25/26 European basketball discussion: Euroleague/BBL/ACB/LegaA/LNB/TBL..

[LTU_btc]

Paris continue to amaze Europe, now they beat Barcelona away. I'm wondering for how long such things will continue, but I still don't believe that they will make to playoffs.
What happened in Belgrade? Didn't watched game, so, I had to check twice when I saw that Milano won game. After all, 4 wins after 10 rounds isn't that bad result for them, considering how awful this team sometimes looks.
Fenerbahche showed elite defense again, they let Zalgiris to score only 65 points in total. 2nd quarter was key to their win when Zalgiris scored just 5 points.

About the Real vs Efes game, it's always fascinating for me how basketball works sometimes. A team is up by 24 and controlling the game. Suddenly the momentum shifts and the other team makes a big comeback to cut it close or even take the lead, just to lose it again in the final minutes of the game. You see this so often, also in the NBA, and I wonder why. Is the team just exhausted after the big run or what might be the problem? Normally the team that lost the lead should be super nervous and the chasing team should be super motivated after completing such a big comeback. But more than often suddenly the game shifts again and it was basically all for nothing. So strange sometimes.

It's good question, such things happens quite often. I guess that being exhausted after making such big run might be one of main reasons. Then you start to make bad decisions in offense liketrying to rush too much when few points difference remains. And also it doesn't helps to keep big intensity in defense. And sometimes it's just small details...

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Paris continue to amaze Europe, now they beat Barcelona away. I'm wondering for how long such things will continue, but I still don't believe that they will make to playoffs.
What happened in Belgrade? Didn't watched game, so, I had to check twice when I saw that Milano won game. After all, 4 wins after 10 rounds isn't that bad result for them, considering how awful this team sometimes looks.
Fenerbahche showed elite defense again, they let Zalgiris to score only 65 points in total. 2nd quarter was key to their win when Zalgiris scored just 5 points.

Yeah man, Paris is a refreshing surprise so far. I don't like the fact that France has 3 teams in the EL now cause it's very unnecessary but Paris in this state definitely belongs. Maybe they can think about kicking ASVEL instead.
They are building something in Paris, you already saw that last season when they signed over half of the team (including the team) from Bonn which with these players won the FIBA Champions League.
Who would have thought a new team would get a magnificent 7:3 start in the first season, basically tying for 2nd place with 5 other teams at the moment.

[LTU_btc]

We have first sacked Euroleague manager - it's Sasa Obradovic. Laat year on the same I think already several managers were sacked.
New https://basketnews.com/news-214982-monaco-part-ways-with-sasa-obradovic.html
News from Monaco is unexpected because they didn't performed very bad. Expected that Virtus will be first team to change their coach.
Who will be next? Spanoulis maybe? Or Scariolo? While Itoutis just got appointed as Hapoel Tel Aviv coach. It will be very interesting to follow.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

We have first sacked Euroleague manager - it's Sasa Obradovic. Laat year on the same I think already several managers were sacked.
New https://basketnews.com/news-214982-monaco-part-ways-with-sasa-obradovic.html
News from Monaco is unexpected because they didn't performed very bad. Expected that Virtus will be first team to change their coach.
Who will be next? Spanoulis maybe? Or Scariolo? While Itoutis just got appointed as Hapoel Tel Aviv coach. It will be very interesting to follow.

Wow, that's actually surprising. I mean I honestly expected them to lose this weekend against Le Mans (or at least win a very close game) because this often happens after a Euroleague double header. There is always value in betting against EL teams that just played 2 EL games in 1 week, seems like 3 games in 5-6 days is hard to overcome.

Sasa has a big name in Europe though, he will have no problem finding a new job real soon. Maybe the next team that sacks someone will hire him to replace the previous coach, we have seen that plenty of times in the past seasons.

[LTU_btc]

We have Belgrade derby this week. Zvezda probably is favorite.  Not just because home support, but so far they're looking more solid.
And also FIBA window for Eurobasket qualifiers. Usually I don't get excited about these games, but now I'm interested to see how my national team will play with new coach. We have 2 games with North Macedonia.

Wow, that's actually surprising. I mean I honestly expected them to lose this weekend against Le Mans (or at least win a very close game) because this often happens after a Euroleague double header. There is always value in betting against EL teams that just played 2 EL games in 1 week, seems like 3 games in 5-6 days is hard to overcome.

Sasa has a big name in Europe though, he will have no problem finding a new job real soon. Maybe the next team that sacks someone will hire him to replace the previous coach, we have seen that plenty of times in the past seasons.

Yeah, I also noticed that EL teams after double week tend to lose games in national leagues quite often.
Even Mike James who isn't easy personality said some warm words about Obradovic. I also expect that we him working in other Euroleague team soon

[LTU_btc]

Belgrade derby was a bit disappointing if you're neutral, Partizan were leading comfortable most of time. A bit strange that in Euroleague this derby is often won by away team, while in ABA League usually home team dominate.
Paris remains to be hottest team in Euroleague, now they beat Efes away. And you can't say that they beating weak teams. Most of their wins were achieved against playoff or even F4 contenders.
Olympiacos remains undefeated at home, Baskonia is winless away, nothing unexpected didn't happened there.

[CLS63]

It was a really sad day for Anadolu Efes today. They couldn't finish any of the quarters ahead against Paris. I must admit that Paris deserved this win and they are really unstoppable for a long time.

When it comes to my team Fenerbahçe I was really happy with the win. We are still the leader. But I still watched the game nervously. Because we were bad at defending as we gave so many offensive rebounds to Virtus Bologna. But even though we got behind by 10 points 2 times in the 2nd half we still made an amazing comeback. That is the spirit I want to see from them throughout the season.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

It was a really sad day for Anadolu Efes today. They couldn't finish any of the quarters ahead against Paris. I must admit that Paris deserved this win and they are really unstoppable for a long time.

When it comes to my team Fenerbahçe I was really happy with the win. We are still the leader. But I still watched the game nervously. Because we were bad at defending as we gave so many offensive rebounds to Virtus Bologna. But even though we got behind by 10 points 2 times in the 2nd half we still made an amazing comeback. That is the spirit I want to see from them throughout the season.

Yeah Paris is for real, as we have said before. It's one thing to win at home but going into away games at teams, that have a strong fanbase, and basically dominate to get the win really shows how far this team has already been.
Fener did their thing but I was surprised that odds makers before the game saw this game at 50/50. Fenerbahce at the leader with an 8:2 record playing at a kind of weak team with a 2:8 record and still you could get odds of 1.8-1.9 on Fenerbahce to win, that felt a little bit strange. In the end it really was a close game so the odds makers were kind of right, still I would have expected them to be like a 3-5 point favorite to win this away match.

[karabiber]

When it comes to my team Fenerbahçe I was really happy with the win. We are still the leader. But I still watched the game nervously. Because we were bad at defending as we gave so many offensive rebounds to Virtus Bologna. But even though we got behind by 10 points 2 times in the 2nd half we still made an amazing comeback. That is the spirit I want to see from them throughout the season.

Fenerbahce Beko is the strongest team in the Euroleague this season, not physically or physically, but mentally. The team doesn't break down in the ups and downs of the game, it doesn't get affected by the crowd, it doesn't get affected when the game is down to the last ball or after biased refereeing decisions like in previous seasons. Fenerbahce have recovered from the disorganized look they had at the beginning of the season, but now they have the problem of missing players. But the important thing is to win games despite missing players. In the Bologna game there was a clear lack of big men. I don't think Fenerbahce would have won without Hayes and Guduric showing great leadership. What is more important for Fenerbahce than the win is the problem of the number 5 in the team. A good number 5 transfer is a must for this team.

[CLS63]

Fener did their thing but I was surprised that odds makers before the game saw this game at 50/50. Fenerbahce at the leader with an 8:2 record playing at a kind of weak team with a 2:8 record and still you could get odds of 1.8-1.9 on Fenerbahce to win, that felt a little bit strange. In the end it really was a close game so the odds makers were kind of right, still I would have expected them to be like a 3-5 point favorite to win this away match.

That attracted my attention also but it was a really good opportunity for gamblers surely. Maybe the reason why bookmakers did it was related to our dealing with injuries on one hand. We still have some good players missing and we have played many games while dealing with this kind of problems. Still staying at top is thanks to a big dedication of our players. Jasikevicius is also a great coach to be honest.

I hope we can be competitive for Final Four and more as well.

[LTU_btc]

Eurobasket qualifiers is such joke. World Champions Germany lose against Sweden. Just 5 Germany players scored points, David Kramer scored 43 of 72 team points. Then we have Spain winning against Slovakia (team that probably never played in Eurobasket) after 2 overtimes. And it was just 1st Spain win in qualifiers. Slovenia lost to Portugal, yesterday Greece failed to beat Great Britain. And then with such qualifiers we have basketball powerhouses missing Eurobasket and World Cup...
Back to Euroleague. Zalgiris is back on track after beating Panathinaikos, while Bayern leaves no chance for Barca. Just look at 3-pointers stats of both teams - it says all.

Fenerbahce Beko is the strongest team in the Euroleague this season, not physically or physically, but mentally. The team doesn't break down in the ups and downs of the game, it doesn't get affected by the crowd, it doesn't get affected when the game is down to the last ball or after biased refereeing decisions like in previous seasons. Fenerbahce have recovered from the disorganized look they had at the beginning of the season, but now they have the problem of missing players. But the important thing is to win games despite missing players. In the Bologna game there was a clear lack of big men. I don't think Fenerbahce would have won without Hayes and Guduric showing great leadership. What is more important for Fenerbahce than the win is the problem of the number 5 in the team. A good number 5 transfer is a must for this team.

For me as neutral spectator they're not playing most beautiful basketball, but you shouldn't expect something different as long as Saras is there. And with limited roster they're performing very well.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Eurobasket qualifiers is such joke. World Champions Germany lose against Sweden. Just 5 Germany players scored points, David Kramer scored 43 of 72 team points. Then we have Spain winning against Slovakia (team that probably never played in Eurobasket) after 2 overtimes. And it was just 1st Spain win in qualifiers. Slovenia lost to Portugal, yesterday Greece failed to beat Great Britain. And then with such qualifiers we have basketball powerhouses missing Eurobasket and World Cup...
Back to Euroleague. Zalgiris is back on track after beating Panathinaikos, while Bayern leaves no chance for Barca. Just look at 3-pointers stats of both teams - it says all.

Actually this was an expected result to be honest, that's why pregame this game was a 50/50. Sure we are world champs but this is a different team. We are obviously missing Schröder, the Wagners, Theiss from the NBA (now we actually have more players there as well) but also the players from Bayern which would be Obst, Voigtmann, Weiler-Babb and Giffey. That's basically almost 2 starting 5s that were missing.
Also when Kramer is the best man and scores 43 that already tells a lot.  

By the way, one of those guys missing, Andi Obst, scored an Euroleague record 11 3 pointers in Bayern's win over Barcelona, 6 of them in the 3rd quarter!!

[LTU_btc]

Actually this was an expected result to be honest, that's why pregame this game was a 50/50. Sure we are world champs but this is a different team. We are obviously missing Schröder, the Wagners, Theiss from the NBA (now we actually have more players there as well) but also the players from Bayern which would be Obst, Voigtmann, Weiler-Babb and Giffey. That's basically almost 2 starting 5s that were missing.
Also when Kramer is the best man and scores 43 that already tells a lot.  

By the way, one of those guys missing, Andi Obst, scored an Euroleague record 11 3 pointers in Bayern's win over Barcelona, 6 of them in the 3rd quarter!!

Didn't checked pre-game odds, but Germany with 3rd or 4th squad should beat Sweden, team which played in Euroasket just once in 20 years. Somehow I weas sure that you have big pool of players from Bundesliga, but when I saw guy from worst Lithuanian team got invited, then I thought that something isn't ok.
And yeah, forgot to write about Obst yesterday, amazing. And when whole team makes 20 3 pointers, it's almost impossibe to lose.
And BTW, did you saw this Spain buzzer-beater:
https://twitter.com/BasketNews_com/status/1860236184531927509
Not sure they made video review or no, but it's obvious that time was started too late, Slovakia had to win game.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

And BTW, did you saw this Spain buzzer-beater:
https://twitter.com/BasketNews_com/status/1860236184531927509
Not sure they made video review or no, but it's obvious that time was started too late, Slovakia had to win game.

Yeah that shot should NEVER have counted. They only started the clock when he had the ball in his hand but they should have started it when both players first tipped the ball.
Unluckiest part is, normally the people handling the clock and everything at the ref table are people from the home team, so losing this one is actually on them. 
We had the biggest upset basically served but they made that big mistake and paid for it in the end. A smart inbounder would have just thrown the ball on the butt/legs or whatever of some player or even back to the other side so there is no chance to return it. Bad play by everyone involved.

[LTU_btc]

Another Euroleague round starts tomorrow, also, a bit unusual we have Eurocup games on Thursday and Friday too.
Main game is El Clasico and rare case when Real isn't. Real is still without a win playing away.
And debut of Spanoulis as Monaco head coach against Panathinaikos. Very tough opponent for a debut, but if Monaco will lose, that's not Spanoulis fault as he didn't had time with team at all. And I'm sure that he will not receive very warm welcome at OAKA .

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Damn, Euroleague teams didn't have it easy this weekend, we saw plenty of upsets in the domestic league these past weekend. Both German teams lost at home. While Alba sucks anyway it was surprising that Bayern lost against a mediocre Vechta team.
In Italy both EL teams lost as well, Milano even at home, quite surprising as well.
In France only Asvel lost their match but Monaco and Paris prevailed.
In Greece both teams won, but this league is also very one sided and Pana and Olympiakos rarely lose against the weak competition.
Partizan and Zvezda won as well but it's the same as in Greece, no competition.

While Zalgiris, Maccabi, Fenerbahce and Anadolu Efes won their game with have 1 more country to look at, and it was a dousy.

Because this only leaves us with the teams from Spain where we had more surprises with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Baskonia all losing, the last one even in blowout fashion at home.
8 Euroleague teams lost this weekend, people could have won a bit of money betting that. 

[LTU_btc]

Because this only leaves us with the teams from Spain where we had more surprises with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Baskonia all losing, the last one even in blowout fashion at home.
8 Euroleague teams lost this weekend, people could have won a bit of money betting that. 

Real lost away - I'm not even surprised about it anymore . But what's happening with Baskonia. Conceding 116 points at home without OT is just shameful. With such poor performance in league Pablo Lasso chair probably is getting hot.
Next weekend we can expect more upsets in domestic leagues after double week in Euroleague.

[CLS63]

I wish we were stronger at defending against Baskonia last night. But we were terrible especially in the first half. We couldn't make up for that with our offense either. Baskonia were a dangerous team at home. Anyway as long as we maintain our presence in top 6 there is no problem. We just need to be careful with this 2-match losing streak. By the way it was nice to see Anadolu Efes defeating Bayern Munich home for their top 6 goals.

[LTU_btc]

Partizan is hottest team in Euroleague after Paris now. 4 wins in a row and now beating champions Panathinaikos byv20 points is impressive.
@CLS63 congrats with Fenerbahche win. After poor game with Baskonia, there can't be better return than beating Real in Madrid . While Real - I can't remember season when they struggled so much.
We critisized Messina a lot in begging of season, but now he silenced his critics. Olimpia is playing solid basketball recently, yesterday win against Crvena Zvezda was very confident.
Good old Dusko Ivanovic returns to Euroleague. And surprise surprise, this time not to Baskonia but Virtus:
https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/lt/euroleague/news/virtus-appoints-dusko-ivanovic-as-head-coach/
Banchi after loss to Alba wasn't sacked, but decided to resign. Wise decision from him.

[CLS63]

@CLS63 congrats with Fenerbahche win. After poor game with Baskonia, there can't be better return than beating Real in Madrid . While Real - I can't remember season when they struggled so much.

After losing 2 matches in a row we needed to win against Real Madrid away. And I'm very happy that we managed to do this. We are very lucky to have Nigel Hayes-Davis. He played great tonight as well and he managed to score exactly 33 points. However I wish he didn't go for that last 3-pointer. Because he acted like he wasn't going to take the shot and tricked his opponent.