Scariolo responds to Mike James and his comments about ALBA defense / News - Basketnews.com

Sergio Scariolo defended ALBA's defensive strategy against Mike James: "If a team with the budget that Monaco has, wins the game at the last shot because ALBA's defensive player slipped and couldn't contest Elie Okobo's shot, that means ALBA did a very good job."

Credit: Imago images, ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix Credit Imago images, ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix

Virtus Segafredo Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo responded to AS Monaco star Mike James, who didn't like the way ALBA Berlin decided to defend him in the EuroLeague game last Friday night.

Mike James

Team:AS MonacoPosition:PG, SGAge:32Height:185 cmWeight:84 kgBirth place:Oregon, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

"Ok, the day is passed, and the game is over…. Can we all agree that playing box-and-one for 40 minutes in a professional basketball game is ridiculous?" James wrote on his Twitter account.

"We are grown, professional basketball players. Have some balls and play defense. Bad defense, bad strategy, and bad basketball," he repeated.

Despite Mike James' outrage, Virtus Segafredo Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo pointed out the effectiveness of the box-and-one defense, which consists of a mixture of four men playing zone and another one guarding a particular player (leader).

"Everyone has his own opinion. We [Virtus Bologna] used that defense for three minutes in the last game, and it gave us the opportunity to turn the game around. We were down by 7, and in those three minutes with the box and one, we changed the pace of the game," Scariolo started.

"Personally, I never used that type of defense for 40 minutes," the Italian specialist continued.

"But if a team with the budget that Monaco has, wins the game at the last shot because ALBA's defensive player slipped and couldn't contest Elie Okobo's shot, that means ALBA did a very good job," he added.

ALBA's bench boss Israel Gonzalez chose to apply a box-and-one defense for the whole time Mike James was staying on the court.

"With Spain, we won EuroBasket playing different types of defensive systems. Everyone tries to do whatever they can to win," Scariolo stressed. "I remember that when I was in Toronto, we played a game against Dallas, and we used the box-and-one defense for several minutes against Luka Doncic, it worked very well."

"When the first half was about to end, Luka got close to our bench and said, 'I'm getting annoyed, you guys do whatever you want'. In the NBA, you can do something like that, kind of giving up a game, because the regular season is extremely long, meanwhile, in the EuroLeague is more difficult."

James stayed on the court for almost 32 minutes Friday night but scored in single digits (8 points) for the first time this season.

"I understand that this type of defense can be annoying and suffocating, so I understand Mike's point because playing for 40 minutes with a guy constantly pressuring you, it's not nice. However, I'm sure his coach Sasa Obradovic was thinking about alternatives and strategies to make that defense less effective.

"This is basketball, you have to adapt to the type of strategies presented by your opponent. You can't go to the other coach and ask him, 'Could you stop playing this defense? Mike is getting annoyed'," Scariolo concluded.

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