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Think of it as crazy eights! The 2007-08 ULEB Cup reaches a crescendo over these eight days of the Last 16 round, where eight series produce as many winners who will advance to the brand new Final Eight to decide a champion! These two-game series are unique for making every moment count, and the novelty of the prize, a weekend date with the best eight survivors of a 54-team tournament, makes for even more excitement. Following the ups and downs of the simultaneous action in Last 16, Game 1 on Tuesday was like riding a roller coaster. And if you were privileged enough to see everything as it unfolded on Tuesday, it looked something like this....
Last 16, Series I, Game 1: Lukoil Academic 75-89 Dynamo Moscow |
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In Sofia, Lukoil only stayed in the game for 11 minutes, as the always explosive Todor Stoykov and an inspired Larry O'Bannon shined early in the game... Dynamo turned to an unexpected hero, team captain Dmitry Domani, whose eight unanswered points provided the guests a wide margin in the second quarter. Dynamo was all over the place now, showing it knew how every moment counts in a two-way series, as Travis Hansen and Henry Domercant supplied a 37-51 margin...Stoykov is always pride, however, and singlehandedly brought Lukoil back to life at the break...Lukoil went scoreless for 3 minutes after the break, however, and Dynamo was ready with its favorite weapon: three-pointers. Antonis Fotsis opened the shootout, Domercant followed, and suddenly Dynamo led 46-64...a 14-point series lead going home for Game 2 seems reason enough to see Dynamo in the Final Eight, but everyone must remember what Hemofarm did in the 2005 ULEB Cup eighthfinals, using a near-perfect shooting performance in Moscow to knock Dynamo out under similar circumstances.
Last 16, Series II, Game 1: BC Kyiv 59-71 PGE Turow |
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The pre-game ceremony in Kiev, Ukraine looked like a Union Olimpija veterans reunion. Marko Maravic, Manuchar Markoishvili and Tomo Mahoric in Kyiv uniforms and Saso Filipovski, Andres Rodriguez, Dragisa Drobnjak in those of Turow... you could find former Olimpija players everywhere...Turow was all over the place on defense in the opening minutes, so much so that Kyiv needed six shots to get its first points on its own floor. Meanwhile, Thomas Kelati, the only Eritrean in the competition, took over early for Turow, soon to be joined by Slobodan Ljubotina ... If everything worked fine for the always-disciplined Turow, one difference was ball movement. Pooh Jeter was having a good game for Kyiv, including a huge step-back jumper in the second quarter, but his teammates were watching him too much. Meanwhile, Rodriguez always found the right man. His behind-the-back pass got Ljubotina to the foul line when the entire Kyiv team fell on him, but it's no wonder that he missed the free throws...At least one player on each team took awhile to recognize. Drobnjak has long dark hair where once it was bleached blonde and shot. Ryan Stack of Kyiv now has short hair and no beard, apparently having left his long locks back in Thessaloniki to former teammate Lazaros Agadakos...the best play of the game was a third-quarter assist, Rodriguez to Drobnjak to Ljubotina for a two-handed dunk...David Logan soon broke it open a three-point play, a two-handed dunk and a seven-meter triple. "LET'S GO!!!!!!" hee shouted before Ljubotina raised his fist after another three-pointer. With that attitude, Turow is already way more than the Cinderella of the competition. It is starting to look like a contender.
Last 16, Series III, Game 1: Hemofarm Stada 71-80 Akasvayu Girona |
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The ULEB Cup elimination rounds change everything and past is not important anymore. It is not relevant that Akasvayu Girona had beaten Hemofarm Stada twice in the regular season, because both teams made it to the Last 16 with equal chances to advance, even when the home court advantage and its deep roster turn the Spanish teams into the favourite in this series...Hemofarm was set to prove everything wrong and already forgot not only about those losses, but also about the fact that Goran Jagodnik is not available in this series...Rawle Marshall and Nebojsa Joksimovic kept Hemofarm in the game throughout the first half. Akasvayu regrouped after the break and tried to get its stars involved, Marc Gasol and Arriel McDonald...Marshall tried to keep Hemofarm as close as possible, but it just didn't last long. Victor Sada managed to stop him while Fernando San Emeterio and Branko Cvetkovic joined forces with McDonald and Gasol to give Akasvayu a 15-point lead in the series, 55-70...Rising star Milan Macvan stepped up for Hemofarm but it wasn't enough. The future may belong to him, but the present is all Gasol, one of the most dominant centers in Europe, with a supporting cast that is proving more than sufficient for Akasvayu to dream big.
Last 16, Series IV, Game 1: Artland Dragons 80-78 Unics Kazan |
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If you play the ULEB Cup Bracket Boss, you already know about the Artland Dragons. That's the team that broke your bracket into pieces. The Dragons know how to beat the expectations. Last year in the German League, they finished the regular season eighth but overcame home court disadvantages with team chemistry to make it all the way to the German League finals. The Dragons seem ready to do the same now. As the last team to reach the ULEB Cup elimination rounds, they already downed a regular season group winner, Triumph Lyubertsy, and now have won the opener against Unics, another Russian team...Unics seemed to have everything under control as Darjus Lavrinovic led the visitors to a double-digit lead after 10 minutes. But the Dragons like big challenges and have no fear in front of their fans. Terrance Thomas got rollling on offense, soon to be joined by EJ Rowland and Adam Chubb as the hosts turned the scoreboard around, at 48-39, by halftime...The Dragons may be almost an all-American squad, but they are arguably one of the most team-oriented groups in the competition. Their biggest lead came late in the third quarter, 69-55... Unics rallied behind Dusko Savanovic, Lavrinovic and Kirksay, the team's go-to guy when the going gets tough, but a put-back basket by John Goldsberry gave the Dragons a prestigious win and a two-point lead in the series..So the dream is alive for everyone in Quakenbruck, 13,000 inhabitants all seemingly mad about basketball.
Last 16, Series V, Game 1: Khimki 73-96 DKV Joventut |
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Khimki, pushed by a hotter crowd than you would expect in a cold country like Russia, started strong before Joventut quickly showed that it was more than the Rudy Fernandez and Ricky Rubio show. This time, Petar Popovic stepped up with a couple of sweet moves in the low post to give his team a one-point lead after 10 minutes. Next, another of Joventut's young talents, Pau Ribas, brought a spark off the bench with a huge put-back basket. Then yet another youngster, Jan Jagla, gave the Khimki defense fits with his deep range and versatility... Khimki survived a 0-13 Joventut run with an 11-0 response led by Mike Wilkinson....The biggest miss of the ULEB Cup season might have been Jerome Moiso's alley-oop dunk attempt, which flew out so far toward halfcourt that it never returned to camera range! Rubio deserved an extra assist on that one...Khimki came back and took a brief lead before halftime, getting Maceij Lampe involved, while Kelly McCarty, a former ULEB Cup Final MVP, tried sending a message with an outstanding block on Fernandez. On the very next play, Fernandez responded with a huge three-pointer that forced a Khimki timeout. ... By the time the his teammates Rubio, Lubos Barton and Ribas followed Fernandez in the scoring show, and their zone defense left Khimki puzzled, Joventut head coach Aito Garcia Reneses busied himself checking his watch, sipping water while diverse VIPs in the crowd, like CSKA president Sergeu Kushchenko and Russian basketball legend Vitaliy Nosov, watched the visitors start to walk away with the game....Now came the Rudy and Ricky show. When the two of them started stealing and sniping, making things look easy when they should have been hardest, Khimki collapsed. Rubio made another alley-oop pass to Moiso even though he was sandwiched between Khimki defenders under the basket. Moiso made sure this time, and by the time Rubio had a couple more steals and Fernandez had catapulted another triple, Joventut had one big foot in the Final Eight already
Last 16, Series VI, Game 1: Zadar 74-69 Pamesa Valencia |
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Zadar and Pamesa Valencia already met in the 2003 ULEB Cup quarterfinals. Back then, Pamesa held off a wild Zadar rally in the second leg of the two-way series and eventually went all the way to win the title. Five years later, everyone in Hala Jazine seemed to remember that, creating a great basketball atmosphere... Pamesa struggled on defense earlyh, allowing Shammel Stallworth to take over the end of the first quarter. Pamesa was more aggressive while getting to the line to take a 30-31 second-quarter lead...Pankracije Barac - no relation with Stanko Barac of Pamesa - was the key player for Zadar late in the first half. He stroked from downtown, made free throws and fed Andrej Stimac to put Zadar ahead 46-40 halftime lead. If it wasn't for Stanko's outstanding performance this season, some Pamesa fans may have thought their team picked the wrong Barac...One good thing about Pamesa games is what fans call "the Shammond moment". Every game has it, and this time it came in the third quarter, when he followed free throws with consecutive triples...Corey Brewer and Stallworth were on fire, however, and still managed to keep Zadar ahead for a while, but the game soon turned into a total thriller...Albert Oliver buried a triple for a one-point Pamesa lead, 68-69, before Pankracije Barac fed Todor Gecevski for a triple and then buried his own shot from downtown. Yes, maybe tonight, one night only, Pamesa hoped it had the other Barac.
Last 16, Series VII, Game 1: Red Star 80-80 Besiktas Cola Turka |
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Besiktas Cola Turka at Red Star was deja vu for one of the visitors. During the pre-game ceremony, back on the same floor wearing black-and-white, Predrag Drobnjak looked like he never left Partizan, the archrival of Red Star, where he spent last season... Another familiar face, Turkish sharpshooter Ufuk Sarica, is now working for Besiktas head coach Engin Ataman, but it was strange to see him in a suit and tie...Sinan Guler of Besiktas must be the biggest Sandro Abbio lookalike in European basketball...Besiktas led early, but once Tadija Dragicevic found his rhythm, Red Star managed to get a 22-17 lead. Besiktas lost control, taking bad shots and looking to get one-on-one options for Preston Shumpert. Red Star was not in a rush and controlled the game through offensive rebounds and a patient Omar Cook...Besiktas changed its game plan and started to find easy points through Kaya Peker and Sandro Nicevic. When the Red Star big guys had to double-team, Shumpert scored again and again to put Besiktas ahead at halftime, 34-36...One of the best things about the elimination rounds is seeing unheralded players provide spirit and a couple of baskets that change momentum by getting everyone - fans, teammates, everyone - involved. Red Star found its own x-factor in Marko Cvetkovic, who sank a six-meter jumper and added a put-back layup to set the crowd on fire in the third quarter...Besiktas lost control for a while but regained its momentum through an unstoppable Shumpert, who is confident being the main backcourt threat in his team. Miroslav Raicevic showed he still has game with a reverse layup while Mirko Kovac beat the third-quarter buzzer with a jumper, but Besiktas succeeded in limiting Cook to just 5 points in the opening 30 minutes...Red Star turned to its other go-to guy, Dragicevic, who did not disappoint...Shumpert was simply unstoppable all night long and netted a step-back triple to complete the Besiktas comeback at 78-79. Cook finished the game with 0-for-8 three-pointers but free throws by Elmedin Kikanovic - no relation with the European basketball legend and different spelling, too - allowed Red Star to tie the first leg, 80-80...What a big battle the second leg will be!
Last 16, Series VIII, Game 1: Galatasaray Cafe Crown 99-74 Kalise Gran Canaria |
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When you are a basketball player, you wake up one day, go to shoot some and you find that all of a sudden, you are unstoppable for some minutes. No matter how hard your defender plays, you hit one shot after another. Very rarely it also happens to an entire team, as Kalise Gran Canaria found in the first half of its game against Galatasaray Cafe Crown in Istanbul...Galatasaray was just unstoppable, making 16 of 21 two-pointers, 8 of 12 three-pointers and outrebounding Gran Canaria by 17-8 in the first two quarters. It is not just those percentages, but also how the shots came. Four players in the starting five had already buried one triple apiece in the games first three minutes!...Galatasaray fans, always noisy and ready to back their boys, could not believe their eyes. Chris Owens and Charles Gaines dominated inside while Mehmet Ersoz provided the play of the day. He faked penetration on the left side, changed his mind, tried it through the right side, changed his mind again only to bury an unthinkable triple for a 46-23 Galatasaray margin...Gran Canaria was its usual self after the break and managed to erase the deficit a bit, but Galatasaray, led by Owens and an incredible Cuneyt Erden, was at a different level. The hosts' biggest margin came soon before the buzzer, 99-70...Has anyone rallied from a 25-point deficit in ULEB Cup history? Well, since you ask, yes! Caprabo Lleida still holds a ULEB Cup record by rallying from a 26-point deficit in a series against Makedonikos in 2004. Gran Canaria is a very strong team at home, but let's see if they are strong enough to rewrite ULEB Cup history.
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Euroleague.net
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