finds him, but Thompkins can’t hit the shot:
Defense
Defensively, it was all going so well for Doncic…
Here, Doncic plays some really solid defense on the wing — moving his feet well and not allowing but it was just a case of ‘good D, better O’:
In the post — somewhere where Doncic has struggled defensively at times — Doncic holds his ground and forces the pass:
Doncic was, at times disruptive defensively.
Here (and this nothing big by any means but still noteworthy), Doncic gets his hand in there and deflects a pass:
Again, this isn’t anything big but it’s something…
In the fourth quarter, Doncic helps extend the defensive pressure right at halfcourt, almost resulting in a turnover:
It was going so well until overtime, that is…
Overtime was where Doncic’s defense was exploited.
On this possession, Doncic is beaten by the spin move in the post for the score:
This was a very nice offensive move, it must be said — the spin and sweeping left-hook…
As OT drew to a close, Doncic bites on this pump-fake, leading to a basket:
And to cap it off, Doncic doesn’t stick close enough to his man and the end result is a dunk that adds the exclamation point for Olympiacos:
It was a shame that Doncic was at the fore/part of some major defensive plays in overtime, the game was having prior to that was excellent.
In closing @ Olympiacos…
A huge effort from Doncic in this game on both sides of the floor.
Offensively, he took charge with his 33 points and did so efficiently, also doing so without ball-hogging or hero-ball but moving the ball and getting others involved.
38 minutes — even in an overtime game — is an awful lot and, not for the first time, Doncic played the entire second half.
Defensively, in regulation it was good. He was active and, at times, disruptive. But in overtime that came crashing down, which was unfortunate because it doesn’t reflect his defense across the entire game.
Real Madrid have lost a number of close games this season and, sadly, this is another to add to the list…but not by the lack of effort from Luka Doncic…
Graham Chapple 