Nano Press
Facebook Twitter Instagram Google+ YouTube RSS Feed Italiano English Türkiye
EuroLeague 27/01/2013, 12.13

Marcus Williams sparks Malaga off the bench

Pick's blog believes Malaga's guard has become a Euro-scoring force and dives into Williams' roller coaster-like Euroleague rookie campaign

EuroLeague

Unicaja Malaga pulled off a major upset in Russia over the weekend ending CSKA Moscow's nine-game winning streak behind Marcus Williams' superb game-high 28 points and 4 assists.

The 6-foot-3 crafty guard was uncontainable throughout. From step-back jumpers to pump-fake and-ones, and a pair of off the dribble dagger three-pointers, Williams was in the zone hitting six treys from beyond the arc.

Yet coming into Friday's contest, Williams was cold. Ice cold. 

He registered just six minutes of action against Panathinaikos and 11 versus Real Madrid, scoring only 4 points in Malaga's back-to-back loses, where the only resemblance between the Euroleague's first-round No. 7 ranked three-ball shooter and the player the Spaniards showcased over the last two-games, were the Jordan 11 Retro's on Williams' feet.

The 27-year-old Los Angeles native guard was frustrated and questioned how he'd lost his stroke. Williams was determined to resurrect his outstanding rookie season and decided to head back to the drawing board.

Over the last week, Williams would hoist up extra shots before and after practice. He hit the treadmill for an extended amount of time to maintain strength, too.

"I was very relaxed. Made some shots early and gained confidence," Williams said following his weekly Most Valuable Player performance. "It's a long season. (I) can't allow myself to get down over 2-3 weeks of poor basketball," he added.

In fact, it wasn't the first occasion that Williams shut down an opponent. On November 2011, the former Huskie product solely buried Maccabi Tel Aviv, hitting Malaga's final seven points down the stretch.

"It seems that way sometimes, but other times we've won where I didn't score a great deal. As long as I play aggressive we have a great chance of winning," Williams responded, asked if it was coincidental that Malaga prevailed in all of his Euroleague double-digit scoring showings.

On beating the defending Russian champions, who swallowed 94-points for the first time this century, he said, "It was a chance to prove we can compete against a great team. Coach (Jasmin) Repesa kept us calm throughout the game and told us to play with no pressure."

"We have a big Spanish League game (today) against Joventut Badalona, so as big as a win that was, we accepted it and moved on," said a focused Williams, who averages 10.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in Euroleague play.

E. Carchia

E. Carchia

Read also
Comments You must be registered to post a comment 0 Comments