Yarone’s Weekend Joints - Part II

The last pack of Joints before the big break presents you with the stories behind the games in Barcelona and Roma, with a short stop in Athens and a final visit to Kaunas.

Yarone’s Weekend Joints - Part I

Stretch your legs, inhale, exhale, surround yourself with your fave munchies  (Tobias, this is where the “pizza delivery” banner should appear!) and get ready for another edition of Euroleague Joints.

So here we stand - Group A

With three more weeks to play in the regular season, it’s time to take a glimpse at the standings. Group A is where things are pretty much set regarding the qualifiers. Avellino has nothing but a theoretical chance to make it, so the top four will be Olympiacos, Unicaja, Cibona and Maccabi. All spots are still open, considering those four still have several games among themselves, but the key will be the Maccabi - Olympiacos and Cibona - Unicaja games. With road wins, the quartet will split into two. Anything else will create a big mess.

Anti-Zalgiris

Although in recent years, things have changed a bit with the rise of Rytas, not many great Lithuanian players make it to the top without wearing the jersey of Zalgiris. It seems like this season those few will make an extra effort when they meet the greatest club of their nation, who missed their potential at some point on the road. After Saras showed no mercy last week, this time it was turn for Rimas Kaukenas and Ksystof Lavrinovic to display their finesse skills against the mothership.

Just as in the game in Kaunas in Week 2, when they tallied an index rating of 25 (Kaukenas) and 23 (Ksystof), this week they excelled with 24 (Ksystof) and 20 (Kaukenas). Lavrinovic, by the way, is on a terrible shooting streak lately: After starting the season 9-for-14 from long range, in the last three games he missed all ten attempts.

Ioannis’ deja vu

One of the main reasons Unicaja kept their home record perfect after a challenging game against Olympiacos was their tough and aggressive defense that matched the one the Greeks usually bring to court. In the second half Olympiacos was blocked no fewer than six times, and other than one great block on the 7 million dollar man, the other five were all on Yannakis’ big guys: Sofo, Vujcic and Bourousis. The last felt it stronger than anyone else, as he was blocked no fewer than three times, on the final occasion during a crucial possession right under Unicaja’s rim with Olympiacos down by 2.

Bourousis has been one of the best and most efficient centers this season in the Euroleague, and blocking a big guy as him isn’t an easy task, but that play marked Unicaja’s justified win more than anything else. By the way, the last time Bourousis was blocked three times in a single game was more than three years ago when Climamio Bologna smashed his former team, AEK Athens, 88-55, on November 9, 2005. In that three-year span, he was blocked a total of eight times, never more than once in a single game.

Charlie, stay away from home

A few players have been diagnosed here with the rare “Life on the road” syndrome, prime symptom of which is having better games on the road than in front of their own fans. Cyril Julian finally broke the spell with a good performance at home, clearing the stage for Efes’ Charles Smith. The US shooter can hardly find the net in Abdi Ipekci when he’s shooting his famous three pointers, but on the road he’s one of the most dangerous weapons. In Istanbul, he has thus far gone 4-for-24 and hasn’t hit more than one in a game. On the road, Smith has scored at least two threes per game and is a super 12-for-23 overall. Next week he’s in Greece: Get ready.

Let the kids play

The garbage minutes in Vitoria gave us a chance to follow two of the most promising youngsters in the Euroleague this season. Olimpija’s Mirza Sarajlija is already a familiar face for those following Olimpija the past three weeks. Seeing Sarajlija play for 20 minutes, especially when Ilievski is injured, was no surprise. For the first time he finished without making a field goal but still collected four points and three steals.

On the other side, we saw Argentinian prospect, 1990-born guard Matias Nocedal, step on court for the second time this season after earning 10 minutes in the blowout against Alba and scored his first Euroleague points on the way to an index rating of 8, higher than Igor, Pablo and Tiago…

So here we stand - Group B

Barca and MPS have qualified officially and Pao are in as well, unofficially, although they will need a miracle to finish first. Next week, Stonerook and the gang travel to Barcelona where first place will most probably be decided. Pao will pray for an Italian win and then try to beat them in Tuscany, but even that may not be enough for them to reach the vertex of the group. The small loss in France turned Prokom into a favorite to finish 4th, but since they still need to travel to Kaunas as well as Nancy, everything is still wide open. Zalgiris must win both games by large margins to have a chance, but it’s doable. With a win in Lithuania, Prokom will advance.

O70

Congratulations! After seven games, Zalgiris Kaunas has finally gotten over the 70-point barrier, and of all places they did it at Montepaschi, where no team has passed the 71 line since Pao in February. Jonas Maciulis ultimately showed up with what so many expected to see of him this season: 21 points, 5-for-9 FGs, 3-for-3 on three pointers, 4 assists, 4 steals and lots of energy. With Maciulis in good shape and Mantas Kalnietis contributing his best Euroleague performance ever, the Greens can finally show their face back home. Montepaschi’s win was never in doubt, but Zalgiris still deserve good words for their performance, even when Willie Deane scored yet another performance of negative index rating with -2.

Bluth is back

This one was no competition: In the weekly battle between David Bluthenthal and Dewarick Spencer, we saw a landslide when Bluth took 12 shots (including one from half court that went in) against only two for his teammate. For Spencer, it’s a career low since moving to Europe including domestic league games. Well, leave out two playoff games with Efes last season, where he hardly spent minutes on court and attempted less, if you insist on the small details, but in the other 141 games the US shooting guard never took so few shots. Nevertheless, he leads the race 4-3 with three more games to play.

Arroyo inherited Parker

Carlos Arroyo is the most expensive player in the history of Maccabi Tel Aviv, and this week he wrote his name in the history books of the prestigious club while ejecting none other than the legendary Anthony Parker. Sounds like a good thing, right? Well, think again.

Like several past Joints here, this one should be credited as well to Arale Weisberg of Ynet.co.il, one of the brightest basketball journalists out there. Mr. Weisberg found Arroyo’s index rating of -10 at Avellino to be the worst performance a Maccabi player has scored since the move to ULEB. Checking some other unforgettable terrible games of the past, such as this horrible show by Tom Chambers, resulted in no contenders from the FIBA days.

What does this have to do with Parker? Well, other than topping the all-time index rating average standings in the Euroleague, Parker also held the record for the worst performance in Maccabi uniforms until this Thursday. To see Parker with a -9 in that column isn’t something human eye can adjust to in a second, so clear some of your schedule for that. Arroyo? After the 2/13 on opening night at Cibona, he put in a terrible 2-point, 1-for-11 game this week. Next week, at Le Mans, where point guards usually celebrate, he’ll have a chance to fix the impression.

Yarone’s Weekend Joints - Part II

Part II of the Weekend Joints is presented to you with visits to Kaunas, Nancy’s hot dog stands, Pionir, Milano and Greece. Can’t go wrong with that route.

The matchup that never happened

The Le Mans-Unicaja match had the potential to host one of the most intriguing match-ups Euroleague 2008/09 can offer. Unicaja’s big lead allowed coach Aito Garcia Reneses to send 1989-born guard Raimundo Lopez De Vinuesa, who certainly sports one of the coolest names in the competition, on court for the closing minutes. On the other bench waited Le Mans’ 1990 born guard Pierre-Etienne Drouault, but coach Jackson decided to keep him there, preventing two of the longest names in the Euroleague to go head-to-head. Who cares about Chase vs. Cook who these two young fellas can challenge any TV commentator?

Cyril goes on the road

Some players feel better at home. The rims are more familiar, the chants of the fans give them confidence, the five-minutes-before-tipoff hot dogs taste better and the cheerleaders, too. For Nancy’s Cyril Julian the case is different. Maybe he’s not a big fan of the local rims, perhaps the fans haven’t found a cool rhyme for his name; it’s possible the Nancy hot dogs are too expensive, and the cheerleaders…

So far in two home games, Julian hasn’t scored more than six points, hasn’t grabbed more than five rebounds and his highest index rating is thus far six. On the road, in three difficult spots as at Sopot, at Montepaschi and at Barcelona, he has scored at least 17 points, seven rebounds, and an index of at least 23.

Milos and Peja’s home visit

When players go back to face their former team, in an arena they are very familiar with, they usually excel more than the usual. When Milos Vujanic went back to Pionir with Efes to meet Partizan, he was anything but excelling. Milos grew up in Red Star, which is yet another great reason for him to do his best to torture Partizan, but made his breakthrough to Europe’s center stage with Partizan. In 2002/03, he was the top scorer of the Euroleague at 25.8 points per game.

Actually if you count only his games in Pionir, his season low was 26 points. His next visit to Pionir was in 2004/05 with Fortitudo Bologna, and he scored 25 with five assists to reach an index of 26. Leave out his next and last visit, as a back up player of Pao, and you’ll find his visit this week, once again as a key leading player, as the exception. Vujanic fouled out after less than 23 minutes on court in which he went only 2-for-5 from the field, scored eight points and lost three balls.

Even for Predrag Drobnjak, in his re-debut with Efes, in a gym he spent so many hours and big games on his way to greatness and the way back from there, it wasn’t a happy visit. The veteran played less than four minutes, scored two points and turned the ball over once.

Showing how to get it done

So Milos blew his home coming game against Partizan, but there’s someone who didn’t. The story goes that in the 1999/2000 season Sarunas Jasikevicius returned to his hometown Kaunas with Olimpija. The season before that, he had returned from five years in the USA and wanted to fulfill the dream of any Kaunas kid: to wear the jersey of Zalgiris. Only the green club had different ideas, so the kid had to cross the street and play for Rytas.

Zalgiris went on to win their historical Euroleague title that season, but Saras waited for the right time. In that Zalgiris-Olimpija game, the locals held a 17-point lead before Saras led his team back in the game, all the way to an 85-84 win. With the buzzer, Saras started his own private celebration. He ran around the court for a while with his fists in the air, expressing his joy in the most extroverted possible way. Legend tells he even stopped in front of Zalgiris bench and said “My name is Sarunas. I grew up here, but you didn’t want me and now I beat you,” or something like that.

Whether there’s any truth to that legend or not doesn’t really matter. His obvious post-game celebrations were noticed by all, but it doesn’t seem like it was enough for Saras to feel like he had cashed his check yet. In any season he faced Zalgiris, there was at least one game in which he excelled (and in the other less so). Even his career highs in points (37) and index rating (37) were tallied against his hometown team in the famous game in Tel Aviv when the teams went head-to-head for a win-or-die Final Four ticket match. This season has been no exception: One week after we mentioned his streak was over after he finished a Euroleague game with no points, came a 15-point, four-assist, 22-index night in less than 22 minutes at Zalgiris.

Mirror performance

Olimpija’s Mirza Begic was one of the nicest surprises in the first three weeks of the Euroleague; once teams put more focus on him, though, things have changed, and Begic has not reached double-digits in the last three weeks. The best example of the change was this week, when his team suffered its worst home defeat ever, 86-65 to Joventut. When the teams met in Week 1, back in the day when Joventut still had Pops, Begic scored 17 points on 8-for-9 from the field and 1-for-3 from the line. This week, they didn’t leave him a choice, played much more physical defense on him, and didn’t allow him any easy baskets. Begic finished the game versus Joventut almost with numbers mirroring the first encounter: 0-for-1 from the field and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe. Kudos to Joventut’s bigs and coach Sito Alonso for a well executed plan.

Devil Smith

Devin Smith arrived in Istanbul as an intriguing player. The season before, he had led Avellino to a great campaign which eventually got them a ticket into the Euroleague. With Fenerbahce Ulker, Smith is doing well in the Turkish league but so far hasn’t foundnd his game in the Euroleague. He stands on only eight points per game with a sub-39% two-point ratio and awful 14.8% from long range. Actually, if you take out his game at Joventut, Smith has made just one three-pointer on 20 attempts in five games.

This week, Smith tallied his worst game yet, finishing the match against Tau missing all his six attempts from the field, didn’t make it to the line even once and committed three turnovers. In total, that’s a minus-5 index rating. Some might say the Euroleague is too big for Smith, and that’s debatable, but he’s still a better player than the numbers show so far. If it’s any comfort, his block on Begic near the end of the 2OT win over Olimpija will stay one of the highlights of the season.

When it all connects

Already last week it was pointed out here that CSKA Moscow is having trouble on the road. The near losses in Madrid and Beograd included a few made three pointer nights, and it was the same in Milano. This time, the percentages were much better, but CSKA connected only five times from long range. Matjaz Smodis finished 0-for-4 from the field but 8-for-8 from the line, and Siska … well, that was covered already. Zoran Planinic was sweeter than sweet in the first half while CSKA took a 20-point lead on the way to what seemed like another walk in the park, but … not that night.

So you know youngster Luca Vitali, a long-time Italian prospect, shone at five for six from long range, but the performance of David Hawkins in the last 11 minutes of the game was something you have to catch. He scored 15 points in that span, including seven in the final two minutes and the last five points from Milano in the game. In that run he missed just a single shot, and broke CSKA’s defense piece by piece. Even more surprisingly was the return to life, at least for a few minutes, of Massimo Bulleri, who scored six points in the fourth quarter. What stood out most in this win was Milano’s aggressive defense, especially in the fourth. For several minutes, it actually felt like CSKA was facing a … CSKA defense.

The uncompleted comeback

Last week, you were asked to check out the “Play of the Week”: Aaron Miles’ coast-to-coast drive to beat the halftime buzzer. This week his coast-to-coast to beat the buzzer also beat Real Madrid, but the story of the game was Real’s comeback. The Whites actually started the game with a 10-2 lead. but from that moment Panionios took over and in the next 20 minutes went on a 53-17 run, to reach a 55-27 lead in the 27th minute.

Then it all started. Real stormed back with a 31-5 run in nine minutes and later on even got the lead back, but their run is worth a closer look. During those nine minutes, Panionios made no fewer than eight turnovers, almost one per minute, but if you think Real was perfect on the other side, you’ve got the wrong picture. Coach Joan Plaza’s boys were actually 5-of-11 from the free throw line and lost four balls in that run but still managed to get it done. It was thanks to massive control on the offensive glass, where their hands were quicker or longer no fewer than eight times. Those extra possessions and easier access to the basket, as usually happens after an offensive rebound, allowed them to stand on 11-of-17 from the field in that run. Marko Tomas was the main man behind the comeback when he scored all of his 18 points of the game in the closing 13 minutes.

Yarone’s Weekend Joints

Yarone’s Weekend Joints - Part II

Part II of the Weekend Joints breathes air before the weekend comes to an end.

Three-ball diversity

Seems like Olimpija finally found the path to the W. In their win over Alba, the Slovenians finished 11-of-24 from close range and 13-of-33 behind the arc. The Germans had big problems deciding who to stop first, as no fewer than seven different Olimpija players stepped outside the arc to hit shots. On an average night, a team will have three or four players with at least one three-pointer: Seven is a big number in that category. Power forward Miha Zupan was steaming hot at 4-of-7 from that distance, some of those hits were made in ways the greater shooters don’t hit so often. Keep in mind that in the entire previous season, Zupan made only eight three-pointers and that in the first four games of the season he had gone 0-of-6 from the arc to realize what kind of a night Olimpija needed to get their debut win.

New kid on the court

In early August at the U18 Division B European Championship, Mirza Sarajlija led Slovenia back to where they belong by winning the lower-division title. Sarajlija was projected him as a prospect, and he earned his place in the all-tournament team, but it didn’t seem likely the 17-year-old guard would influence a Euroleague game less than four months later. The 1991-born talent already showed his skill set in several Adriatic League games and on Thursday played his first-ever Euroleague game, igniting Hala Tivoli right away. He scored no less than 13 points with three downtown rocks in addition to three rebounds, two steals and an understandable five turnovers. Very, very few players have such a Euroleague debut on their resume as a teen. Keep an eye on Sarajlija…

Rarity in Pionir

The fact that Partizan came close — sorry, very, very close — to beating CSKA is surprising, but nothing’s shocking. After all, in the previous season, the Russian giants lost at Olimpija in a close game, 74-72, on a buzzer-beating shot by Marko Milic. Partizan is a much better team than Olimpija of last season, and playing in Pionir isn’t easy for anyone, so those things happen. The real shocking episode from that night in Pionir was that CSKA was out-rebounded, 45-29. Even if you take out the last four offensive rebounds of Partizan in the final seconds (actually, the fact Partizan took four offensive rebounds in the deciding last play says it all) you still get a big 12 rebound gap. The rarity is that the Euroleague champs are almost never out-rebounded by that many. In most games they will grab more, sometimes many more, rebounds than their opponent. When they do lose that battle, the deficit will be no more than minus-five (as it was that night in Ljubljana). Other than a few occasions, most of them coming in games which CSKA has it decided early and allows the other side to come back, such a gap rarely happens.

69 reasons to visit Badalona

No details here. Clear and simple. In the second and third quarters, Joventut Badalona combined for no fewer than 69 points. God damn it.

New (temporary) king

Ksistof Lavrinovic of Montepaschi scored an index rating of 25 this week against SLUC Nancy and it seemed like the easiest 25 ever. Lavrinovic reached that on a night in which he was only 2-of-9 from the field and missed all four attempts from distance (the difference between a missed and a made shot is four index points). The fact he did this coming off the bench and in less than 20 minutes is not surprising if you follow his performance closely. This season, he took over one of the most interesting stat categories in the Euroleague. He tops the “All-Time Index Rating per Minute” category with a great 0.78 point per minute. Right behind him is Maceo Baston at 0.72 and, to understand how big a 0.06-point difference is in this ranking, just have a look and note that the distance between second place and 20th place is 0.1. The active Euroleague player closest to Ksistof is Mirsad Turkcan with 0.65, a long way behind. The only asterisk the twin carries is the fact that he’s played only 27 Euroleague games so far. Mark your calendars to check on Ksistof when he reaches 40 and 60 games to see where he stands.

It DOES get worse than that

Part of the reason Zalgiris leads the ranking of turnovers per game is the fact they play long stretches, and sometimes full games, with two young point guards. This week they got back their original signing for the point guard position – the American Willie Dean III who’s a little more experienced. Considering his performance against Barcelona, it’s likely Zalgiris would have done a better job without him that night. Dean came back from an injury and missed all of his six shot attempts to win the unofficial PVM award of Week 5 with an index rating of -8. The more disturbing part is that this isn’t even Dean’s worst performance in his very short Euroleague career, as on Week 1 he wrote an index of…-9.

Another new kid on the court

Sarajlija wasn’t the only kiddo to shine this week. Partizan usually give the stage to Serb talents, but Jan Vesely is a Czech big guy who’s certainly justifying the exception. When will he turn to a name everybody knows is a matter of time. For now he’s a 1991 born big guy who stops only after 210 centimeters and loaded with talent. Before stepping on the same court with Savrasenko, Smodis, Lorbek and Morris he played only two Euroleague games, and in both it was for short minutes in which he did pretty much nothing but adjusting. Against CSKA only Milenko Tepic played more than his 25:48 minutes. He still didn’t express his offensive skills, and finished with just a single point and three losses, but his three offensive boards and the six on the other side of court, in addition to effective defense in the paint, made him one of the nicest surprises this week.

Turkish muse

Quinton Hosley made his break last season while playing for a mid-size club in Turkey by the name Karsiyaka. He averaged 22.9 ppg and 11.6 rpg to become one of the hottest items on the market this summer. Eventually he landed in Madrid, where he had some ups and downs so far, but once back in Turkey, for a Euroleague game @Efes, Hosley was once again on fire. He set individual season highs with 24 points and a 23 index rating, missed only two shots in 11 attempts and the most impressive part was scoring three times from distance after missing all five attempts in the four previous weeks.

Under 70

Fifth week in a row the big team of Kaunas fail to reach the 70 points barrier, and their season high remains on 67. This week they stopped on 60 and marked another sad chapter in their impressive history book. Since season started, in five games, which roughly results 20 quarters, Zalgiris climbed to 20 points or more in only three of them.

Once in…Edu

Eduardo Hernandez-Sonseca came off Joventut’s bench to win the MVP of Week 5 with a shocking index rating of 38. That performance threw me back to the Top16 of the 2001/02 season. Back then Hernandez-Sonseca was a 19 year old prospect on the bench of Real Madrid. A seven footer who can score from close and long range, rebound and run the floor and could become something very interesting one day. Maybe. Well, Edu didn’t play much that season, as expected, and even when he did, showed only flashes of skills here and there. Until Real had a field trip to Perm to face Ural Great on Week 4 of the Top16 back in 27^th of March 2002. Both teams already had no chance to qualify on, the Spanish team arrived with only eight players on the roster due to injuries and whatever, so the kid got a chance to play. The final score was 104-113 to Real, in a game some claimed was fixed to be an “Over”, but for EHS it didn’t matter. He reached 28 points, in 10/14 from the field, 8/8 from the line, six rebounds and four blocks on the sure path to 36 index rating night. The following season he got a bigger role on Real’s roster but showed great inconsistency ranging from nights of 13+12 vs. CSKA to 2 points, 0 rebounds and 2 turnovers against ASVEL. From then till today he never came even half way to what he wrote down on Thursday night in international competitions, unless you demand to count an index of 30 against Guilford Heat last season.

No need to foul

Unicaja managed to grab a key win in Tel Aviv despite missing about half of their roster, which hurt their usual wide rotation, but didn’t effect their aggressive defense. Nevertheless Maccabi drew only 13 fouls that game. No player drew more than three. Go over 23 other Euroleague teams this week and you won’t find another sample like that. That’s not even the first time it happens to Israeli powerhouse this season. In the last three weeks Maccabi didn’t draw more than 18 fouls in any of the games. The lack of a slasher AND a post-up player limits the options of the current Maccabi roster, and helps their opponents to play tough and avoid fouls.

Will the real Rawle Marshall please stand up?

Despite the title it has nothing to do with any fist-fight. This is pure basketball talk. In the off-season Rawle Marshall was a hot name in the market. Lots of teams were interested in the US forward who played great for Hemofarm the past season, but most of them had doubts if he’s a very good Euroleague player or “just” a stud for a Eurocup team. Five games inside his debut season in the Euroleague and still no clear answer. So far he stands on two great performances, two he would prefer not to mention and an average one. In the two bad games and the average one he hit only nine shots in 37 attempts. In the game @Unicaja he excelled with amazing 7/10 from long distance, but stood on 1/6 inside the arc. Against Olympiacos he dished four assists, in the other four games combined only half of that. @Le Mans made four turnovers, in the other four combined just two. It goes way beyond stats, as Marshall at times seems like the real deal with his athleticism, size and skills, but then looks pretty far from someone you can put the ball in his hands and rest peacefully. It’s the most reasonable thing for someone who witnessed European Basketball for the first time only last year, and has no more than five Euroleague games in his resume, but from now on, as adjustment time is over, Marshall shall be examined under closer look.

History in Sopot

A long streak came to an end on Wednesday night in Sopot. A historical incident took place on the Polish court. The info is disclosed in front of you: Sarunas Jasikevicius finished 13:32 minutes with 0/5 from the field, no fouls drawn and three turnovers to reach a terrible -8 index rating, but worst of all 0 points. In eight Euroleague seasons Saras had a few rare games in which he didn’t score a field goal. Even in his two huge seasons with Maccabi he had a game like that in each season. Along the way there were some games with just a single bucket, and very few games with a negative index rating, but never ever, in all his 140 Euroleague performances, he finished a game with no points as in Sopot. There’s probably some symbolism in the fact that Saras will, most probably, start the new streak next week when he plays in his…home town – Kaunas.

Yarone’s Weekend Joints - part I

Probably the best thing would be to start with an apology for the delay, and get this out of the way. I’d like to thank the academy and blame Chris for the delay, not because it’s really his fault, but just because it’s fun to blame him on everything. Give it a try…

Week 5 of the Euroleague was full of stories and anecdotes. Some wrote new lines in the history books, others are on the way there.

After only one team won on the road in Week 4, this round of games displayed no fewer than six road wins, and three home wins by up to five points. With Olimpija and Milano taking their first Ws, and CSKA Moscow coming closer than ever to join the 23 other teams with a digit higher than 0 in the losses column, week 5 was one to remember.

Well, at least until Week 6.

Here’s the first part of the Euroleague Weekend Joints of Week 5 on Ballineurope.com.

Congratulations Jaka!

First of all, let’s congratulate Jaka Laka for becoming the 4th player in history to reach 2,000 Euroleague points this week, but that wasn’t the only mark he celebrated at Kaunas on Thursday night. It was also Lakovic’s 150th game in the Euroleague and only the fifth game ever in his eight-season Euroleague career that he didn’t miss a shot from three-point land, not counting nights he took just a single attempt. Jaka hit all five of his attempts in this game, two more threes than the entire team of Zalgiris, by the way (Zalgiris went 3-of-18 beyond the arc). Three times, Lakovic went 2-of-2, while on January 9, 2003, when he wore Pao’s green jersey and played at Tel Aviv, he had a 5-of-5 night as well.

Perfecto Greer

Not only Jaka was hot this week. Olympiacos’ Lynn Greer was also 5-of-5 from behind the arc, and for him it was the first-ever Euroleague game in which he was perfect from that range, excluding a single 1-of-1 display.

Road, bitter road

The Final Four hosts from Berlin suffered a 77-69 defeat at Olimpija, and allowed the Slovenians to celebrate their debut win of the season. After one leg in the regular season, Alba stands on a 2-3 record and it’s easy to label them. Both wins were registered in the O2 arena in front of a packed arena, and in both cases it was a close win. On the road, it’s a totally different story and there Alba lost all three games without putting up much of a fight. The eight-point difference is deceiving, as Olimpija held a double-digit lead in the closing minutes. Add the awful loss at Tau and a nine-point defeat at Fenerbache Ulker, and it’s gotten easier to place your bets from now on when it comes to Alba. In the second leg, they will play in Roma and Badalona, not the most comfortable spots to pick up a road win, so most probably in order to get some Euroleague oxygen, Alba will have to use the help of the O2 ha ha ha.

Don’t miss out…

Just in case you missed Panionios’ Aaron Miles beating the halftime buzzer with a super-cool coast-to-coast drive, check the Top 10 plays of Week 5 according to Euroleague.TV and survive the first nine to watch this beauty.

The big crisis

OK, this one has nothing to do with those red screens on your Wall Streets, but Efes Pilsen is in a big one of their own. The 95-81 defeat at home to Real Madrid marks Efes’ third loss in a row. Two were in Abdi Ipacki, and just to keep you fresh the first was to Panionios, while the third was in Moscow, where it’s more than reasonable to lose, only Efes was trashed by 22 points after a 27-9 first quarter start by the champs. Over the weekend, Efes re-signed Predrag Drobnjak to fill in at a center spot that felt kinda empty after the injury to Mario Kasun. Drobnjak was on the only two Efes teams to make it to the Final Four, back in the early days of this decade, before he moved to the NBA. Now he’s far from his prime, but let’s see if his arrival will bring good momentum to Ergin Ataman’s factory. Otherwise, Ataman himself could be next to pay for the damage. If you’re looking for a win, the last place you want to visit is Pionir and face Partizan, especially after they suffered an aching home loss, but that’s exactly what awaits Efes next week. Hopefully for Efes, Drobnjak and Milos Vujanic will feel at home enough to stop the downward spiral.

He’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

CSKA climbed to 5-0 and remained the only team with a perfect record in the Euroleague. To make things worse, on anyone who’s not a CSKA fan, this week marked the return of Matjaz Smodis. God forbid…

Heart-attack Partizan

The team to draw the most sympathy and empathy this week, beyond any doubt, is the group from Beograd. The one point loss to CSKA, and the heart-breaking finish, when Partizan missed no less than five attempts in a row in the last seconds to win the game, captured whoever enjoys an underdog win. Check out this fan-made video from the Pionir seats. The last play starts 6:40~ inside the clip. This fan won’t win the prestigious “Camera man of the year” award, but turn up the volume, hope your neighbor doesn’t have a machine-gun, and focus on the sights and especially sounds around the play. This was Partizan’s second single point defeat this season, and all of their five games were close ones, decided by no more than five points.

32 is the new 11

Drive your car around the world, and other than a difficulty to avoid food poisoning (at some point or another) you might also find it hard to locate a good Spanish player playing outside the ACB. Other than in the NBA and Jorge, who just couldn’t say no to the crazy Khimki offer, there’s only one more player to name - Lottomatica’s Rodrigo De La Fuente. This week was a special one for the out stander. In the 76-67 home win over FenerUlker, at the age of 32, after 11 seasons in the Euroleague and 172 games, he set a career high in rebounds by collecting 11.

Damn rims

Prokom’s home court is called the “Arena of 100 years” and it certainly won’t be named anytime soon “Arena of 100 points”. The rims there are anything but friendly to most visiting teams. Pao escaped with a 60-67 win but they have nothing to be ashamed of. In the last six games in front of those rims no team scored more than 68 points.

Arc range darkness

Lottomatica wrote their fourth win in a row, and would probably revenge Alba, for their only defeat so far, next week in the Palalottomatica, but something strange happened in their win this week over the Istanbul’s chocolate factory of FenerUlker. All of Roma’s hits from long range were scored by the big guys. Power-forwards Roberto Gabini and Angelo Gigli were 3/3 from the distance, while all the others combined 0/6. No outside hit was made by the guards, despite one thing Repesa doesn’t miss is guards who can hit the ball. The reason was that while on the romantic scene being passive sometimes actually works, in basketball if you don’t hit you can’t score. Sani Becirovic and Allan Ray didn’t try even once from that distance, while Ibrahim Jaaber stepped up with a single attempt. For Sani it was only the second time he finished a game without taking a long range shot in his last 18 Euroleague games, while Ray broke a streak of 21 games in which he made the effort.

Road bitter road - part II

So CSKA are 5-0 but this week was the second time in a row the Euroleague champs have trouble to score and win on the road. Their previous trip out of Moscow finished with a 54-58 win in Madrid behind a terrible shooting day. The 62-63 loss in Beograd saw CSKA connect only a duo of baskets from long range in 14 attempts. Yikes! That wasn’t the only reason Partizan came so close, but to read on the second, and more peculiar one, wait for the second part.

Off-bench Diamantidis

Some would tell you that a team must have a stable starting five for things to work, but Zeljko Obradovic will reply to that with however you say “Bullshit” in Serb. Often Obra changes his starting line-up, but in Sopot it was standing out more than the usual. Batiste, Spanoulis, Tsartsaris, Hatzivrettas and Kecman on court. On the bench waited five that can assemble one of the best line ups in the Euroleague: Jasikevicius (we’ll get back to him in part two…), Pekovic, Nicholas, Fotsis and Diamantditis. The last still managed to finish with the best index rating of the night with 26, but broke a streak of 66 games in which he was a starter for Pao. The last time Dimitris saw the jump ball from the bench was in Week 4 of the 2005/06 season, andeven then, on November 24th 2005, in OAKA he was the best player on the team and finished with an index rating of 23.

Retro Le Mans

It’s shocking enough Le Mans scored 87 points in four quarters against Olympiacos, but the fact they, once again, lost a close game is something stat experts need to look into. Just a reminder, if you missed that part here in the previous weeks, last season, under a different coach and different roster, Le Mans also lost all their first five Euroleague season games in the closing plays. This season they already lost two games in overtime, first @Maccabi and this week vs. Olympiacos. The bad news for Le Mans is that last season, in Week 6, the close losses streak was put to an end, not in the positive way, with a 91-71 defeat @Cibona. Next week they host Unicaja. We shall see….

The “Disgrace Escaping” mission

After five weeks Zalgiris stand on a 0-5 record. It’s likely for the Kaunas club to finish their season earlier than expected, and considering the off-court happening around the club this season it’s reasonable, but in the remaining five games they’ll need to work hard to escape disgrace. Up to today Zalgiris stands on a horrible 19.6 turnovers per game average. Right and far behind are SLUC Nancy with “only” 16.8. Now, being behind Nancy isn’t such a big shame, it’s the history books awaiting for Zalgiris. Unless a big improvement will arrive soon to Kaunas they’ll be known as the team that made more turnovers per game than any other team in a season. In all of the Euroleague history, under ULEB (excluding the first season which its stats isn’t available on the web), the team with the highest tpg average was the 2001/02….London Towers with 18.0 per game.

Most Turnovers Per Game by Season
Season	Team	TPG
2008/09	Zalgiris Kaunas	19.6
2007/08	Olimipija Ljubljana	16.0
2006/07	Cibona Zagreb	17.7
2005/06	Strasbourg	16.8
2004/05	Estudiantes Madrid	16.5
2003/04	Alba Berlin	15.2
2002/03	Buducnost Podgorica	16.1
2001/02	Kinder London Towers	18.0

Yarone’s weekend Joints

Lots of three-ball action took place this week. Some went in with great accuracy. Others will have to pay for the rim damage. Lazos, Erceg and Childress are the most overpaid players of this week, the double OT in Istanbul had two sides, Spencer caught up, Nancy made history, Jennings made us proud, and one Emir Preldzic…

These are the stories of week 4 of Euroleague 2009.

In case you missed it… - CSKA tied the Euroleague record for most three pointers made with 18, and more amazingly they hit them at a 72% rate. Those who follow CSKA closely saw them only last week connect on 20 three pointers at 71.4% in a Russian cup game. Keep in mind that Holden and Smodis are injured and could probably add a couple more to the party. Do you still remember just a week ago the Euroleague champs scored only 58 points at Real and hit five three-balls at a poor 18.5% rate?

CSKA tied a record set by Lottomatica Roma, who went 18/34 back in December 2003, but it reminded me more of the most amazing three-ball display in Euroleague history: Efes’ unbelievable fourth quarter back in November 2006. In a home game against Olympiacos, the Jenkins-Nicholas-Erden-Haislip-Kuqo combination connected on 11 of 12 long-range shots in the final 10:04 of the game.

The Jennings report – Brandon Jennings, in one of the toughest arenas in Europe, explained why. Last week in a text written on this server, Jennings was asked, for the first time in his Euroleague career, to combine baskets inside and outside the arc, and right away he provided. The boxscore displayed 17 minutes on court, 13 points, 4-of-7 from the field, three assists and not a single turnover on the way to an index rating of 17. He played a key role in the third quarter when Tau pushed hard to take over, and made sure Roma stayed on top. Can’t ask for more from this kid.

Just imagine – Terrell McIntyre was 1-of-8 from long range in OAKA. Shaun Stonerook was 2-of-11 from the same distance, but Montepaschi still left Athens with only a five-point loss. If any of the above had shot at just a tiny bit better percentage…

Over? Under! – Four games into the Euroleague season and not only is Zalgiris Kaunas continuing to seek their first win, they’ve also failed to reach 70 points in a game: Their season high is 67 points at home, in the 26 point loss to Montepaschi. True, Kaunas lost Brown, misses Dean, and the go-to guy right now is the great Maciulis, who hasn’t fully adapted to the idea that he’s the main man this season. Nevertheless, it’s not that much we’re asking: In the next three games, Kaunas hosts Barcelona and Pao, followed by travel to Siena. None will be shocked to see them go 0-6, but if the Lithuanians can’t shoot to reach 70…

Standings – After four weeks, CSKA Moscow is the only undefeated team. Surprised? Group D, where CSKA play, is the only group in which just one team has reached three wins. Behind CSKA are four teams with a 2-2 record and in last is a team with no wins: Exactly the scenario predicted for this group from the first second after the draw. The only difference: Panionios was expected to be the winless team, while in fact it’s struggling AJ Milano.

It’s a close league after all – Four teams, one in each group, are still in search for a debut win, but that’s not a case of teams that are just too weak to win. All of them have already sensed a win in their hands at least once during the four weeks. Le Mans was close four weeks in a row, including an OT loss in Tel Aviv; AJ Milano has been in the neighborhood twice already and this week lost by a point; Olimpija lost once by a point as well and this week fell in double OT; finally, Zalgiris hasn’t been as close to success as the other three, but has lost their last two games by five points or fewer.

Index Morris – Last week, CSKA’s Terence Morris went 0-of-8 from long range in Madrid. This week he had three perfect hits from distance already after three minutes on the way to a 5-of-7 night.

Home sweetest home – 11 of the 12 games this week went in favor of the home team, including a double OT win for FenerUlker, a one-point win for Real, a two-point win for Alba and five-point wins for Nancy, Panathinaikos, Panionios and Avellino. The only team to drop the home game was Tau, considered one of the most difficult teams to beat on their home court, who lost by a small three-point margin.

Emir – If you’re a big prospect and want to make a break, then shower, shave, grab a bottle of water, some orange Tic Tacs, pack a small bag and go stand outside the house of coach Bogdan Tanjevic. Wait patiently, have some Tic Tacs and hope he’ll take you in. From there, you’re set. 18 points, more than 50% from the field, seven rebounds, five assists and just a single turnover: That’s the line Emir Preldzic produced this week. He’s playing inside Tanjevic’s system as much as a Bosnian can play inside a system, but also gets a lot of freedom from his coach to bring his skills and creativity to the floor. Follow this kid. He’s much more than just great numbers: He’s fineness and finesse.

Double OT, triple lead – The interesting thing about the game in Istanbul, only the third in Euroleague history to go 50 minutes, was that in all three crucial possessions FenerUlker were up. In regulation, it was a huge running three-pointer by Saso Ozbolt (Welcome back!) to tie the score. Then Damjan Rudez scored on a layup to force another overtime, and finally Vlado Illievski took the chance when down by two with a long distance attempt that went out.

Vlado + Saso > Europe – Olimpija’s Ilievski and Ozbolt played a double OT but still combined 79:50 minutes of play so they didn’t hold a much bigger margin on other backcourts. Nevertheless they took no less than 21 shots from long range (11 by Vlado). Those 21 attempts by only two players represented more three-point attempts than those taken by the entire teams of Panathinaikos, Panionios, Alba, Cibona, Maccabi, Barcelona, Prokom, Real, Avellino, Le Mans, Roma and Nancy this week.

Joventut > Europe – Vlado and Saso weren’t the only ones. Demond Mallet and Luka Bogdanovic of Joventut also combined for 21 attempts from long range, and they played much less obviously. Luka was on a big night hitting 7-of-12 from long distance without taking a single shot inside the arc or the charity stripe. Mallet was a tiny bit less glamour at 1-of-9 from the same distance.

Both were merely executing Joventut’s game plan, or so it seemed on the court. Rudy’s former team took 23 shots inside the arc, but no fewer than 37 outside: a huge difference that hints at a lack of guiding hand and another reason to hang a “We miss you Ricky!” sign in the lockerroom. Joventut had the last ball of the game down by two at Alba, and take a wild guess what their play was…Wrong! Pau Ribas tried to find an open man for the three, but Alba did a great job in the passing lanes, forcing the young guard to go to the rim. He added one more miss to his pocket and Alba celebrated their second win.

All Blacks – OK, the national team of New Zealand isn’t playing in the Euroleague yet, but while I was watching Nancy-Zalgiris on Wednesday night, I suddenly noticed something refreshing: With Cyril Julian out due to injury, Nancy this week was a team composed of only black players, probably the first time ever in European basketball history. Quickly, Mr. Ney was sent to check the NBA rosters and figure how many NBA teams have only black players on the roster, and his answer was one: The Philadelphia 76ers, thus making the occasion in Nancy this week very unique indeed. From the Greer duo to the promising young Zaki, it was a refreshing occurrence. The fact they have won isn’t as exciting as the happenings in Illinois not too long ago, but certainly is a happy episode.

Double OT, triple miss – While Olimpija had to come back from behind time after time in the finals seconds, the Turkish side can be happy to win a close game, but proved he can miss time after time in these situations. Devin Smith had a decent shot from the three-point corner to win the game in regulation but missed. At the end of the first OT, Fenerbache had 6.5 seconds to win the game but managed to lose the ball, while at the end of the last overtime Marque Green missed his first free throw in the final seconds, leaving Olimpija a chance to win.

Whole story in one Zoran – Olympiacos paid around <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> €700,000 just to buy out Zoran Erceg from FMP Zeleznik. His contract probably isn’t cheap, either, and the buyout plus contract is worth around $1.5 million easily. This is more than Maccabi’s second-highest paid player. Erceg played less than seven minutes this week, and other than pick up one foul did nothing on the court. No rebounds, no shots taken, no assists, no turnovers. His team still won by 19, the second-greatest margin of the week. His story tells the difference between Olympiacos and a second-tier Euroleague team.

Frustrated Milanese - If you’ve ever had the chance to stop whatever it is you’re doing in your daily life and wonder what’s more frustrating, to lose a five-point lead in the last minute or a 23-point lead in the second half, well, your search for an answer is over! AJ Milano solved this riddle for you! Once again, one player shone above all: This time it was Michael Hall, who won the MVP of the week award, and once again Milano seemed on the sure path for a win. Answers shall be provided after the debut win.

Looking for Lazos – Not too long ago, in the summer of 2007, Lazaros Papadopoulos was a hot item in the market. At 210cm with post moves, decent rebounding and one of the smartest brains in the Euroleague chasing up a 14.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg and a season index rating of 20.3 with Dynamo Moscow. Then came a multi-season deal with powerhouse Real Madrid, who wanted to return to greatness. On that paper, it says Lazos will make more than <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> €2 million per season, but he never really proved worthy of it.

His decline already began last season, when his season numbers dropped to 6.9 ppg with 3.2 rpg and season index of no more than 7.8. If someone was waiting for Lazos to come back to life this season, well…maybe later. Right now, he’s finished two games in a row with no points, something that hasn’t happened to him in a European competition since January 9th, 2003. His index ratings in the past three games were 2, -2, and 2. His minutes dropped from 20 to 12 to five. Lazos is no longer a factor. Can’t wait to have him back in shape.

Weekly battle – After Bluthenthal wrote a landslide last week, it was time for Dewarick Spencer to retort. This week, the US guard won the “let’s see who shots more” battle 15-4. Le Mans, no news, lost a close game in Italy. Overall score: Bluthenthal 2, Spencer 2.

Shooting Josh – If you think Lazos is the most overpaid player this week, well, Josh Childress is giving him good competition. The $7 million man finished the game against Maccabi with four points on 1-of-6 from the field and five turnovers. Maccabi gave him a lot of space to shoot from long range, and Josh didn’t punish. The tale from Piraeus is that after the game, while media walked around the lockerroom, looking for Childress, the US swingman went back to the court to work on his jumpshot, to make sure no team will bet on his shots again. Time will tell…

Three-ball Rawel – Cibona’s Rawel Marshall arrived to Malaga with a 7/17 ratio from long range. He finished the game 7 of 10 from that distance. Cibona scored only one additional three pointer. Unicaja combined for a team total of six three-pointers.

Marshall hit just a single bucket inside the arc. Each and every one of his long balls is worth a look. He showed great diversity making off dribble and catch and shoot attempts, eith with a hand in his face or wide open, right on the arc or a step behind…

Yarone’s Friday’s joints

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that the Euroleague is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of its founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of its small clubs, the last two nights were your answer.
After three weeks take a look at the standings in groups A & B. The team on top of Group A is Cibona with 3-0 and right behind them are small clubs with low budgets as Olympiacos, Maccabi and Unicaja. Considering the Croats faced two of those teams develops what psychologists may consider as a “feel of surprise.”

Now take a look at Group B and see the following. Montepaschi on top with 3-0 and following are three teams with a 2-1 record: Regal FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos Athens and…Assesco Prokom Sopot. Now, this is more of a case for psychiatrists, or perhaps Crusty, as the reaction would be something between combat fatigue and uncontrollable mixed with very loud laughter. This of course is a result of the schedule, as Prokom hosted Nancy and Zalgiris the past two weeks. If you ever wondered what’s the reason to have a button on your keyboard with the strange text “Prnt Scrn”, go to the Euroleague’s standings page and you’ll see the vision. Prokom between Pao and Barca. It probably won’t happen soon again. Print, save and frame.

This was the third week in the Euroleague.

VAL Virgins – Panionios had the toughest draw in the competition. Being a small team in a league of giants you can’t think of a bigger nightmare than having your first three games @Real, vs. CSKA and @Efes. The fact they finished this trio with a 1-2 record is huge for them. After two weeks of adaptation they finally found the path, got some air to breath and in a way had their “first time” when it comes to influencing the fantasy game. In the first two games none of Panionios players reached higher than an 11 index rating. In the big win three players – Loony Baxter, Aaron Miles and Ioannis Kalampokis had a VAL of 19-23.

Kalamwho?!? – If you’re not Greek and you knew of Kalapokis already it’s a sign you follow European basketball closely. In 2003 he was still playing second division basketball. Then he made a big jump up to the hands of Olympiacos for two years. Not exactly the seasons that would go down in the history books of the Red club as their glory days, but he was there. Played Euroleague, later on another Euroleague season with AEK, then up to PAOK and past two seasons in Panionios. The Greek guard hit 17 points with just a single missed shot but on top of that he stepped up when the game was on the line. Efes made a huge come back, stopped all of Panionios attempts to score for six minutes to make it just a four point game. Then Kalampokis buried a huge three pointer, to stop the drought. Efes still fought but lost the momentum. Later he added two points from the line to secure the win. If you’re an Efes fan and you didn’t know of Kalampokis, you’ll never forget him from now.

The best team in Europe – Some people think Montepaschi Siena were the best team in Europe last season. Some minutes without concentration in the semi’s cost them the eventual trophy. Beating CSKA is never easy, but they might be right. We’ll never know about the past season, but this one they have another chance to prove it and so far it’s going well. In a battle between the two hottest teams in Europe – MPS and Barcelona the Italian side used an 11-0 run in the last quarter, on the way to a 26-10 fourth quarter win, to stay perfect and prove something. It was a battle between David Andersen, the man Montepaschi lost to CSKA’s big money and now in Barcelona and Romain Sato, the man Barcelona once signed for a short period but hardly used him, before he landed in Siena. Andersen returned home to write 7 points in a terrible 3/12 from the field and just a single point of index rating. Sato? 11 points, 50% from the field, 3 rebounds, 1 block, no less than six steals and…yeh, La Bomba was stopped on 7 points. Recruiting wise MPS is still on top.

Duo Yellows – Two Maccabi players lead their categories in the fantasy league. Carlos Arroyo is the most expensive PG and D’or Fischer is the most expensive PF/C, and actually in the entire competition.

Milos got balls – The Serbian guard didn’t have a great game to say the least, as most of his team-mates, but in case you doubted he proved once again he’s not afraid to face the heat. In the last minute, not in a big shooting day, he took Efes on his shoulders. His slash to the rim made it a two point game again and kept Efes alive. His next move with a three point shot, that went out and actually allowed the Greeks to secure the win, but when there are so many players out there who are afraid to take the last shots in these situations, players as Milos deserve a good word.

Bluth vs. Maccabi – The Yellow-and-Blue survived in the game thanks to a Marcus Brown three pointer in the closing seconds of regulation, but it wasn’t a good shooting night for the Israeli side. Four players hit from long range but each scored just once to reach a team total of…four. Bluth himself scored five three pointers as Le Mans, who made 0/12 last week at home, finished this tough road game with 12 made three pointers in 46.1%.

Jennings’ debut – Ok. So far he was just testing the water. @Olimpija Brandon Jennings made his real first appearance in the Euroleague with 14 points, index of 16 in less than 19 minutes, but there’s still one more task for him. In the first two games he missed all of his 2pt range shots, but scored from long range. Last night he hit his first ever 2pt basket in the Euroleague to finish with four, but missed both long shot attempts. Balance is needed.

Bienvenu Antoine – Le Man’s guard, Antoine Diot, is familiar to whoever followed the national youth competitions in the last summers. The 19 year old point guard played with Nicholas Batum and Alexis Ajinca – two first round picks in the last draft, and won titles with them. Now he’s making his moves in the Euroleague and this week against Maccabi he wrote his best game so far. 11 points and an index of 17 are career highs in the Euroleague, but it’s the three pointers that made it a different experience. He was never a great shooter. Actually until this game his career total in the Euroleague stood on two hits from long range in 15 games. In Tel Aviv he hit 3/5

He might be giant – Keep in mind. Two-three years from now, tops, Emir Preldzic will be a big Euroleague star. The Bosnian guard/forward showed his package, baske