EuroLeague Week 19 Winners and Losers: Aleksa Avramovic, Tarik Biberovic, and Panathinaikos get a big win in Madrid

As we recapped in our last column, any bad loss or good win can have a significant impact on how the final standings will shake out for the EuroLeague season. This past week saw Aleksa Avramovic and Tarik Biberovic help their teams secure some key victories, and Panathinaikos secure a major statement win in Madrid.  

EuroLeague Week 19 Winners and Losers: Panathinaikos punishes a wobbling Real Madrid

Real Madrid is still 22-5 and barring an appalling collapse, they will have the number one seed for the playoffs and be all but guaranteed a EuroLeague Final Four place. But not only did they get completely outplayed by Panathinaikos in Round 27 at home, they're 3-3 in their last six games. 

The three losses are Panathinaikos and Milano back-to-back stretching across the February break, and they also lost to Monaco by a score of 98-74. The wins aren’t exactly reassuring and actually feed into some potential concerns. A solid five-point win over Olympiacos, a seven-point home win over ASVEL, and a five-point home win over Maccabi. Perhaps this team has spoiled us at 22-5, but those are all business as usual at best. 

Their loss to Panathinaikos shed some light on this squad's minuscule weaknesses as well. Mathias Lessort dominated in this one with 26 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. His speed for his size made Edy Tavares and Vincent Poirier look ancient like they were wearing cement blocks for sneakers. Those have always been weaknesses for those two but take a solid look at Real Madrid’s stacked roster, who moves their feet quickly for their position? Facundo Campazzo but not as well as he used to, Guerschon Yabusele and Eli N’Diaye yes, no doubt. But what about the rest? 

Sergio Rodriguez is exploitable on that end, Sergio Llull is fine but not anywhere near the defensive stalwart he used to be. Fabian Causeur? Cooked when defending in space. Mario Hezonja and Dzanan Musa are average at best, Gabriel Deck is not quick laterally, and Alberto Abalde is solid. 

N’Diaye, Yabusele, Campazzo, and Abalde are who they’ve got for defenders who are comfortable in space. Campazzo can be exploited in other ways, you are probably never playing N’Diaye and Yabusele together as perimeter pieces, maybe a smaller lineup, and then Abalde who’s playing under 13 minutes per game. 

Panathinaikos has the style and personnel to exploit this weakness significantly. Lessort’s mobility is just step one, add in their spread pick-and-roll style where they can get the ball zipping around and make your defense shift and move constantly and Los Blancos look slower than ever. 

Head coach Chus Mateo told Dane Arlauckas in the post-game interview, “We [Real Madrid] are still in first.” That is true, and unlikely to change. But they’ve been on their back foot over the last six games, no denying that, and that’s not the form you want to take into the playoffs where a potential rematch with Partizan might be coming, or Baskonia or Maccabi Tel Aviv -- all teams who could pounce on these problems as well. 

Real Madrid is probably fine, but this is the weakest they have looked all season. Maybe they need to try more small-ball lineups, play Abalde more minutes, or something. But what they’re currently doing has been figured out to a degree, which means it’s time to dig deeper in the bag. 

EuroLeague Week 19 Winners and Losers: Aleksa Avramovic is him?

Partizan Belgrade are who they are. They were one win away from the EuroLeague Final Four last season which brought high expectations for this season. Their notable departures were met with notable arrivals, and it felt like at some point they would figure it out. What we haven’t considered, is that they have figured it out, and this is just who they are. A powerhouse offense that can’t stop anyone - they didn’t register one block against Efes, and they’ve been battling the injury bug all season. 

P.J. Dozier has been a good replacement for Dante Exum but he’s not the defender Exum is, and Yam Madar’s minutes have been taken by Avramovic who hasn’t been able to stay healthy for an extended stretch of play all season. Additionally, it turns out that replacing an All-EuroLeague center like Lessort is really hard. Frank Kaminsky has some moments but has been awful defensively. Partizan appears to have him hedge and chase guards farther out on the perimeter, and then he can never recover back to the paint in time and they just give up a layup. Kaminsky has been benched for entire halves on more than a few occasions. Alen Smailagic is more of the same. 

Bruno Caboclo arrived early in the season and looked like he was the solution, but he’s not. While he’s more athletic than Kaminsky and Smailagic, it’s not translating to him being a better defender. He’s not a good rim protector, struggles in the pick-and-roll, and is tolerable switching out on the perimeter. There is no fix to Partizan’s defense, not until the offseason. For now, they need to try to outscore everyone. 

Avramovic took charge of that approach against Anadolu Efes, dropping 30 points on 12-of-16 shooting with three 3-pointers. He was fearless and targeted Will Clyburn with disrespectful intent. When healthy this season, Avramovic has been a fantastic offensive burst for this group, and if Partizan wants to not only make the EuroLeague playoffs but also make some noise, they’re going to need a few players to come up big in every victory. 

Avramovic, Zach LeDay, and Kevin Punter combined for 67 points and Danilo Andjusic added 15 with a perfect 3-of-3 night from deep. It doesn’t have to be that group every night. Some nights it could be Dozier, Nunnally, and Caboclo with a solid contribution from Smailagic. This team has a lot of talent, injuries have eroded any hope of consistency or rhythm, and personnel ruins any chance at getting stops. If they can find their hot hands on a nightly basis and feed them accordingly, they’ve got a chance to be a problem. If not, they’re likely coming up short again this season. 

EuroLeague Week 19 Winners and Losers: Tarik Biberovic cannot miss

While Partizan and Efes tried to play the least defense possible in a game this week, Fenerbahce and Baskonia said hold my beer. Sarunas Jasikevicius’ side came out on top 111-96 in a game that seemed more like a three-point shooting competition. Baskonia finished the night 14/26 from deep and Fenerbahce 19/34. It was one of the best collective shooting displays of the season. 

Leading the way for Fenerbahce was Biberovic, who shot 5-of-6 from deep on the night and was 5-of-5 until his final shot. The 6-foot-7 Bosnian wing is now shooting 60 percent from deep (not a typo) on 45 attempts this season and 50 percent on 114 attempts across all competitions. Fenerbahce definitely likes what they see, and the Memphis Grizzlies — who retain his draft rights — probably do too.  

EuroLeague Week 19 Lines of the Week

Mathias Lessort’s 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists in Panathinaikos win over Real Madrid. He’s back to his best and has helped Panathinaikos make a leap this season.

EuroLeague Week 19 Quote of the Week

I am not in Partizan but still working, and would like to change that and move closer to Obradovic’s employment status.   

EuroLeague Week 19 Clip of the Week

Mathias Lessort had quite the week, and this dunk is the best way to sum it up in one play.