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Following Willie Solomon for one night

January 4, 2008

Once again I went to see a Euroleague game of Lottomatica Roma. As everybody in the arena I had high expectations in Roma since they just beat two of the favourites with Panathinaikos Athens and Real Madrid. But if they would lose to Istanbul these wins would be worth nothing. As we know by now they lost by 21 points.

But this time was it was a special visit to the Palalottomatica (the Roma arena) because I left my laptop at home. No, I did not forget it. I had a visitor with me from the US and just wanted to leave “work” at home and just enjoy the game with my visitor. I wanted to use the game to see what he thinks about European basketball since this was his first Euroleague game he ever followed. But as you can imagine, I had to come up with some story. As the game started I was watching James White – what a disapointment! The only good thing he did was a slam dunk during warm up. I think this guys problem ist mainly his attitude – which is like ZERO.

So I switched to the other American, Willie Solomon. The only thing I knew so far was that he looks like J.R. Holden’s twin (funny thing is – if you search for JR Holden on google pictures, Willie shows up) and his arms are as long as his legs…

Actually, Willie is more than that. 17 points a game shooting almost 60%! I also saw that he really like to argue with the referees – and I was 100% sure he would get a technical by the end of the game – well the only one who ended up with a technical was Allan Ray..

A few more things I noticed about Willie:

  • 3 Roma guys can’t guard Willie. He did whatever he wanted to the full court zone press of Roma
  • driving into the zone against 7 footers is no problem for Willie also
  • Willie can shoot threes if Allan Ray guards him

I think I will have change my Euroleague Fantasy league point guard pretty soon.. OH, you want to know what my visitor thought about the game? “Well it is intense, but the NBA is better!”

Jan 4, 2008ballineurope
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This post was published on January 4, 2008
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Comments: 3
  1. Kerem
    17 years ago

    If you say, ‘The only thing I knew so far was that he looks like J.R. Holden’s twin’, then you should follow European ball more carefully (Maybe it was an exagerration but still, he’s Solomon).. Out of all PGs, hell even out of all the players, he is the top player who is essential for a team, meaning the team changes upon his style of play and without a doubt he is a game changing factor.. No offense!

    ReplyCancel
  2. MeteA
    17 years ago

    It was a crucial win for Fenerbahce and a significant one since Roma had beaten Fenerbahce a fews months back in Istanbul by a margin of 19 points. So winning the game and winning it by a 20 point margin was huge for “yellow canaries”.
    The game was also a special one for Mirsad Turkcan of Fenerbahce Ulker as he grabbed his 1000. rebound of his Euroleague career becoming the first ever player to reach 1000 Euroleague career rebounds.

    ReplyCancel
  3. Kerem
    17 years ago

    FB beat Roma in Istanbul by 19.. You got that wrong..

    ReplyCancel

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17 years ago 3 Comments EuroLeague, More
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