PANATHINAIKOS: Battle Against the EuroLeague Champs (Gameday Vlog + Film Breakdown)

Bryant, pass down the floor. Up high. No two.

Tomorrow we play Panathinaikos, and I actually played for the coach, Ergun Ataman. So today we have one of the very special guests, 3-time EuroLeague champion, 6-time Turkish Basketball League champion, 1-time Coach of the Year. Maybe should have been Coach of the Year last year, but we won't get into that. Please welcome Ergun Ataman. Hello, guys. Great guy. Great coach, and they have a bunch of NBA players. They actually have a player who was in a Netflix— his character was Bo Cruz. Mike James is in it as well. But tomorrow we play them, and we run a bunch of the same plays. And when it comes to playing someone that you kind of know what they're gonna do, it's nice to watch game film on their tendencies from the game before to see what kind of rhythm they're in, to see who's shooting it high in terms of psychology. So I think it's best to go watch some film real quick. I'm not watching players specifically right now, I'm watching just game film to see like the flow. Right here, these are things you look for. Right here, I look at the play call. Snap, fist, one down, something like that. I already know it because we went over and double handoff to a fist down. Fist down is Spanish, uh, pick and roll back screen. So Sloukas, this play right here, one of the best players in EuroLeague in terms of accolades and whatnot. But he's a left-hander. His tendencies are gonna go left, left hand. He hits big shots. Puts in his right hand, he wants to get to a shot. But here, since the screen is so high, I would like Bryant to kind of maybe go under this one to force him to go back to his right hand. Because look, he gets downhill. They're never calling the moving screen, even if he pushes him a little bit. So if he goes this way and he gets cracked on the screen, then Reek, who I played before, has to be able to protect the rim and make sure that Lazord doesn't get the ball. And then Davies, if Reek helps, then he has to take Lazord and he has to go back. Like, just imagine if Brown goes boom under. Drew Holliday does this all the time. Spins, and then now Sloukas plays the pick and roll going back to his right where he can't be as aggressive. This play is the definition of Lazort. Just watch Lazort. Just watch his energy. No, his energy— you gotta match his energy. Look, boom, pushing. They're never gonna call this regardless. Is this an offensive foul? For sure. Watch, watch Lezor right here. Boom, pushes Brown into Davies and they can't rebound. See, still, but Brandon has to not make this pass. He knows this, it's too crowded. Just wait a second. But he's also probably trying to get to the fast break. Risky pass. Just watch Lezor, watch his energy. Godly. Falls on the ground once, he's back up. Oh, here he goes, about to duck in the seal. Good kick out, another rebound. Boy, you gotta box that man out, he's an animal on the glass. At this point, I would like to wish Lasore a speedy recovery, and we hope to see you soon back on the court killing, but not against us. Against everyone else. God bless. Energy, energy. Typical Sloukas shot, typical. This pass is something I have to add to my game. It's little, but it's a lot at the same time. Watch Sloukas's eyes. Look at this, just that half a second he's looking at Lazort. Everyone knows that he wants to pass Lazort, but he hits Graham. Now Grant doesn't want to shoot threes. Grant wants to do mid-range, he wants to do cage, wants to run the offense. But just by doing that, it makes Jones sit for a second. Now if he was staring directly at here, Jones would know. Boom. And he honestly— Grant, that's a shot. I mean, he passes it before he even comes to him. Watch. But fundamentally, he shouldn't jump leave his feet like this, cuz that's not open. But he's very experienced, so he knows what he's doing. So let me be quiet. Another thing too that's so crazy about Europe, like, he travels. Like, watch— they don't ever call that though. I love that pass. As much as I praise Lucas, I will say that he is an expert at this. Okay, not this one. Okay, yes, he flopped, but he is very good at drawing attention to fouls when you're guarding him on defense. Here goes Lasort with the energy again. Just watch the energy. Watch how they're banging. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Job's not finished. Rebound. There he goes. Leads to a kickout 3. So here's little things to look for when you're watching film. So I'm noticing Jetty Osman just checked in, and I'm watching communication between him and the coach just to see what they're doing when he comes in or Watch Ottoman, watch what he does. Jetty, Jetty, Jetty, Jetty, slip out, slip out. So they're running fist down, Spanish pick and roll, back screen. He's telling Jetty, don't set the screen, get out. So watch, what does Jetty do? Boom, out quickly. But what he should do, it'll be easier for Sloukas, is to go out the same side. If he slips this way and he rolls, he passes it quickly to him Either he has a shot. If he doesn't, the 5 will be open diving. If Davies helps, then Wancho or Bogrus will be open. No advantage was created. Watch it one more time. Boom, screen. But they're switching, so it didn't even matter, honestly. So if you look here, like I said before, when Sloukas goes right Look, doesn't even look to score. If he goes right, it's a pull-up. He goes left, he's shooting it. This has nothing to do with the film session, we're talking about Pena, but this move is so tough. Like, he, he, huh, he, who, that was tough. All right, I'm gonna leave this guy. I'm not gonna tell you guys, but Comment in the comments what way should the defender force Sloukas once they switch. Let's see what does Davies do. Force him right? What does he do? Pass it. So being that I played for Audemars and all the plays are pretty much similar that we run now, I know exactly what they're running here. Horns to pin down for the shooter. But knowing who Jetty is as a player, he's a 3 and D guy. So if I'm guarding him and he doesn't have a clear shot and he's just checked in the game, an easy thing would just be to curl him every time, right? But then he'll know exactly what I'm doing. So if I'm Bonga, he's just got in the game, he's probably not going to shoot a 3 immediately, so I'm kind of playing psychology a little bit over force him to not shoot a 3 because that's what he wants to do, but also not giving up a drive. Like I said, he wants to shoot a 3, he's not going to drive to the basket. Look at the score, 29-28, partisan. He gets the ball, Jaren Grant. They haven't had a good offense in a while, so coach calls what, 3 down. So now I'm taking notes of what 3 down is. Oh, okay. It's a screen for Lesord to post up. So now I know they called 3 down. This guy guarding the ball needs to pressure like crazy. Now when I say pressure like crazy, what I think of is coach wants them to throw the ball inside. So if I make— if I'm pressuring Lorenzo Beasby driving and they do another play that they didn't— the coach didn't want him to, it's a win. I want to create chaos. So watch again. They want to get it inside, get a post-up, get a foul, slow the game down a little bit, get it to one of their main guys. So if you notice, this is actually the same play here again. So Lazorte has two options here on this play. On this 3 down, he can, uh, Grant can screen, he can go post up. But if the big man Jones is cheating it, he can go right to ball screen, which is why Jones is late. So Jones doesn't make any, um, Tyreek doesn't make any, um, what is he in, just a drop, but doesn't affect the ball. See what I'm saying? A tendency about Lazora, he's gonna do fake handoffs, and if he's not getting foul calls, he's gonna start complaining. I think all of us start doing this, but see, see him asking for the foul call? That's when you know you're winning the mental battle. Even against me, what if I start complaining to refs? It's too much. I don't know if it's a foul because he's creating a lot of the contact, but look at him. And the thing about when you start complaining about the fouls, now you're late in your pick and roll coverage. Let's see what happens on this offense. Oh shoot. And one. Guys, don't complain the refs, stay focused on the game. This move was so— this was like old school, like I'm your pops fillet, like finesse. Tough. This play is so big. Uh, I think Dwayne Washington Jr., he had just checked in the game, right? So he checks in. I mean, he could have easily shot that shot, but one more is to the best shooter on the team for a butt-naked 3 when they haven't got a good shot in a while. So good to great, Cash App. Another example for you, which way should you force Lucas? Goes right, borderline travels. Force Lucas right. So another tendency, okay, Lucas drove right, you guys saw that, but Nunn had missed like his last 3 shots from 3. So now I'm thinking, or he's thinking, okay, I'm going to get a mid-range. Just psychology pickup of what players do in their tendencies by watching a full game. Today we play Panathinaikos. As you guys know, we got Mr. Franchise back, Shane.

Shane Larkin, one of these standout stars of the back-to-back championship-winning team under Ergin Ataman makes his return after 7 weeks out against his former coach.

That'll be nice, but obviously biggest thing is when you're coming back from an injury, your gas in terms of how long you can be out there, super short. But just having him out there will be— make it a lot easier for me and us. For example, we're playing, and if that goes, our former coach be a lot of energy in the building. It'll probably be sold out, honestly. After 2 losses with Zalgiris— after our last loss, before we fought in the third quarter— we got to get back on, on the rhythm. We lost Zalgiris, we lost Toppas, like, not playing like ourselves. So got to get back to some cohesion, some rhythm together, and get this up.

Efes sit just one win behind their guests, still in transition after the 6-year Ataman era came to an end last summer. But one of the brightest stars of that period, Shane Larkin, returns to action tonight after 7 weeks out. The team now led by Ataman's longtime assistant and friend, Tommy Mijatović. Bryant, a fight was— man, he had to reel it in, balance the baseline to find Warren in the Corner! How about one more? Tsoukas lean forward, 3, lands a big one for Panathinaikos. Elijah Bryant, it's another foul on Papapetrou. Bryant, bounce down the Up high, Schmitz taking it to Papa Petru for the point. San Juan, you're 7 back in on 2 fouls. Bouboir for 3, a 13-point lead. Otu came in and dominated. Turnover from Efeso. Panathinaikos with a renewed intensity, especially the rebound for Warren Bryant, trying to put the Eurostep on Osmond, who was having none of it. Thompson, no-look pass! Darius Thompson, the Murphrees' borough magician. Thompson to Bryant, he'll take the and-one as well. Shot made by Osborne. Thompson out to Larkin. Is this the moment? Yes, it is! And the lead is 24. And boom! One of Attleman's former players digs the dagger in deep. Larkin free in the corner. Another former back-to-back champion under Attleman. Off the crossover, nails the 3. Costas Lucas free throw, they still can't protect their backboard. Elijah Bryant hasn't needed to score big tonight. Tommy Miatovic dismantling his former mentor, and the Ataman Empire crumbling here in Turkey. Pressure crashing down on Panathinaikos, crushing the crown of the coaching king. Ergin Ataman, a sort of a success, humbled in his hometown here tonight. That's the other side of the story, with Larkin the leader and the captain back. For them, it couldn't have gone better. For Panathinaikos, it couldn't have gone worse. A nightmare night in Istanbul.

All right, so we won. I didn't play my best game, but we won. And the hardest part about it is that sometimes as a player you feel like your games define you as a person, so you feel like crap after. But you won, so how are you supposed to feel? Oh, we won, but I play like crap. I will say this week's been hard for me to implement my system just because I've been dealing with the injury. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter because we won. So next week I'm gonna focus on implementing my systems and making sure I'm doing everything after practice, my shooting, all that stuff, my workouts, to put myself in the best position. But we got a big win. Let's go. This is film from our last game. Again, I have my coach cut it up for me and give me some pointers from what he sees. Mm, makes total sense. So these guys lose me. I need a space to here to make the pass easier for Darius. I'd have a butt-naked 3. So it's just about learning. I played assertive, and— but I have to get back to what got me to where I am, and that is my process. No matter the results, no matter good, no matter bad, process The process is every day working towards something, no matter what I scored, what I did, what I didn't do. Back to the process.

So let's get back to that.

Oh, choking. Chokes out. You don't see? Chokes out.