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Friday, November 13, 2009
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| Vladimir Stankovic, Euroleague.net |
Veteran sportswriter and Euroleague.net collaborator Vladimir Stankovic has been following the best basketball on the continent longer than almost anyone journalist, writing for decades about the sport in major publications in both Serbia and Spain. For the new 2009-10 season, he offers a series of opinion blogs about what's happening on and off the court in the Euroleague.
Roman Holiday
Week 4 of the Euroleague has offered a lot of things, but I and a lot of other people will remember Lottomatica-Maccabi most. The duel in Rome was the best that I have seen this so far this basketball season, the best you could ask for, and the best that both of those teams could give of themselves. It was a totally even game, with constant changes on the scoreboard, drama at the finish, some incredible triples, the kind that mark a player's career...
Lottomatica had the game "won" - although games like this are never won before they are over - as Andrew Wisniewski proved by forcing overtime, 73-73, with his three-pointer, launched with 2 seconds left in regulation time. In the extra 5 minutes of overtime, Lottomatica poured in 17 points - but Maccabi was 2 better with 19! It was an offensive basketball festival, but one that was full of passion, the kind of play that hooks the public and speaks for how exciting the Euroleague often is.
In 1953, film director William Wyler made one of his famous movies, "Roman Holiday", in the Italian capital, with actors Gregory Peck and a young Audrey Hepburn. On Thursday, the directors were one expert, Pini Gershon, and one young talent, Nando Gentile, while the protagonists were Alan Anderson and Winston Kennedy, Ibby Jaaber and Chuck Eidson, Stephane Lasme and Andrea Crosariol, Andrew Wisniewski and Andre Hutson. The rest of us were lucky to witness another Roman holiday....of basketball!
Welcome back, Mr. Dean.
The MVP of Week 4 has been Olympiacos center Ioannis Bourousis, who played only 12 minutes, but won by a single point of index rating over Unicaja guard Taquan Dean, who was the best scorer of the week, with 30 points. Since any blog is a personal point of view, I dedicate these lines to Dean, who I knew three years ago, when he signed in mid-season wtih Dynamo Moscow. He was 22 years old then, shy, but with that ready smile on his face that told you he was a good person. With very few months in European basketball after debuting with Biella of Italy, he was faced with trying to replace the injured Travis Hansen, a star. It was "mission impossible" for Dean, but he nonetheless averaged 9.5 points and showed other touches that confirmed why one veteran coach, Dusan Ivkovic, signed him. After returning to Italy with Casale (19.3 points per game) and playing last season in Spain with Murcia (16.7), Dean has returned to the Euroleague through the front door. Another illustrious veteran coach, Aito Garcia Reneses, signed him to do precisely what Dean did in Orleans this week: score points, and lots of 'em. Of his 30 scored on Wednesday, 21 of them game on his 7-for-12 three-point shooting. Only three players in the Euroleague all decade hit more than 7 triples in one game: Saulius Stombergas (9 for 9) with Tau Ceramica in 2000-01, Thomas Kelati (9 for 19) with Unicaja last year (in fact, Dean replaced him), and Milos Vujanic (8 for 13) with Fortitudo Bologna in 2003-04.
Checking temperatures again
If anyone still doesn't understand why some national leagues have more teams in the Euroleague and others fewer - or none - just take a good look at the standings and add up wins and losses for each country. You'll see the following:
Spain (4 teams).............14-2
Italy (3).........................8-3
Greece (3).....................7-5
Russia (2)......................5-3
Lithuania (2)...................4-4
Turkey (2)......................3-5
Adriatic League (3)..........2-10
France (2).......................0-8
Poland (1).......................1-3
Germany (1)...................1-3
Israel (1)........................3-1
Someone once said that "statistics are the exact sum of wrong data", but in this case, the numbers speak very clearly.
By the numbers
I admit that I like numbers. Records are a source of pride for those who achieved them and stand as a challenge for others who wish to do the same or better. Can someone beat the 63 index rating of Tanoka Beard? Or the 41 points scored by Alphonso Ford, Kaspars Kambala and Cartlon Myers? Will there soon be a player capable of out-doing the 24 rebounds captured by Antonis Fotsis or repeating the 17-for-17 free throw performances of Davor Kus and Andrija Zizic? Each game is a new opportunity.
In the Euroleague's list of all-time top scorers, only six players have more than 2,000 points, and five of them are still in the competition: Marcus Brown (Zalgiris) 2,666, Nikola Vujcic (Olympiacos) 2,218, Juan Carlos Navarro (Barcelona) 2,173, Jaka Lakovic (Barcelona) 2,150 and Luis Scola, 2,054. This week, Trajan Langdon of CSKA scored 19 to take over 10th place all-time with 1,820.
Berni Rodriguez of Unicaja this week joined the 1,000-point club by scoring 9 in his team's victory over Entente Orleanaise, becoming the 56th such player, right behind his long-time teammate Carlos Cabezas.
The competition continues, and the records wait to be broken.
POSTED BY
Vladimir Stankovic, Euroleague.net
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