| 13 December 2007
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To say Yarone Arbel likes basketball would be an understatement of epic proportions. He eats, sleeps and breathes it and gives his EuroCup impressions every week in Good News, Bad News. |
The Qualifying Round of the EuroCup kicked off with eight games that showed two sides.
Three teams – CSK-VVS Samara, Tartu Rock and Ural Great won by a double-digit margin, while all the other five winners decided the game by three or four points.
Here’s the Good News and the Bad News of the first week in the Qualifying Round.
The Good News
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Barons and Skele have been great in the final minutes of games.
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| Banvit ran out of air
Surely this week's comeback belongs to Turkish side Banvit, who made it all the way back from a 74-51 difference deep in the third quarter, to a shocking 78-78 tie exactly 10 minutes later, with just a little over two minutes on the game clock. Dexia-Mons took the lead 2:15 minutes inside the game, and already in the second quarter were up by 20. But just when Banvit completed their amazing comeback, they ran out of steam. In the last two minutes of the game Banvit didn't score even one more point. They missed two shots around the rim, lost the ball and with the buzzer missed a three point shot that could have sent the game to overtime. Mons traveled back to Belgium with an 81-78 win.
Barons in crunch time
Barons LMT have played three games so far in their EuroCup season, and all three of them were close games decided by three or four points. This time it was a tough 73-69 road win over Russian side Lokomotiv Rostov. Their experience as a team in these situations could explain their great execution in the last minute of the game. Rostov held a 67-65 lead but then came a 8-2 final minute run by the visitors, who didn't miss a shot in that frame. Two downtown hits gave them the lead, and to seal the win Armandas Skele hit two shots from the line. No coach can ask for more than that. Another reason Barons won the game is Demetrius Alexander, who had a 23 point, 13 rebounds double-double performance. The veteran forward re-joined the game with 5:33 to go and other than a single turnover contributed three rebounds and eight points without a miss, including the long range ace with 17 seconds to go that gave his team a four point lead.
Olympia can do it too
It wasn’t only Barons who showed steady hands in the closing minutes of a close game. Olympia hosted AEL and won 74-70 thanks to great execution as well. In the last 2:30 of the game they turned the ball over once, but all their other possessions resulted in points. One hit from downtown, another from closer range and four free throws made in a row by Theophanis Koumbouras who finished with season highs of 20 points and five assists, including a perfect eight for eight from the line.
Samara's duo – Samara's run
There's no doubt which duo gave the best performance this week. Samara's Yaniv Green and Alex Scales combined 60 points, 20 rebounds and five assists in Samara's 94-82 win over Finnish side Lappeenranta. For 34 mintues the visitors were strong in the game, but then came a run which showed exactly how dominating Scales and Green were. Up 78-74 Samara scored 12 points and allowed only one basket at the other end. All of those 12 points were scored by the duo, and in 2:30 the game was done.
The Bad News
Paok's version
Here's Paok's version of Good News Bad News this week. They hosted Estonian powerhouse
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Dimitrios Verginis and PAOK were rocked by Tartu Tuesday night.
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| Tartu Rock and won the last quarter 26-13. So far the good news. The bad side is that they still lost the game by 11 points, and couldn't score more than 58 points. Not a happy day in the history of what used to be a top club on the European scene 15 years ago.
Go grab 'em Spartak
Spartak St. Petersburg suffered an 80-76 loss at Zagreb, and can blame only their team rebounding. They have two great rebounders in Damir Markota and the massive Milovan Rakovic and indeed the duo combined for 22 rebounds, but the rest of the team managed to collect only six more, led by guard Anton Yudin with four. KK Zagreb outrebound Spartak 38-28, but it all came down to the last quarter, and if you insist, one specific play. In the closing nine minutes of the game Zagreb pulled down 12 rebounds compared to only five by Spartak, to create most of that big gap. With the teams tied at 70-70 and less than five minutes to play Zagreb grabbed a defensive rebound to start a new possession. Although the shot clock allows 24 seconds, this one lasted no less than 51. It started with a missed three point shot by Jurica Ruzic. Mario Dundovic was first on the rebound before Gordan Zadravec missed from long range himself. Now Ruzic was first to grab the ball, and it was Dundovic time to miss a three pointer. Zadravec grabbed Zagreb's third offensive board in a row and stopped the drought with a successful three pointer after four attempts in a row. This was Zagreb's first lead since early in the second half, and from that point on they held to it till the buzzer.
Markota's silence
Spartak's Croatian forward, Damir Markota, enjoyed a trip to Zagreb, where he spent some years in his teens. His team faced KK Zagreb, the city archrival of Markota's former team – Cibona. This summer he came back from the NBA at the age of 22 to show Europe what he has, and so far he’s succeeded. In the three EuroCup games he played more than 20 minutes he registered three double-doubles. It wasn't an exception in this game, as the talented forward scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in another good performance, but the bad news is still there. Markota is also one of the finest shooters around. He stands on around 50% from both field goal ranges, but in the last six minutes of a close game on Tuesday night he didn't take more than a single shot. In the youth national teams of Croatia, Markota showed he has what it takes to decide games with clutch shots. Now it's the senior game, and Markota can't disappear in such close games. |
