Stats review: Crashing the offensive glass paid dividends in the Greek derby

The Reds grabbed 11 offensive rebounds against the Greens

There were a lot of memorable moments across the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in Round 8, but the Greek derby delivered like few rivalries in sports can. While Evan Fournier sank the shot that closed the deal for Olympiacos Piraeus as they beat the reigning champions, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, 89-94 at OAKA, the game was largely decided in the details. With both teams scoring an identical 1.12 points per possession, this was an extremely high-level game on the offensive end, filled with opportunistic plays in transition, unwavering shot-making from beyond the arc, and very few unforced errors.

By the end of the night, it certainly felt like the 10 additional scoring opportunities Olympiacos secured on the offensive glass compared to the 4 notched by Panathinaikos were the difference. Offensive rebounding across the EuroLeague is at an all-time high this season as teams are pulling down a record 10.9 second chances per game. After dipping significantly after the move to a true league format during the 2016-17 campaign, teams have increasingly found ways to eke out advantages by crashing the offensive glass, even if the defense still secures the ball roughly a third of the time.

Part of what makes Olympiacos’s efforts in their Rivalry Series matchup so impressive is that it came against a team that is used to getting the biggest share of caroms in the EuroLeague. The table above lists the top teams in rebound percentage – the proportion of potential rebounds a team has secured – with their offensive and defensive percentages and ranks included to better understand how they got there.

Prior to Round 8, Panathinaikos was the best rebounding team this season by a comfortable margin by way of a group effort. While Mathias Lessort brings some unique qualities to the table, starting with his combination of agility and explosiveness for his size and ranks 16th in individual rebound percentage, Panathinaikos lands only two other players towards the back of the top 50 as they have gotten the job done by committee. Not only have they been productive in securing rebounds by using a team mentality, but they are currently tied with Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in scoring off rebounds, which match a modern EuroLeague record of 7.8 points off put-backs per game, frequently turning those second-chance opportunities into quick points.

Olympiacos fell just short of this list, ranking 12th in rebound percentage and faring right around average on both sides of the ball. Every team in the EuroLeague this season falls within 10% of one another in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage – margins are very thin on the boards, even in a season where the spread across the league is wider than usual. Couple that with the parity in the EuroLeague and the minutiae can sometimes decide games. The fraction of a second a player has to finish their follow-through can make a big difference in how a rebound comes off the rim and, as a result, who can grab it and what they can do with it. Closeouts, angles, deflections; there’s a long list of variables that can affect outcomes on the glass, but often a team can put luck on their side with consistent physicality.

At times, however, that is not enough – the competitiveness across the league flattens out any notion that "wanting it more" can be a differentiator. Sometimes, the big man gets the board and that’s the end of the story – Boban Marjanovic and Khalifa Koumadje rank among the league’s top-three defensive rebounders percentage-wise and it is not hard to figure out why. Size and athleticism matter on the glass and for the league’s current leader in rebound percentage, the injured Joel Bolomboy, it is even better to have both.

Rebounding in the EuroLeague may not be the chess match that tends to play out in pick and rolls, but sometimes it does not feel far off. At times, it is a hard-fought slugfest that still doesn’t give a team a meaningful advantage. However, it also sometimes defines what certainly feels like the game of the year to this point.