After Matej already discussed why the event is taken place in Ljubljana, he comes back now with a detailed preview about the two semi-finals to be played this Friday.
UNION OLIMPIJA LJUBLJANA – PARTIZAN IGOKEA BELGRADE
Media proclaimed this as the final before finals. I’ll say, student vs. teacher. Coach of Olimpija Aleksandar Dzkic, who took over the team in January, was an assistant coach in Partizan Belgrade to Dusko Vujosevic for several years before going to NBA to be an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves. I think this will be one of the most interesting match-ups. As expected the tickets for the game are already almost sold out so I expect a packed arena (5500 fans). The fact that Partizan is quality wise a better team (they are having a great season!) should hide and the chances in my opinion are 50-50. The last reports say that both teams are without any serious injuries (Maurice Bailey and Jasmin Hukic have some problems with some smaller injuries, but they will play). Both teams are also unbeaten in their domestic leagues.
What will be important things for both teams?
Olimpija will have to try and stop Partizan under the rim where Novica Velickovic and Nikola Pekovic were causing serious problems to all Euroleague teams in this season and at least try and level the rebounding. This will be one of the most important things in my opinion. Of course the aggressiveness on guards, especially on Partizan’s creators of the game Milenko Tepic and Milton Palacio will be required. Dusan Kecman and Uros Tripkovic (he was 9/10 from three point line in last Serbian league game) are also players on which they should be careful in the offensive end. In my opinion the zone defense in some parts of the game is not excluded as surprise as far as Olimpija goes.
On other hand Partizan will have to enforce their style of basketball to Olimpija and not let the crowd to carry the home team too much. They will have to stop Olimpija’s fastbreaks and dictate the tempo. If they stop Goran Dragic with defensive pressure more than half of work is done so do speak. Maurice Bailey as backup is not even close to his level when it comes to running the team. Marko Milic and Jasmin Hukic are the most experienced guys in the team and keeping close defense on both will be required. Ronell Taylor is again playing in ups and downs and I don’t see him as serious threat to Partizan. The main job for Partizan should be stopping trio Goran Dragic, Marko Milic and Jasmin Hukic.
KK ZADAR – HEMOFARM VRSAC STADA
Two very even teams because as they will play on neutral court, at least in my opinion(well, Zadar will have the advantage of 300-400 fans from Zadar). Zadar as always, pure offensive team, the main players for Hemofarm to try and stop are of course Todor Gecevski, Juby Johnson, Corey Brewer and Shammel Stallworth. Hemofarm will have to put consistent pressure on all of them and guard them closely on three point line. When they get the momentum going, they play like well oiled machine. They are a very unpredictable team, every time some player can explode and have a great game, but they can also choke. So far they lost only one game in domestic league (vs. Cibona). In my opinion it’s very hard for a coach to determine Zadar’s style of the game and make some counter tactics. Individual defense on each player for itself will be the most important.
Hemofarm on other hand isn’t in such great shape; they lost three games in their domestic league so far (one versus Crvena zvezda, FMP and Partizan) and they are playing in ups and downs like they did in whole season. The main weapons of Hemofarm are definitely Slovenian Nebojsa Joksimovic, Marshall Rawle and big guys Vladan Vukosavljevic, Nike Hoop Summit participant Boban Marjanovic and Milan Macvan. Zadar will face huge problems under the rim and they will have to limit Hemofarm big guys somehow. I fancy this game as an even one; maybe I’d give Zadar slightly better odds to be the winner at the end. It’s more like 55-45 game if you ask me.
You can watch Olimpija – Partizan (Friday, 25.4.2008, 20.45, CET) game live on RTV SLO 2 (via satellite), while Zadar – Hemofarm (Friday, 25.4.2008, 18.15, CET) game should be broadcasted by Croatian and Serbian national TV’s. As I heard, 10 TV stations will broadcast thes games – in BiH, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, FYROM, and Israel.
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