Bologna 2002: Comeback kids

May 25, 2013

This Final Four was definitely one of the highlights of my basketball career. For many it must have seemed that the script was already written that the Euroleague champion would be Kinder Bologna. After all, they were the defending champs and the Final Four was on their home court in front of their basketball crazy fans. I was playing for Panathinaikos. It felt so good just to get back to the Final Four that season. There really is nothing that comes close to playing on that big stage. I can recall how as a player, one gets so much adrenalin and extra energy in the days leading up to the event. I was almost 39 years old at that time, and I felt so young, strong and focused. I remember shooting in warmups and hardly missing a single shot, dunking in warmups and jumping as high as I ever did! I was pumped. I realized that it was most likely my last Final Four of my career. I had been fortunate enough to play in five of them! We barely got out of the Top 16 that season, fought injury problems and all kinds of adversities off the floor to make it to the Final Four. We may have been the only people who believed that we could win the trophy. When you have leaders like Dejan Bodiroga, Ibo Kutluay, Frankie Alvertis, Damir Mulaomerovic and you’re coached by Zeljko Obradovic, you have to feel good about your chances! To get to the Finals we had to beat an experienced and successful Maccabi team. Kinder beat Benetton in the other semifinal game. In the final, we were almost run out of the arena in the second quarter as Kinder went up by 14 points. Their fans were already celebrating like the game was over. I remember thinking that we could not let ourselves get blown out, and that we had to try to cut that deficit as much as possible to try and put some pressure on the young Kinder team down the stretch. Manu Ginobili and Matjaz Smodis were unstoppable. However, down the stretch, the pressure may have gotten to several of the Kinder players as they missed countless free throws. Our veterans made clutch plays, and we were able to steal a victory on their home court and become the 2002 Euroleague champs.

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POSTED BY

Johnny Rogers - Euroleague.net

DATE:

Tuesday, May 01, 2012