24/25 European basketball discussion: Euroleague/BBL/ACB/LegaA/LNB/TBL..

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Wow, Fenerbahche just blew away Efes 101:70 and now are just 1 win away from the trophy. And I expected interesting final here...
Real had no problems in their first final game against Murcia. It's something what everyone expected and very likely that final will end 3:0. Murcia already performed above their limits in semifinal vs Unicaja.
Things is much more interesting in Italy and Germany. Both games were close, but both home teams - Bayern and Virtus won.

Damn, what a destruction!
I though putting a small wager on Fener because after game 1 I didn't feel they should be the underdog in game 2. Unfortunately the game started so late for me so I didn't and decided to sleep instead.
Well, as it goes, as always, I don't make the bet and it would have been a winner of course.

Seems like this series is over for sure. Fenerbahce will be a 8 point home favourite I suppose so their next championship is very close.
Germany also just saw their first game with between the 2 "power houses" Munich and Berlin, as expected Munich won quite easy.  . I really dislike this team and hope Berlin can turn this around, even though I doubt they have a chance.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Next to the finals we have going down at the moment another interesting part begins now, plenty of test matches for the upcoming Olympic games qualifiers and of course for the Olympics.

Lithuania is hosting Lebanon tonight which is an interesting matchup. I tried to read some stuff about the Lithuania team that is doing a training camp at the moment and it seems they are still missing all of the big names.
The best players of course are still active in the Lithuanian finals and the NBA players I guess also still rest.

Because of this I am surprised to see Lebanon being a 21 point underdog, very surprised.

I wonder if it's a good idea to make a small wager on +21,5 points for Lebanon, seems like a high possibility to hit.

[CLS63]

I never thought that we would start the series against Anadolu Efes this good. Because we had a big disappointment in the Final Four. However the players are completely focused on the league now. Anadolu Efes has a great roster. They have a capacity to qualify for Final Four next season with 1-2 transfers. But I think that they still couldn't find the right coach. I hope that Fenerbahçe announce their championship this evening.

[LTU_btc]

Zalgiris survives and moves series to Vilnius. It was again close game, Zalgiris were leading most of time and it looked that Rytas needs some little run like 5:0 to take initiative, what didn't happened.
I already written of Efes, but Larkin with buzzer-beater says that it's not over yet. Seems that we still can expect interesting things there. Similar like in Greece where Panathinaikos makes series 2:1.
What is a bit unexpect is Alba win vs Bayern away, odds for Alba was something like 5.00. 1:1 now.
And Real in comfortable way goving towards another ACB title, 2:0 already.

Lithuania is hosting Lebanon tonight which is an interesting matchup. I tried to read some stuff about the Lithuania team that is doing a training camp at the moment and it seems they are still missing all of the big names.
The best players of course are still active in the Lithuanian finals and the NBA players I guess also still rest.

Replying a bit too late, but it's not real Lithuanian team, it's reserve team with some young players. If 1 or 2 players from this squad will get into main team, it will be surprise. They will play 2 more games with Lebanon, while main team will begin training camp next week.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Zalgiris survives and moves series to Vilnius. It was again close game, Zalgiris were leading most of time and it looked that Rytas needs some little run like 5:0 to take initiative, what didn't happened.
I already written of Efes, but Larkin with buzzer-beater says that it's not over yet. Seems that we still can expect interesting things there. Similar like in Greece where Panathinaikos makes series 2:1.
What is a bit unexpect is Alba win vs Bayern away, odds for Alba was something like 5.00. 1:1 now.
And Real in comfortable way goving towards another ACB title, 2:0 already.

Lithuania is hosting Lebanon tonight which is an interesting matchup. I tried to read some stuff about the Lithuania team that is doing a training camp at the moment and it seems they are still missing all of the big names.
The best players of course are still active in the Lithuanian finals and the NBA players I guess also still rest.

Replying a bit too late, but it's not real Lithuanian team, it's reserve team with some young players. If 1 or 2 players from this squad will get into main team, it will be surprise. They will play 2 more games with Lebanon, while main team will begin training camp next week.

I also watched the Kaunas vs Rytas game for a while.
Kaunas had a comfortable lead all game lonng pretty much. Not a big surprise they didn't wave the white flag in defeat. I expect the next game to be really close and maybe we will see a game 5, wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

About the Lithuania game, yeah I knew that. Thank god I didn't bet it, even after the handicap went up after I posted, to +23,5. Short time later my bookie took off the handicap and only offered moneyline, so I didn't get a chance to play it anyway.

Lebanon, even though Lithuania just competed with a young squad, had no chance and lost by like 30 points. Dodged a bullet there.

[LTU_btc]

I also watched the Kaunas vs Rytas game for a while.
Kaunas had a comfortable lead all game lonng pretty much. Not a big surprise they didn't wave the white flag in defeat. I expect the next game to be really close and maybe we will see a game 5, wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

About the Lithuania game, yeah I knew that. Thank god I didn't bet it, even after the handicap went up after I posted, to +23,5. Short time later my bookie took off the handicap and only offered moneyline, so I didn't get a chance to play it anyway.

Lebanon, even though Lithuania just competed with a young squad, had no chance and lost by like 30 points. Dodged a bullet there.

5th game is something what I wouldn't like to see at all. It would be almost like death sentence for Rytas as Zalgiris would have huge advantage emotionally. Atmosphere will be crazy tomorrow, all tickets were soldout already this morning.
Now Milano - Virtus is playing Game 3 and result is equal in 3rd quarter. While tomorrow Spanish, Turkish, Lithuanian, French and German league finals will be played. Don't like such schedule, too much basketball at same time.

[CLS63]

The 4th match of the final series is going to be played tomorrow. Even though I'm a Fenerbahçe fan, I went to Anadolu Efes' Euroleague matches the most this year because Fenerbahçe's stadium was very far from my home.However as there is a chance for us to lift the trophy at our stadium tomorrow I tried to buy tickets. And I managed to find a ticket for the match very luckily. I'm going to try to share some photos from the match here tomorrow. I hope we defeat Anadolu Efes and become champions tomorrow.

[karabiber]

It's been an interesting series and neither team has won a home game yet. For me it was the first exciting game of the series. The games played on Anadolu Efes court were very uninspiring and I saw how important the crowd is for the game. Fenerbahçe Beko came out for the championship in the last game and they got complacent. They didn't take this game seriously and that's why they lost. That's why Fenerbahçe lost to Anadolu Efes at the buzzer in a game they could have easily won at home. This game was a good lesson for Fenerbahçe Beko and they will take the next game of the series seriously and become champions.

[LTU_btc]

Guys, today I don't really care much happens in other leagues because Rytas become Lithuanian league champions and now I have so much emotions that's hard to pick words. Marcus Foster, what a sick player and Vilnius arena turns into biggest night club in Vilnius. And in general, crazy atmoshpere during whole series
https://twitter.com/BasketNews_com/status/1800964569327862070
Champions 2 times in 3 years, now beating Zalgiris in final after 14 years, Euroleague team with 3 or 4 times bigger budget, wow.
Congrats to Fenerbahche fans too for winning Turkish league, well deserved.

[CLS63]

Thanks, LTU_btc.    We did it and I'm really happy to have watched our championship moment live at the stadium. I was really worried in the final moments of the last quarter. Because an open layup missed by Calathes could have cost us a lot. But Papagiannis' great block carried us to OT. And we played OT really well to finish the job. I'm glad to win a trophy in our league after being eliminated in the Euroleague disappointingly.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Guys, today I don't really care much happens in other leagues because Rytas become Lithuanian league champions and now I have so much emotions that's hard to pick words. Marcus Foster, what a sick player and Vilnius arena turns into biggest night club in Vilnius. And in general, crazy atmoshpere during whole series
https://twitter.com/BasketNews_com/status/1800964569327862070
Champions 2 times in 3 years, now beating Zalgiris in final after 14 years, Euroleague team with 3 or 4 times bigger budget, wow.
Congrats to Fenerbahche fans too for winning Turkish league, well deserved.

Happy for you but sad for me since I had a small wager on Kaunas.
They played so bad at time, especially in the first 7 minutes of the 3rd quater when they only had 2 field goal in that time frame, I was shocked to see that.
End of the 4th when they finallt regained the lead I thought now they can handle things but man was I wrong, as usual. The betting gods just gave me another hope just to kick me down yet again. 

But that's how it goes sometimes, Zalgiris really didn't deserve to win after such a performance where they 15 more fied goal attempts than Rytas but only made 1 more basket from it.

[LTU_btc]

Time to summarize what already happened as almost all finals already ended. What wasn't mentioned yesterday that Real become ACB league final 3:0 against Murcia. It's probably easiest final in recent seasons. While Murcia, despite loss it's their best achievement ever which will be difficult to repeat anytime soon.
Monaco is French champion and they won game 4 in brutal way - 115-76. No idea what happened to Paris that they lost game in such way.
Panathinaikos managed to reach Game 5 after being down 0:2. Decisive game should be epic. Bayern after beating Alba one more time is one win away from German league title.
Milano - Virtus game ended recently and after winning it Milano is crowned as Italian champions. So, so far almost all leagues ends as expected and without big surprises, except Lithuanian league.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

After a long and cruel summer break the new season slowly get going with test matches all around Europe.
There is not very much going yet but I already watched some nice games online since all the teams are in training camp and getting their new additions ready for the new season.

In 2 weeks the FIBA champions league qualifiers will start, this time hosted in Antalya: https://www.championsleague.basketball/en/qualifiers

So competitive basketball is just around the corner and we have something to look forward to.

[LTU_btc]

After a long and cruel summer break the new season slowly get going with test matches all around Europe.
There is not very much going yet but I already watched some nice games online since all the teams are in training camp and getting their new additions ready for the new season.

In 2 weeks the FIBA champions league qualifiers will start, this time hosted in Antalya: https://www.championsleague.basketball/en/qualifiers

So competitive basketball is just around the corner and we have something to look forward to.

Usually at such time we have Eurobasket or World Cup, but this year we had Olympics which ended earlier and now we have several few empty weeks after it.
Looked at Champions league qualifiers and what is strange for me that these tournaments is so unballanced. In first two toournaments we have teams mainly from weaker leagues, while in 3rd and 4th tournaments there is plenty of big names. I don't know, maybe FIBA want to have more teams from developping leagues in group stage.
And maybe you won't agree with me, but Champions league group stage format is terrible compared with Eurocup. There is just 6 games, you play once in 2 weeks. I prefer Eurocup with long group stage, though, playoffs with single game elimination isn't perfect too.

[CLS63]

The last champion of the Greece Basket League Panathinaikos has officially signed Cedi Osman. He has been a really great talent for us. When he first went to NBA and played right beside the king LeBron James, I got really excited. After having his brightest times in NBA at Cavs, he went to San Antonio Spurs. But he has been suffering a lasting injury since April this year.  

There is still a month until the new season in the Greece league to begin. I hope Cedi Osman can recover until then.  

[AHOYBRAUSE]

The last champion of the Greece Basket League Panathinaikos has officially signed Cedi Osman. He has been a really great talent for us. When he first went to NBA and played right beside the king LeBron James, I got really excited. After having his brightest times in NBA at Cavs, he went to San Antonio Spurs. But he has been suffering a lasting injury since April this year.  

There is still a month until the new season in the Greece league to begin. I hope Cedi Osman can recover until then.  

Nice signing. I always liked Cedi, even though he never really got a lot of playing time in the Lebron James era in Cleveland. After Lebron left for the second time and the Cavs rebuilt again he got a significant increase in minutes where he finally showed that he actually belongs in the NBA!
Hopefully he will play well in the Euroleague, I think his games translates very well to European basketball!

[LTU_btc]

The last champion of the Greece Basket League Panathinaikos has officially signed Cedi Osman. He has been a really great talent for us. When he first went to NBA and played right beside the king LeBron James, I got really excited. After having his brightest times in NBA at Cavs, he went to San Antonio Spurs. But he has been suffering a lasting injury since April this year.  

There is still a month until the new season in the Greece league to begin. I hope Cedi Osman can recover until then.  

Seems that Panathinaikos have serious intentions to defend their title with such signings. On the other hand, Olympiacos is looking very powerful too after returning Vezenkov and adding Fournier. On paper both Greek clubs looks like main contenders to fight for the trophy.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Any idea why Crvena Zvezda and Besiktas are participating in the VTB super cup this weekend?
Ijust checked and thankfully they are not playing in VTB since Crvena is playing in the ABA of course and Besiktas obviously in Turkey.

Ever since the war all Russian teams are banned from European competitions so maybe they just want to bring some international flair to the event, who knows.

It's still so strange to see the Euroleague without teams like CSKA and Uniks, but obviously there is a big reason for that. Funny enough, bet365 doesn't even offer betting on VTB (at least last season), yet other providers do.

[LTU_btc]

Any idea why Crvena Zvezda and Besiktas are participating in the VTB super cup this weekend?
Ijust checked and thankfully they are not playing in VTB since Crvena is playing in the ABA of course and Besiktas obviously in Turkey.

Ever since the war all Russian teams are banned from European competitions so maybe they just want to bring some international flair to the event, who knows.

It's still so strange to see the Euroleague without teams like CSKA and Uniks, but obviously there is a big reason for that. Funny enough, bet365 doesn't even offer betting on VTB (at least last season), yet other providers do.

VTB Super Cup is just pre-season tournament which replaced Gomelsky Cup. For Russian clubs such tournaments is only chance to play with international clubs. Last year Fenerbahche played there too. I guess that these invited clubs are getting big money to arrive to Russia.
CSKA is big part of Euroleague history, but I don't miss Russian clubs in Euroleague. Without even going into politics - unlimited budget money from government and half empty arenas with dead atmosphere is not something what I'm missing.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

VTB Super Cup is just pre-season tournament which replaced Gomelsky Cup. For Russian clubs such tournaments is only chance to play with international clubs. Last year Fenerbahche played there too. I guess that these invited clubs are getting big money to arrive to Russia.
CSKA is big part of Euroleague history, but I don't miss Russian clubs in Euroleague. Without even going into politics - unlimited budget money from government and half empty arenas with dead atmosphere is not something what I'm missing.

Gotcha. Yeah I think especially for you and where you are from you don't really miss them. I don't miss them as well, just it's strange without a "powerhouse" like CSKA that reached almost every final 4 . But yeah, with unlimited funds it's a different story obviously.

About the super cup, guess you are right. They must have lured in 2 teams with a promise of a big pay day, just to have something to show for. In my opinion European teams, as well as players, shouldn't follow this kind of money.