Baskonia's hot start and the Markus Howard experience / News - Basketnews.com

Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz are bullying opponents with their amazing offense, and Markus Howard is shining as the biggest surprise at the start of the EuroLeague season. Let's dive into what's been the hottest team so far in the top European competition

Credit: Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz Credit Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz

It has been an electrifying start to the EuroLeague season for Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. After beating Crvena Zvezda 92-75 on Wednesday night, the Spanish team is at the top of the table, one of the 'surprising' teams leading the league together with ALBA Berlin.

Markus Howard

Team:Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-GasteizPosition:PGAge:23Height:180 cmWeight:79 kgBirth place:United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

With coach Joan Penarroya at the helm, Baskonia has been one of the most fun teams to watch so far. And despite the expectations for Baskonia weren't super high, they have already shown that they can be a problem for many teams throughout the season.

But which are the main reasons behind Baskonia's great start to the EuroLeague season? Looks like the perfect time to analyze the situation.

Stellar offense

As things currently stand, Cazoo Baskonia have the best offense in the competition. They're averaging 92 points per game, more than any other team. The Spanish club is also the best 3-point shooting team in the competition, averaging 45% from deep.

They also have the third-best offensive rating, 125.5 points per 100 possessions, right behind ALBA Berlin and Olympiacos. This team might not necessarily be a playoff contender, but they have a lot of talent available.

Between Markus Howard (we'll talk more about him later on), Darius Thompson, Vanja Marinkovic, Daulton Hommes, Matt Costello, Rokas Giedraitis, and Maik Kotsar, Baskonia have multiple players who can step up and contribute offensively.

The offensive flow of the team is not always super in sync, but the individual talent of this group of players, so far, has often been enough to win the games. Coach Penarroya's offensive system has been based a lot on the shots from deep, with Baskonia currently averaging 14.7 3-pointers per game, more than anyone else in EuroLeague.

"The horse is running, and people like it," coach Penarroya said after the win against Crvena Zvezda. "I think we are playing dynamic basketball, but the most important thing is that we don't forget who we are. Three rounds ago, nobody was counting on us in the EuroLeague. Let's not go crazy now".

Markus Howard came to play

Markus Howard

MIN:23.68PTS:25 (59.32%)REB:1.33As:0.33ST:0.67BL:0TO:2GM:3ProfileEuroLeague2022/2023

Among the best surprises of the beginning of the season, there's definitely Markus Howard and his impressive scoring skills. When Baskonia announced Howard's signing on a 2-year deal in July, there was definitely a level of curiosity around the player, who had already shown some good things in the NBA.

However, even the most optimistic ones didn't expect to see the type of offensive impact that Howard is having on this team. After a 12-point debut against Valencia, Howard exploded in the game against Partizan Belgrade.

He sent the game to overtime with a 3-pointer, and in the extra time, he basically won the game by himself. He finished with 33 points and 8/12 from 3-point.

In the following game against Crvena Zvezda, Howard was once again pretty much unstoppable for the opponent team and finished with 30 points and 3 rebounds, hitting 7 3-pointers.

His scoring abilities are not a piece of news. In his college days at Marquette, Howard had become the best scorer in his school's history with a total of 2761 points, more than NBA superstars like Dwayne Wade or Jimmy Butler.

He finished his senior year averaging 27.8 points per game, becoming the best scorer in the entire NCAA.

In addition to his qualities on the court, Howard has always been considered a really good guy to have around in the locker room. He has an excellent work ethic and has often been a part of humanitarian projects and charitable actions.

As noted by Darius Garuolis, Howard is only the eighth player in the EuroLeague history to have back-to-back games with at least 30 points, joining a small club composed of players like Nando De Colo, Milos Teodosic, Jaka Lakovic, and Milos Vujanic.

No one has ever scored 30 or more points for three games in a row. Maybe Howard will be able to break that record in the next game against Olympiacos?

For the moment, Baskonia fans are enjoying his performances. They hope he might become the next Shane Larkin or Mike James - players who arrived in Vitoria as 'diamonds in the rough' and then turned into EuroLeague superstars.

How long will it last?

For such a hot start, with offensive numbers that look too good to be true, it is fair to wonder how long this fantastic moment will continue for Baskonia.

The Spanish side is not exactly a great defensive team. They have a middle-of-the-pack defensive rating of 114.2, which is good for the ninth spot in the EuroLeague. They're also among the worst rebounding teams in the EuroLeague, averaging 31.7 boards per game, with only Bayern being worse.

Coach Penarroya admitted that his team wins mostly because of their shooting percentages. If they want to be good in the long run, they need to play in different ways.

"We have our style, but we have to play differently at times," the coach said after the win against Crvena Zvezda. "Now we're winning because we're making 3-pointers, but the day we won't make them, we'll get beaten. When you play at this level of energy, it's normal to make more mistakes. I'm sure we'll get better at making decisions and reading the game. I prefer excess over control."

Although Baskonia play at a high pace (they're currently third per pace in EuroLeague with 70.4 behind only Panathinaikos and Valencia), they're keeping the turnovers under control.

The Spanish team is currently the best team in the EuroLeague at keeping care of the ball, with an average of 8.7 turnovers per game.

Monaco is the only other team in the competition averaging less than 10 turnovers per game.

As always, the court will be the best judge. In the next home game against Olympiacos, we'll be able to learn more about the true strength of Cazoo Baskonia.

Meanwhile, we can only praise coach Penarroya's work with the team and the amazing impact that Markus Howard had in his first few European games.

Surprises like Baskonia and ALBA Berlin are always good news at the beginning of the season because they make everything less boring and predictable.

But if they can remain this good for the rest of the season, that'll become the real 'shock' of this EuroLeague season.

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