| ADRIATIC LEAGUE FINAL FOUR @ ZAGREB ARENA: Semifinals Report |
| Written by Marjan Crnogaj |
| Friday, 23 April 2010 11:22 |
 HOME OF THE 2010 AL FINAL FOUR - ZAGREB ARENA. EVERYTHING IS READY, SET, GO... - most improbable happening: my name heading the couple of hundred names of accredited journalists...spelled "Černigoj" :-) - press room is currently without an Internet connection - someone help us please! I've posted this at home... - missed the Partizan's shooting practices, but was on time for Hemofarm's PF Milan Macvan dropping couple of three-pointers from the ceiling!!! - very important: rims are as friendly as those in Zadar Arena - did an exclusive CroHoops.com video report in front of the Arena which will hopefully be published in a couple of hours - schedule of the main events is as follows: Friday, April 23rd17:15 Partizan - Hemofarm (BHT) FAST FACTS: Partizan won both games in regular season, but only with +4 and +1 point-difference. Lester "Bo" McCaleb averaged 17.0pts in those games, while Vesely was held on 3.0pts per game in limited minutes. Aleksandar Maric had 20pts+16reb in their first meeting. Expect another classic battle until the last second of the regulation. KEEP AN EYE ON: PF Jan Vesely, Partizan Belgrade. Vesely will face a new career high in terms of scouts eyes. His Draft projections are excellent at the moment: nbadraft.net has him ranked #15 (Milwaukee), and draftexpress.com has him as high as #10 (Indiana). 20:00 Cibona - Olimpija (HRT2, BHT) FAST FACTS: Cibona lost both regular season games reaching only 61.0 point average. Saso Ozbolt lit up the Cibona with 21 points in the second game. However with a stadium filled with an all-time high number of Cibona's fans expect backcourt of Gordon and Tomas to fit nacely with 'young guns' Bogdanovic, Zubcic and Radosevic who will have something to prove in front of their friends and relatives. Expect a battle of epic proportions with Jamont Gordon ready to step up when needed. KEEP AN EYE ON: SF Bojan Bogdanovic, Cibona Zagreb. Having his name enlisted on 2010 Early Entry Draft List on tuesday, this 20-year old swingman from Mostar is determined to prove NBA scouts that Vesely is not the only youngster worth scouting in this tournament. GAME 1 NOTES: Partizan 72, Hemofarm 67 - ex-Cibona's GM Boze Milicevic is stopped at the press entrance without the VIP pass; he tries to find another way to enter the building - all eyes on Vesely: enters the game from the bench, finishes couple of fastbreaks with simple but strong dunks, scores a three-pointer, and after McCaleb's offensive rebound between Hemofarm's big guys, makes another put-back. He isn't flashy, but is highly effective - Hemofarm PF Milan Macvan scores at will from long distance, mid-range - Partizan's Rasic evens the game at 33:33, after Hemofarm's early lead - as soon as they gain minimum lead Dusko Vujosevic's forces switch to zone defence, what leads to another dunk by Vesely - 2nd half: couple of NBA scouts had to find free seats after some people appear with tickets for their seats. Official player evaluation form includes two names: Vesely. Macvan. They are talking about Macvan off-court background and commenting that "he isn't truly 6'9'' tall, he is more like 6'8'', what makes him a tweener" - Partizan hold on to it's lead until the final whistle - Macvan signals his unhappiness with the outcome when passing by the press in the mixed zone CELEBRITY COUNT: rapper Bizzo, Mirna Zidaric, Sejo Bukva & Dzevad Alihodzic, Emilio Kovacic, Pino Gjergja, Vlado Vanjak, Biserka Petrovic, Predrag Saric, European Champions 85/86 - Cibona Zagreb, City of Zagreb controversial major Milan Bandic (being booed!)... GAME 2 NOTES: Cibona 78, Olimpija 73 - battle of ex-teammates in legendary Yugoslav NT - both started to play internationaly in 1985 led by legendary coach Rusmir Halilovic - Cibona's players are thinking about Partizan from the very begining, which gives Olimpija's players more freedom to score, especially guards - Olimpija's Nemanja Aleksandrov is just a shade of what he could have been according to ESPN reports 5-6 year ago - just another serviceable PF/C - referees make couple of very questionable calls against Cibona in front of more than 12000 Cibona's fans...not a clever thing to do - Bojan Bogdanovic misses 4 open-look 3s and 3 free-throws and tears apart half of his Tuesday's NBA Draft Early Entry appliance. Scouts are in wonder... - Olimpija demonstrates great team defense by reading more than 3/4 of Cibona's plays and instantly switching and helping on numerous occasions - Cibona, led by Gordon's 23pts/7reb/5ast performance, outmuscles and outrebounds Olimpija 40:24 and makes the Sunday final vs mighty Partizan Sunday, April 25th14.30 NLB Wheel Finals: KK STELA Zagreb vs KK SANA Sanski Most17:00 FINALS (HRT2, BHT) - HRT (Croatian Radio Television) owns exclusive rights to broadcast the whole event, which strictly forbids journalists making any kind of video inside the stadium He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |