Disappearing homecourt advantage
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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.
Only three teams managed to pull off road wins in the fifth week of the Euroleague Regular Season: CSKA Moscow in Vitoria, Regal FC Barcelona in Siena and Fenebahce Ulker in Kaunas. Three wins in twelve games is 33.3%, which is not bad, but it is way lower than in past weeks. Let's take a look at the numbers related to home and road wins:
Week 1: 6-6
Week 2: 7-5
Week 3: 8-4
Week 4: 5-7
Week 5: 9-3
TOTAL: 35-25
The total of road wins, 25, amounts to 41.6% of all games played, a high percentage without doubt, leading to two conclusions:
- Playing at home is not a big advantage as it used to be in the old times. There are still hot arenas but there are no more "infernos" where the guests can't win under any circumstances.
- The refereeing has improved a lot.
The Euroleague has a lot to do with both things. During 10 years, with a series of meetings and technical decisions, the conditions worthy of the best European competition have been established.
A matter of trust
The MVP honors for the Week 5 were shared by BC Khimki's Keith Langford and Partizan's Aleksandar Maric, both with a 38 index rating, but this time I want to focus on the duo formed by two Aleksandars in Partizan: Maric and Rasic. If Maric's numbers - best rebounder of the week with 15, third overall in ranking - do not surprise anyone anymore, what happened with Rasic against Olympiacos is a clear example of the effect of the coach's trust on a player. Rasic started the season bad and Dusan Vujosevic, the boss of Partizan, was criticized for not "doing something". Rasic's numbers in the first four weeks confirmed a crisis. Against Unicaja he had 8 points and 8 performance index rating; against Efes Pilsen he had 0 and 0; against Entente Orleanaise he scored 5 points but had 0 as an index rating; against Lietuvos Rytas he scored nothing and had a negative index rating, -5. In four games, then, he totalled 13 points and a combined index rating of 3. The time came to face Olympiacos and Rasic simply exploded: 25 points - 4 of 5 on two-pointers, 4 of 8 on threes, 5 of 6 free throws, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 drawn fouls - for an index rating of 31! Together with Mike Batiste of Panathinaikos, Rasic was the best scorer in Week 5 and had the fourth-best index rating after Langford, Maric and Batiste. Rasic-Vujosevic, a matter of trust.
It ain't over 'til it's over
In the last round of the first leg, Union Olimpija and Asvel Basket finally won their first games. Therefore, the only winless team for now is Entente Orleanaise, who is not eliminated just yet. If some of the Top 16 teams could already be guessed with good accuracy, it is also true that for other teams, the fight to make it through groups A, B, C and D will be tough. Partizan's win against Olympiacos, as well as CSKA's upset in Vitoria and Barcelona's great game in Siena highlighted this week, yes, but allow me to make special mention of Asvel's first joy of the season, mainly because of the way they pulled it out - like a rabbit from a magician's hat! Cibona was leading by 15 early in the final quarter and even was ahead by an 11-point margin, 55-66, with less than 3 minutes remaining. But the hosts managed to finish with a 16-2 burst to win 71-68. Asvel's victory confirmed, once again: you can always win or lose a game as long as there remain options to win or lose it. The game really lasts 40 minutes, always.
The numbers
About milestones: with his 4 three-pointers (of 6 attempts) against Fenerbahce, Zalgiris's Marcus Brown reached his 300th three-pointer to enter an ultra-elite club with Gianluca Basile (364), J.R. Holden (327) and Jaka Lakovic (313). Juan Carlos Navarro of Regal FC Barcelona buried 3 bombs and he needs 2 more to join the same "300 club". Meanwhile, Drew Nicholas of Panathinaikos is just 1 three-pointer short of making 200. Jorge Garbajosa of Real Madrid needs 2 more threes to make it 150. Pablo Prigioni of Madrid, with his 2 steals against AJ Milano, moved to 251 for his Euroleague career. He currently ranks third all-time. And another Real Madrid vet, Lou Bullock, scored 9 against Milano to make it 1,855 total points. The 2,000 mark, which only six players have reached, might be within his grasp this season.
POSTED BY
Vladimir Stankovic, Euroleague.net
DATE:
Saturday, November 28, 2009