Top 16 Game 6 - March 11, 2009 CET: 20:00 Local time: 20:00 - PALALOTTOMATICA

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-5 Top 16 4-1
6-4 Regular Season 5-5
6-9 Overall 9-6

Referees

Crew Chief
MARTIN, JOSE, Spain
Referee
DOZAI, SRDAN, Croatia
Umpire
CONDE, ANTONIO, Spain

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
77.8 Points 70.3
34.0 Rebounds 35.5
11.2 O. Rebounds 12.3
22.8 D. Rebounds 23.1
11.3 Assists 12.1
8.6 Steals 5.5
2.0 Blocks 4.1
13.6 Turnovers 16.0
48.8 % 2PT 49.9 %
31.4 % 3PT 35.7 %
79.0 % FT 69.6 %
75.8 Index 68.1

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
14.8 / BECIROVIC, SANI Points 11.3 / VELICKOVIC, NOVICA
5.8 / HUTSON, ANDRE Rebounds 6.6 / Lasme
2.4 / BREZEC, PRIMOZ OR 2.5 / Lasme
3.9 / HUTSON, ANDRE DR 4.1 / Lasme
3.8 / BECIROVIC, SANI Assists 3.7 / Tepic
1.9 / Jaaber Steals 1.0 / Lasme
0.7 / GIGLI, ANGELO Blocks 1.9 / Lasme
2.8 / BECIROVIC, SANI Turnovers 2.7 / Lasme
60.0 % / GABINI, ROBERTO 2PT 100.0 % / BOZIC, PETAR
41.0 % / GABINI, ROBERTO 3PT 50.0 % / S. Milosevic
89.5 % / Giachetti FT 100.0 % / BOZIC, PETAR
17.8 / BECIROVIC, SANI Index 14.7 / Lasme

THE TAKE

Lottomatica Roma will look to avoid going winless in the Top 16 when it hosts Partizan Belgrade in a pivotal game for the visitors. Lottomatica, which has now lost seven straight, has a chance to be factor on the race for first place in Group G, even though head coach Nando Gentile’s troops’ season will end after this game. Partizan meanwhile will continue on the Quarterfinal Playoffs and must beat Roma to have any chance of winning the group and earning home-court advantage in the best-of-five playoffs. If Partizan wins and Unicaja beats Panathinaikos in a game that tips off simultaneous to this one, head coach Dusko Vujosevic’s men will win Group G and play Montepaschi Siena in the next stage. If Panathinaikos wins or Partizan loses, the Serbian champs will face CSKA Moscow without home-court advantage. Roma has struggled as of late, losing its last three games by an average of 26.3 points. However it lost by only 8 when it traveled to Partizan last month. Uros Tripkovic scored 20 to pace Partizan in that 84-76 win. Partizan has won four straight since starting the Top 16 with a loss. The pace of this game is a question mark since both team’s lead guards may not play. Sani Becirovic is sidelined for Roma, while Milenko Tepic is questionable for Partizan. Becirovic’s absence could mean more minutes for Brandon Jennings, who can team with Ibby Jaaber to give Roma a quick backcourt that could be trouble for Aleksandar Rasic and Uros Tripkovic. In the paint, however, Partizan enjoys a distinct advantage with February MVP Novica Velickovic leading a deep rotation that also features the league’s shots blocked leader Stephane Lasme, 2.29-meter center Slavko Vranes, teenage sensation Jan Vesely and Zarko Rakocevic, who is coming off the best game of his career. Roma will counter with Primoz Brezec, Andre Hutson and Angelo Gigli, but will be in trouble if fouls get the best of them. Roma shooter Ruben Douglas or small forward Rodrigo De la Fuente could also impact the game. Roma has all the tools to compete strong with Partizan, however their resent momentum makes Partizan the clear favorite. Nevertheless, if Tepic is out, all bets are off in what could shape up to be a fun game for all.

GAME NOTES

Lottomatica Roma
  • Guard Jacopo Giachetti made his Euroleague debut against Partizan in the first game of the 2006-07 season. He drew 5 fouls and shot a perfect 8 for 8 from the line for his best free-throw shooting game in the Euroleague.
  • Guard Brandon Jennings had his best-scoring Euroleague game so far with 17 points in last week’s loss at Unicaja.
  • Center Primoz Brezec had his best performance of the season against Partizan when they met last month. He finished with a season-high 19 points on 8-of-9 two-point shooting and 5 rebounds for a 20 index, though he fouled out in 28 minutes.
Partizan
  • Forward Novica Velickovic has had modest success against Lottomatica in his career. He recorded his first Euroleague double-double against the club in a November 2007 victory and scored a Euroleague career-high 22 points in Roma in a 1-point loss later that season. His only double-double this season came against Roma too with 19 points and 10 rebounds last month.
  • Guard Uros Tripkovic has made at least one three-pointer in 13 consecutive Euroleague games. He is shooting 44.4% from downtown over that span. He is tied for the Top 16 lead with 16 triples (36 of 81)
  • Big man Stephane Lasme has blocked a shot in seven consecutive games. He is tied for the league lead with 1.8 blocks per game this season.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

GENTILE, NANDO
Lottomatica Roma
"Even if the final result is not important as we are already out of the Euroleague and they are in, the game with Partizan is important for us because a win would give us confidence. We must react to the game we lost in Malaga and try to do our best to succed tomorrow at Palalottomatica. A win could give us confidence for the rest of the Italian championship as we have many difficult games and we want to mantain the second place."
VUJOSEVIC, DUSKO
Partizan
"Partizan is still hoping to finish as best placed team in our group. And we will give our best to win the game in Rome. I am sure Lottomatica will also give its best to end the competition with a win. I personally don't believe Unicaja is able to beat Panathinaikos and give us a chance to reach first place. Panathinaikos is going to play that game patient and we believe there is minimum space for a miracle. We are traveling to Rome thinking about CSKA Moscow. It is so important to play the third game at home. We will miss that opportunity according to the situation at the moment."

Players

BOZIC, PETAR
Partizan
"We conquered the Quaterfinal Playoffs but each game we face it with a win in our minds. Extra motivation is the fact we could finish as best placed in our group if Panathinaikos lost to Unicaja. In Rome we will play motivated but unloaded. It would be nice to play the third quaterfinals game at home. We could play that game in the Belgrade Arena where 22,500 people saw us last week against Panathinaikos but I personaly think Pionir Arena is a better solution. That is our home and we feel comfortable there."
Andre Hutson - Lottomatica RomaLottomatica Roma celebrated its first victory over the Top 16 by knocking off Partizan 88-72 in its final Group G contest. Roma used a 16-2 run spanning the first and second quarters to take control of the game and never let Partizan back into the game. The hosts finished the Group G campaign with a 1-5 record while Partizan ended at 4-2. The guests knew they were already qualified for the Quarterfinal Playoffs coming into match, but take second place in the group and will face off with reigning champion CSKA Moscow in the quarters. Andre Hutson led Lottomatica with 23 points while Ruben Douglas poured in 18 points. Ibrahim Jaaber chipped in 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals off the bench and Luigi Datome scored 12 points. In addition, Brandon Jennings added 5 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds for Roma. The leading scorer for Partizan was Stephane Lasme with 17 points to go along with 8 rebounds. Novica Velickovic added 14 points and Uros Tripkovic hit for 12 points. Partizan was unable to take advantage of a 29-39 rebounding advantage, mainly because it shot just 4 of 18 (22%) from long range and 28 of 41 (68%) from the foul line.

Stephane Lasme - PartizanHutson started the scoring with an inside basket. Velickovic knocked down a triple and was followed by two Aleksandar Rasic foul shots and a Jan Vesely layup for a 2-7 lead. Jennings hit a driving layup on Roma's end and Jaaber's score off the glass cut the deficit to 6-9. But the gap grew to 6 points on Slavko Vranes's basket and Rasic's free throw after a technical foul on Roma coach Nando Gentile. Hutson answered with a dunk and free throw and Jaaber's offensive rebound and put-back had Roma within 11-14. The guests pulled back ahead by 6 on Tripkovic's triple from the right wing. But Roberto Gabini came right back down with a three-ball from the top of the key and Hutson jumpers from the right baseline and just inside the stripe knotted the game at 18-18. Tripkovic was fouled shooting a triple and made 2 free throws only to see Douglas get an offensive rebound put-back and 2 foul shots by Datome had the hosts up 22-20. Lasme would knock down a long two-pointer to even the game again, but Douglas hit a triple just before the end of the quarter for a 26-23 Roma lead after one period.

Jaaber came out in the second quarter and nailed a three-ball for a 29-23 advantage. Velickovic worked himself some space for an inside basket for Partizan. But another Douglas long ball made it 32-25. Both sides struggled for a couple of minutes offensively and a long rebound off a Partizan shot ended in a Jacopo Giachetti fast break layup and a 34-25 Roma advantage. Partizan called a timeout to talk it over. But things did not click and Jaaber's fast break layup pushed the lead into double digits at 36-25. A Douglas block then was converted for Roma with a Hutson layup and the cushion was 38-25. Velickovic's inside layup snapped the 16-2 Roma run. And Partizan began working harder over the rest of quarter to get to the foul line and 5 free throws cut the margin to 40-32. Roma boss Gentile called a timeout to stop the Partizan push and Hutson came out with a jumper from the left baseline to reestablish a 10-point game. Datome then nailed a triple from the left wing to make it 45-32. Cedomir Vitkovac made 2 free throws, but was answered by Hutson's jumper from the right side. And then Partizan coach Dusko Vujosevic was hit with a technical foul and Datome's 2 free throws made it 49-34 at the intermission.

Luigi Datome - Lottomatica RomaJaaber's reverse layup started the second half as the lead grew to 17 points. Lasme got Partizan on the board with a tip-in. But Milenko Tepic was called for an unsportsmanlike foul and Douglas made 2 free throws. Alessandro Tonolli made it 54-36 with a foul shot of his own. Velickovic tried to keep Partizan in the game with an inside basket. But Tonolli nailed a triple to push the lead to 19. Zarko Rakovic put back an offensive rebound and Tripkovic hit two foul shots to bring the guests within 58-42. Jaaber however answered with a reverse layup and the extra foul shot for a 19-point margin again. And then Datome drained a triple from the right corner as Roma led 65-43. It was 67-45 after Gabini's 2 free throws, but Partizan scored the final 7 points of the quarter on a Lasme dunk and a three-pointer and 2 free throws by Tripkovic to get within 67-52 after three periods.

Hutson's layup started the final quarter and Jaaber's free throw had the Romans ahead 70-52. Petar Bozic made it a 15-point game with a three-pointer only to watch Jennings find Hutson for an easy basket. Hutson then dunked an offensive rebound and Jaaber hit a fast break layup as Lottomatica went up 76-57. Tempers began to flair a bit as Jaaber was hit with an unsportsmanlike foul on Lasme, who made 1 free throw. Lasme's dunk then trimmed the margin to 76-60 with five minutes to play. But Douglas hit a nice layin off the glass and followed it with a three-pointer for an 81-62 advantage. Partizan would pull within 16 points but Roma scored 7 straight points and Jennings' triple gave Roma its biggest lead of the night at 23 points, 88-65, before Partizan finished off the scoring.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Euroleague.net
Referees: MARTIN, JOSE (ESP), DOZAI, SRDAN (CRO), CONDE, ANTONIO (ESP)
Attendance: 2715
By Quarter1234
Lottomatica Roma26231821
Partizan23111820
End of Quarter1234
Lottomatica Roma26496788
Partizan23345272
Head coach: GENTILE, NANDO
Lottomatica Roma
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
5 GIACHETTI, JACOPO 13:07 2 1/2 0/1         3       1 1   1
6 GIGLI, ANGELO 23:35 1 0/1 0/1 1/2 1 4 5 1 1 2 1 1 4 1  
8 TONOLLI, ALESSANDRO 13:02 5   1/1 2/4   1 1   3 1     5 5 6
9 HUTSON, ANDRE 29:33 23 11/15   1/1 3 1 4   1       3 4 25
10 CASALE, GIULIO 1:20   0/1 0/1                       -2
11 JENNINGS, BRANDON 32:42 5 1/5 1/3     4 4 6 1 2   2 3   3
13 DATOME, LUIGI 22:45 12 0/2 2/2 6/6   3 3     1     4 4 12
17 DOUGLAS, RUBEN 21:58 18 3/5 3/4 3/4 2 2 4   2 1 1 1 1 3 21
21 JAABER, IBRAHIM 28:08 17 6/9 1/3 2/3 2 3 5 3 3 4     5 5 18
22 GABINI, ROBERTO 13:50 5   1/3 2/2   3 3   2 2     4 1 3
Team                           1   -1
Totals 200:00 88 22/40 9/19 17/22 8 21 29 13 13 13 2 5 31 23 86
55% 47.4% 77.3%
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Head coach: VUJOSEVIC, DUSKO
Partizan
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
5 TEPIC, MILENKO 29:50 1 0/3 0/1 1/1   2 2 2 1 2 1   3 6 4
8 MILOSEVIC, STRAHINJA 2:40 1     1/4                 1 2 -1
10 RASIC, ALEKSANDAR 21:27 3 0/3 0/3 3/4 1 2 3   1 1     2 1 -2
11 TRIPKOVIC, UROS 25:06 12 0/3 2/7 6/7   2 2     2     2 3 4
12 VELICKOVIC, NOVICA 14:44 14 3/3 1/2 5/6   3 3           3 4 16
13 LASME, STEPHANE 26:45 17 5/8   7/11 3 5 8     3     4 6 17
14 ALEKSIC, VUKASIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 VITKOVAC, CEDOMIR 7:16 4 1/1   2/2 2 1 3             1 8
20 BOZIC, PETAR 13:45 5 1/1 1/4 0/1 1 1 2   2 3     2 1 1
22 RAKOCEVIC, ZARKO 21:45 2 1/3     3 3 6 2   2 3 1   1 9
24 VESELY, JAN 19:53 4 1/1 0/1 2/3 1 2 3 1 1 1 1   3 2 6
33 VRANES, SLAVKO 16:49 9 4/8   1/2 6 1 7     4   1 3 3 6
Team                           1   -1
Totals 200:00 72 16/34 4/18 28/41 17 22 39 5 5 18 5 2 24 30 67
47.1% 22.2% 68.3%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

GENTILE, NANDO
Lottomatica Roma
"It was important for us to win in order not to close the Euroleague without any wins, but most of all it is important because we found again our confidence in our game system."
VUJOSEVIC, DUSKO
Partizan
"Congratulations to Rome. They fought and wanted to win more than we did. They were aggressive more than we were. This must be a lesson for us for the future and for the quarterfinals."

Players

TONOLLI, ALESSANDRO
Lottomatica Roma
"We are happy that we won after that a bad loss in Malaga and so we can say that we honored the competition. This win gives us confidence for the Italian League."
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