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Adriatic League All-Star Game: December 27, 2006 |
The Adriatic League took a break to provide nothing but showtime in its first-ever All-Star Game held in Hala Tivoli, Ljubljana. The West All-Star selection was the first winner by beating the East 118-134 on Wednesday. Carl English of Zadar earned MVP honors and led the winners with 29 points on 7-of-10 triples. Davor Kus of Cibona and Manu Markoishvili of Union Olimpija each added 15, Chris Warren of Cibona had 13, Dwayne Broyles of Zagreb 12 and Marko Milic of Olimpija 10 for the West, which fired in 23 of 35 three-pointers tonight. Petar Popovic of Hemofarm had 17 points for the East. Milan Gurovic of Crvena Zvezda added 15, Nebojsa Joksimovic of Hemofarm had 13, Ivan Opacak of Siroki, Predrag Suput of Hemofarm and Nikola Pekovic of Partizan each tallied 12 while Milenko Tepic of Partizan scored 11 points for the guests, who played without Uros Tripkovic, Predrag Drobnjak and Kosta Perovic, all sidelined with respective sprainked ankles. Miha Zupan not only was allowed to take part in the Slam-Dunk Contest, but ended up winning the title with 92 points and providing a big show. Meanwhile, Teemu Rannikko of Olimpija downed Kus in the three-point shootout final, hitting 11 of 15 shots.
One thing was certain from the very beginning: defense would not be an issue in this game, as both teams combined for 9 fouls in all 40 minutes as players tried to please their many fans in the standings as much as they could. Milic shined with three early dunks, but Gurovic and Erceg allowed the West to tie it at 15-15. Kus, Rannikko and Markoishvili scored from downtown to give the East a 33-40 lead after 10 spectacular minutes. Even when Joksimovic tried to ignit the West comeback, Troha and an outstanding English allowed the East to boost its margin to 62-77 at halftime. Popovic paced the West after the break, but the East kept controlling the game with outstanding shooting accuracy. Three-pointers by Kus, Broyles and Paravinja made it a 16-point game, 91-107, after 30 minutes.
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Wednesday, December 27, 2006
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Euroleague.net |
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