The effectiveness of the transition game is witnessed by this play. In essence, it is a four against four, with the two centers trailing behind, in the Olimpia’s defensive backcourt.

In this play, it’s a home game against Valencia, Amedeo Della Valle is the most advanced man, but the opportunity to score on the break has vanished so he stops and passes back to Sergio Rodriguez who follows him by a few steps. But defending against a transition offense is not always easy. Mistakes happen. The Valencia guard, Vanja Marinkovic, is guarding Rodriguez from a relative distance, Alberto Abalde is taking care of Vlado Micov. But Abalde sees Rodriguez a little too open and fearing a sudden drive to the basket, he moves towards him to stop the dribble. But Marinkovic performs basically the same move.

The result is that Abalde leaves Vlado Micov, one of the best players in Europe at playing without the ball. Micov recognizes the situation and immediately cuts to the basket, so Rodriguez can use his best weapon, the direct passage on a cut. These are two easy and spectacular points. During the EuroLeague season, Rodriguez assisted Micov for 30 field goals, the second most frequent Olimpia combination after Rodriguez-Tarczewski’s 35.