Hapoel and Gran Canaria make up an interesting finals matchup
Stats review: A look at the finals
Stats
3 Mins read
The two best teams in the BKT EuroCup on paper got outdueled in a pair of intense semifinal series making way for a matchup between the competition’s hottest team, Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv, and one of its most successful clubs in recent history, Dreamland Gran Canaria. Both of those clubs did things the hard way to get the finals with Gran Canaria losing Game 1 to Bahcesehir College Istanbul before winning the next two games by a combined 5 points and Hapoel dropping Game 1 to Valencia Basket before winning the next two games by a total of 7 points.
Finishing the season ranked second in defensive efficiency, Gran Canaria did just enough offensively to let its strength on the other end guide it through the semifinals. In contrast, Hapoel averaged 95 points per game over its last two games with Valencia as the team's talent level offensively and the outbursts of Johnathan Motley, Marcus Foster, and Antonio Blakeney propelled it to victory. As of Game 3, Hapoel has taken over the top spot in the EuroCup in offensive efficiency on the season overall surpassing Valencia by a hundredth of a point per possession following their head-to-heads.
The battle between Hapoel’s high-powered offense and Gran Canaria’s defense is the marquee matchup in this series. Coach Dimitris Itoudis’s team has multiple ball handlers who can create their own shots at a high level and score consistently in midrange spots. The pressure their three-level scorers put on opposing defenses and the activity level of their big men has helped them lead the EuroCup in cut scoring as well.
Gran Canaria has defended pick-and-rolls and basket cuts as well as any team in recent EuroCup history. While Hapoel has created an impressive 1.03 points per possession out of ball screens, Gran Canaria has allowed just 0.88 points per possession. While some teams achieve that level of success defensively by being disruptive, Coach Jaka Lakovic’s team has built its resume largely on its discipline contesting shots.
It will be interesting to see how the lineups shake out in the finals as Hapoel leaned heavily on its top seven in the semifinals while Gran Canaria has utilized its depth all year playing their starters only marginally more than their reserves. With their strong play defensively built on a group effort, but Hapoel having several dynamic guards, it will be fascinating to see how they approach substitution patterns as Hapoel has had several players get extremely hot on a game-to-game basis to get to this point.
As much as Gran Canaria values its depth, it has often been the play of Nicolas Brussino, Caleb Homesley, and Andrew Albicy that has set its ceiling offensively. In the regular season matchups between these two teams, Gran Canaria averaged just 65 points per game losing both games. Those three scored only 0.71 points per possession in those games—well below their 0.88 season average.
How that trio stacks up with Hapoel’s high-scoring backcourt will surely play an important role in what should be a very compelling strength-on-strength matchup.