Euroleague and other European competitions 23/24

irishguitarlad

Not sure if there is much interest in this but I'll try and keep it going anyways.

With many of the domestic leagues already underway, Euroleague will make its return this Thursday the 5th of October. This year the same 18 teams as last year will take part and there will also be a play-in tournament similar to the NBA. I have Madrid favourites again as they managed to keep their core together. It will be interesting to see how Panathinaikos do after signing so many players and getting in coach Ataman, the coach that recently won two Euroleagues with the Turkish team Anadolu Efes. In fact they play their biggest foe Olympiakos on Friday which should be a match with plenty of fireworks. My favourite Euroleague team is Partizan as I love Obradovic(their coach) and also their fans. Here in Spain I'm a Betis basketball fan but we are in the second division.

Anyways that's enough for now, hopefully it's a great opening matchday!

irishguitarlad

Boards seems to be double posting me a lot these days and I don't know how to delete the second one.

irishguitarlad

I watched some Eurocup on Tuesday with the match between Paris Basketball and Vilnius Wolves. Paris killed them 105-78. TJ Shorts was MVP and there were also strong performances from Hifi, Malcolm and Jantunen who I recognised from the Fiba tournaments. However, Wolves were awful. The seemed to have forgot in the first quarter to use their fouls and by the time they began using them Paris had already gained an awful lot of offensive momentum. Also, I thought the offense should have been played through Zagars. Their centre Gagic is absolutely useless.

In the other games, Besiktas had a big win away from home against Badalona with the Dominican Delgado continuing his world cup form into the club season and having a very good game for the Turkish side. Cluj also had a nice win in a packed arena with what seemed to have been a great atmosphere against last year's finalists Turk Telekom.

Will be interesting to see who wins this competition, on the one hand i would love an outsider to win it but then they might not be able to make the jump to Euroleague due to the financial side and also playing in a tough domestic league such as Gran Canaria(although I wouldn't call Gran Ca an outsider). I suppose Paris would be better a better shout but then again I feel like there is not much of a tradition there. I wonder could Cluj manage to make the jump if they win the Eurocup? They seem to have a massive fanbase in Romania, lot's of history and the Romanian league doesn't seem too taxing. Not sure how they are financially though.

irishguitarlad

I watched Maccabi v Partizan in the Euroleague last night and I caught the last 5 minutes of Zalgiris v Bologna. Maccabi absolutely annhilated Partizan 96-81, they didn't lose in Tel Aviv all last season and now I can see why. Lorenzo Brown was unreal finishing with 22 points, 8 assists and a PIR of 25, dude just absolutely killed the team from Belgrade. Maccabi's 2 big men also had a nice game, Nebo had 14 and Rivero 11 and both dominated the Partizan bigs. As for Partizan they need a bit of extra muscle around the rim. Kaminsky was shocking and looked like a lost child out there. Smailagic was also bad, and comically missed two open dunks. I also don't think Ponitka can play pg and create, he shouldn't be expected to do that, he is a 3. I was so impressed by Avramovic who was unreal at the wc, dude is an absolute dog and when his team were playing terrible tonight he was driving them on, he finished with 24 points and a PIR of 23. Strangely enough he sat out most of the 3rd quarter, maybe Obradovic wanted to give him a long rest? He did put the team on his back in the first half. Speaking of Obradovic, he is gold to watch on the sideline going mental at the players, he had one timeout towards the end where he said to the players "you're not players, you're actors".

The last 5 minutes I saw with Zalgiris and Bologna were very entertaining, game ended up 82-79 in favour of Zalgiris who were away from home. The Lithuanian side came back from 15 points twice! Keenan Evans was unreal and led his team to victory, not bad for a guy that was out for 9 months with an achilles tear. The Georgian Shengelia who plays for Bologna impressed me from what I saw of the match, the Italians did well to keep him in the off-season.

in other results Barca beat Efes 91-74, Willy Hernangomez had his best game in a Barca jersey so far, I loved Brizuela's 2 no look pass assists. This result surprised many people as Barca didn't look too good in Acb, they didn't adequately replace Mitrovic and so people had Efes as favourites to win this one. Cverna Zvezda killed Asvel in Belgrade, it finished 94-73 and that arena was absolutely rocking and djokovic was also in attendance. Giedraitis was very good and Baskonia must be kicking themselves that they didn't offer him a better contract. Asvel are an embarassment though, Tony Parker should hang his head in shame for being such a bad president and then hiring his brother in what is blatant nepotism. I think Decolo is too old now for this level and can't defend and Panathinaikos were only delighted to see Paris Lee go. Finally, Bayern beat Alba 80-68 in the German derby which was closer than I expected for the majority of it. Alba can consider themselves a bit unlucky as all their big men were out, who knows what could have happened if they were fit.

It's a pity I'll miss tonight's big game Olympiakos v Panathinaikos, instead I will be attending a Spanish 2nd division match, Betis v Coruña.

irishguitarlad

The Greek derby on Friday night was unreal. The Oaka was rocking and I recommend people to look up videos of the atmosphere. Olympiakos won it 88-78 in OT. Milutinov was unreal, so clutch such a good player. I remember where there was one sequence where he blocked a Pana player and ran the court to get the dunk. His defensive presence is huge for Olympiakos, with him in the paint Pana were very hesitant to attack the rim. Alec Peters was also great for Oly and they didn't really feel the loss of Vezenkhov with his 17 points and 10 rebounds. Juancho Hernángomez was the best for Pana as he was everywhere and managed to get a double double. However, I think it was Milutinov that got a great block on him towards the end of regulation time. Sloukas also had a chance to win it for Pana at the of regulation time as he had the last shot. Could you imagine if he had scored it? It would have been wild, leaving Oly in the summer to go to their greatest rivals and then scoring the winner against his old team? Thankfully for the city of Athens it didn't go in.

In the other games on Friday, Valencia beat Monaco 70-65 in Valencia which was quite a surprise as Monaco are one of the favourites. Semi Ojeleye was great, scored some vital 3s and put the clamps on Mike James a few times. Also, there was an amazing hussle play by John Brown the Monaco player where he managed to sprint back in time with it being a 5 on 4 in favour of Valencia. Surprisingly, he was Monaco's best player outside Mike James. Fenerbahce and Milano ended up 85-82 in Milan after OT. Fener had multiple good contributions in this one, with Wilbekin, Guduric, Papagiannis, Dorsey and Pierre all having good games. Wilbekin was especially good down the stretch and it was nice to see Guduric bounce back with 15 points after his horrible WC final. As for Milano, Mirotic was absolutely unreal and Voigtmann was awesome as well, seemed like Fener had no answer Mirotic. It's a pity that Milan's team are so injury pron e as they would definitely be pushing final 4 material with everyone fit and healthy. Pity Maudo Lo is injured. In the other game Madrid beat Baskonia 77-79 in Vitoria. Yabusele was the MVP for Madrid and Moneke continues to play excellent for Baskonia. Good opening match day in the Euroleague.

Corvo

What sort of times are these games on at irishguitarlad? I'd like to watch some of these until the NBA settles into a groove.

irishguitarlad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121224181#Comment_121224181

Normally with Euroleague the games are on Thursday and Friday. The first game is either at 7.00 or 7.30 pm and the last game begins around 8.00 to 8.30 pm. Although I see for next week Partizan and Barca is at 6.30 pm. It's nice and handy to watch as they're only 10 minute quarters and there are less ad breaks. Eurocup which is the second tier comp takes place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays normally.

Corvo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121224468#Comment_121224468

Thanks for that. I assume you stream?

irishguitarlad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121224582#Comment_121224582

No bother:-D I managed to get a good price for Euroleague tv by using a VPN and setting it to Turkey. However, I had to change the location to Ireland again because I think a tv company bought the rights in Turkey as there were no games on the platform. Spain is the same, Movistar has the rights but shows very few games. So maybe try signing up with a Turkish VPN and then when that's done change back to Ireland? You could probably find streams of the games somewhere as well.

irishguitarlad

Can anyone tell me how Carsen Edwards was an Nba player? The guy has been a dumpster fire for Bayern Munich, not just in Euroleague but also the German league. Anyways I'm gutted for Arturs Zagars who suffered an acl injury the weekend and is probably going to miss the qualification tournament for the Olympics. Also, Dorsey looks to be out for 6 weeks with a broken bone in his foot, Fenerbahce really need some guards. This week is a double week in Euroleague which means there are 2 matchdays this week starting from today.

irishguitarlad

Really impressed with Valencia's start to the season, looks like they'll give many teams trouble this year with their physicality.

Corvo

Gonna try catch the Barcelona game later, if I can get home in time. I think DAZN might have it? Dodgy box should be able to pick it up somehow anyway.

irishguitarlad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121249467#Comment_121249467

It used ti be in DAZN Spain but not anymore, not sure about the rest of Europe. Yeah it probably will on some channel, think espn have euroleague this year as well. Should be a good game, Barca were expected to be average this year but in the first two games they've been very good.

irishguitarlad

There are rumours that Tony Parker will finally fire his brother and then hire Trinchieri.

irishguitarlad

Some atmosphere in Belgrade.

irishguitarlad

Great match last night between Olympiakos and Partizan, went to overtime and Oly won it 98-94 in the end. It was a very good win for the Greek side as they have quite a lot of injuries with Brazdeikis, McKissic and Sikma all out. Partizan were down a fair bit at the beginning of the third quarter but then they went on a serious run that was led by Smailagic, everything he touched went in and it's a pity he had to sit because of foul trouble. Leday was also quality and fought for every ball and literally put his body on the line. Kaminsky was an absolute black hole on both defense and offense but especially the former. He can't defend to save his life and seems incapable of winning a defensive rebound. On numerous occasions he was boxing out Milutinov and the latter just tapped the ball to himself over his head. Dozier as well looked poor last night but I think he may still come good, with Kaminsky I just think he's a bad player and that's it. Andjusic surprised me coming off the bench for Partizan had some timely buckets and defensive plays. As for Oly, Milutinov absolutely shredded them in the paint as Partizan needs a centre and Larentzakis also looked a bit more like his former self as he has been poor since the Greek supercup final. Walkup had two massive clutch defensive plays although the first one was a foul I think because on the slow-motion replay you can see that he steps on Punters shoe. Still though he is such a good defender and if he can improve his shot even more he would be the complete player.

In the other games Real Madrid beat Milan handily in the end, Fenerbahce took the win against Asvel after an awful start and Zalgiris beat Baskonia with the Latvian Roland Smits absolutely dominating. As for Baskonia they need a floor general pg badly, one that can slow down the play, play the half court and make intelligent passes. At the moment they're playing 100 mph and it's leading to some awful sloppy basketball. However, Moneke has been class for them in every game I've seen of them.

Just on Asvel, looks like the penny has finally dropped for Tony Parker and he is looking to replace his brother. They were trying to get Gordon Herbert the WC winner with Germany but he has declined. I thought Trinchieri was going to go to them but that doesn't look likely now either. Whoever they get has an enormous job on their hands as Tony Parker has constructed an awful roster. That Edwin Jackson is a Spanish second division player and was literally playing there last yer with Menorca, Yaacov could be good but he's too young and inexperienced, Kahuni is too old along with De Colo. N'Diaye and Scott are not Euroleague players while Lee and lauvergne are just not consistent enough and can be good one night and terrible the next. The only one who can really say that they have played well on that team this season is Frank Jackson. So yeah, maybe TP's time at Charlotte with MJ rubbed off on him with regards basketball decisions?

In other Euroleague news, Paris look to be included next year, If they are allowed in I hope they also let another club in to have 20 clubs in the league. Hopefully they add a club with a rich history and heritage and not someone like London Lions as London Lions and Paris are teams with no real history but as always money talks. Anyways, the best game tonight looks to be Pana v Maccabi. I will miss it as my Betis basketball are playing Estudiantes and I have the season ticket. We will probably get our asses kicked but ah well, it will be a bit of fun.

irishguitarlad

Well Tony Parker finally fired his brother TJ, that's going to be an awkward Christmas dinner.

irishguitarlad

Dusan Ivanovic was fired by crvena zvezda at the weekend. Also, pozecco is the new Asvel coach, he is also the Italian national team coach.

irishguitarlad

Well looks like Dubai are getting a Euroleague team which to be honest it's a bit of a joke. The Serbs are getting a ball of money from them to allow them to play in the Adriatic Bastkeball League. They will have to put a salary cap now on the league I think as they could outspend everyone multiple times over. Also, for Madrid it's a 7 and a half hour flight and then if Gran Ca come in again it would be nearly 10 hours.

irishguitarlad

Watched three Euroleague games from matchday 5. The first one was the Belgrade derby. Awesome game with Partizan taking the win at the end 88-86. Aleksa Avramovic was so clutch down the stretch and Leday was great all game. Punter was poor but he was playing with an injury which was confirmed after with him being out for the next too weeks with a leg injury. For Zvezda Yago Dos Santos proved that he can perfectly adapt to Euroleague and it seems that the new change of coach is going to benefit him. Bolomboy was everywhere as well and was almost perfect from the field. The other game I watched was Oly and Efes in Athens and that was an awful beating with Oly winning it 75-57, to be honest the Greek side didn't even have to get out of second gear. Only worry for Oly is how Brazdeikis played but he's still finding his feet on his new team so it could take him a while. Efes look horrible, absolutely zero defense. Finally, the 3rd game I watched was Virtus ansd Asvel which went down to the wire, Virtus won it in the end 87-84. Fall was immense for Asvel and Mike Scott was also very good believe it or not. Pozecco was going mental courtside as usual. Lee was good for Asvel as well but had a really costly turnover in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter. Cordinier is a superb player and had 20 points with a real clutch dunk. Shengelia was very good as usual. Virtus continue their excellent start to the Euroleague and are 3rd in the table. Watched Valencia and Barca yesterday also in the ACB, Valencia had a great win at home 71-68, check out chris jones' play at the end where he made an absolute fool of Willy hernangomez and getting the 3 free throws off of him.

irishguitarlad

Panathinaikos finally got another win last night, they were struggling. Partizan had a great win against fenerbahce on Thursday and looks like Dusko Ivanovic is working his magic yet again with Baskonia as they beat Oly by one point in what is his 4th stint as trainer. Madrid continue unbeaten and made easy work of a Virtus team that were flying high with early mvp favourite Shengelia.

irishguitarlad

Sorry folks, haven't checked in in a while. Double week in Euroleague this week again. Two very good games tonight with Maccabi hosting Baskonia and Olympiakos in Bologna. Baskonia are always very entertaining to watch with players like Markus Howard, Chima Moneke and Sedekerskis. Bologna have been one of the surprise teams this year, they play a bit like the Latvian national team which is also a Banchi team. Shengelia and Cordinier have been awesome for them with Shengelia in the MVP race. Last week Itoudis was fired by Fenerbahce and Jasikevičius was hired. They had a win straight away against Monaco but to be honest I think that wasn't down to Sarunas as he had less than 24 hours with the team. My Partizan are on a charge at the moment, the only thing that can derail their season is injuries. Kevin Punter has been absolutely awesome and he's like a mini KD, can't get over the impact Caboclo has had as well and for a centre has great lateral movement.

irishguitarlad

Valencia Partizan last night was one of the most physical matches of basketball I've ever seen, refs let everything go. Fellas going around with bloodied mouths and everything haha. Very enjoyable though, i love those tough games.

irishguitarlad

Willy García from Relevo here in Spain has reported that Dubai are going to offer 8 million a year to Tavares and make him captain. We really need a salary cap in Euroleague if this is true and it happens. Dubai would laugh at a luxury tax.

noahungry

Well, this was one wild and turbulent season. Things were so tight before the Final 4! I watched Real - Panathinaikos last night, it was hard to believe Real in the last quarter was the same team as in the first one. Curious to see the Dubai development and which teams will get an invitation for the next season.

irishguitarlad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122188738#Comment_122188738

Great season yeah. Happy for Pao after being starved of the title for so long. Sloukas, Nunn and Lessort were amazing for them all year. On the who plays next year thing EL really needs to make a decision on being a full on closed league or reaching a deal with FIBA and introducing a real promotion relegation system. This nonsense with wild cards is completely unfair on the 5 teams that are awaiting the EL's decision. It stops them from making any moves until the decision is taken while the permanent teams like Milan have already signed 3 players.