Dedicated to Pini Gershon

I'm sure many Olympiakos fans (well, at least some that I come across regularly in a certain basketball forum) would love to have a word or two with Pini Gershon and tell him some of the lyrics of the song below. Enjoy :)

Euroleague Look Alikes 2

Lazaros Papadopoulos ( Real Madrid )

Leonidas ( 300 )

Euroleague Fantasy Scouting 3

Download all 24 Euroleague teams' boxscores of their weekend domestic leagues games HERE.

Euroleague TV 1 (All times are in CET)

Wednesday:

• CSKA Moscow - Prokom: HERE* and HERE at 17:15
• Rytas - Milano: HERE and HERE at 19:15
• Efes Pilsen - Cibona: HERE at 19:15
• TAU - Olympiacos: HERE at 20:30
• Malaga - Aris: HERE* at 20:40

Thursday:

• Zalgiris - Bologna: HERE at 19:15
• Roma - Panathinaikos: HERE and HERE at 20:25
• Barcelona - Partizan: HERE* at 20:40

* = you need to login. Try the following:

1. Username: bulgaria, Password: bulgaria OR
2. Username: bulgariatv, Password: bulgariatv

Teamwork in Euroleague (Updated)

How can one determine which team possesses team work the best? I guess the simplified way would be looking up their total assists made.

So, let's proceed to the results:

(Note: All numbers mentioned were accumulated during the Round 1 of Euroleague First Group Phase)

Another, slightly more complicated, but significantly indicative than the previous, is to accumulate the field goals and assists made by a team and then determining the percentage of the goal fields made which were a result of an assist.

Let's see what changes:

Special thanks to Jorje and his wonderful basketball stats site: http://www.hoopsstats.com/

Basketball TV 1

In my opinion there is one domestic league game in Europe that stands out as the game of the week.

It couldn't have been any other game than

BC Khimki - CSKA Moscow

Mike Wilkinson, Teemu Rannikko, Anton Ponkrashov, Kelly McCarthy, Nikita Morgunov, Daniel Ewing, Patrick Burke and the rest... with a league record of 10 wins in 10 games

VS

JR Holden, Nikos Zisis, Ramunas Siskauskas, David Andersen, Trajan Langdon, Marcus Goree and the rest... with a league record of 10 wins in 11 games

Want to hear the best part of this game? You can watch it LIVE and FREE, HERE.

Euroleague Hidden Stats 1

After the end of the Round 1 of Euroleague First Group Phase i think it is safe to make some safe conclusions about the teams. And what better way to do this than having a look at the stats. But not any stats, which you can find on the Euroleague website but rather hidden stats that need some extra proceedings to produce them. So, let's have a look shall we?

POINTS DIFFERENCE:

PTF/G: Points scored per game
PTA/G: Points conceded per game
DIFF: Points difference

Does not really say much. Panathinaikos has surely been picking up in the last few weeks, after a very slow start. Prokom Trefl at the bottom of course, after all those blowout losses.

FOULS DIFFERENCE:

FOF/G: Fouls committed per game
OFO/G: Fouls suffered per game
DIFF: Fouls difference

It's not as if the worst clubs in this category were firing away three pointers all the time. They are about average in the 3PT category, as you'll see later. NOTE: 3 out of the 4 worst teams are from the Ex-Yugo school.

THREE POINTERS ROLE:

PCT4: 3P percentage
3FGA/FGA: Percentage of the 3P attempted in the number of total field goals attempted

Brose Baskets still up there, but they've had better percentages shooting the ball lately. As have Maccabi, who took the least shots while shooting bad percentages the last time I checked. They are starting to hit their shots now. CSKA and Unicaja are creating a lot of good shots for their 3PT threats.

CHARITY LINE:

FGA/G: Field goal attempts per game
FTA/G: Free throws attempts per game
DIFF: Free throws attempts/Field goals attempted ratio

Panathinaikos, Aris and even the hottest team from downtown, Unicaja are top performers in this category, whereas the Slovenians of Olimpija struggle getting calls also shows up here.

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL:

STA/G: Steals suffered per game
TOF/G: Own turnovers

CSKA taking over from Panathinaikos here, who were leading in this category but have now retreated (maybe because of their faster game lately?), not only taking good care of the ball, but also not giving it directly into their opponents' hands, when they give it away.

ASSISTS PER TURNOVERS:

ASF/G: Assists per game
TOF/G: Turnovers per game
AS/TO: Assists/Turnovers ratio

MAKING OPPONENTS' LIVES DIFFICULT:

OFGM/G: Opponents' field goals made per game OFGA/G: Opponents' field goals attempted per game
PCT: Opponents' field goals percentage

Montepaschi Siena still at the top of both these categories plus having the best defense of Euroleague.

INSIDE THE ARCH DEFENSE:

O2FGM/G: Opponents' 2P made per game O2FGA/G: Opponents' 2P attempted per game PCT: Opponents' 2P percentage

While Efes is battling hard not to concede easy buckets in the paint, Roanne and Cibona are having a hard time down low according to the stats. Conceding a lot of fast break baskets, as Roanne did against Panathinaikos, have certainly influenced this statistic though. It's not all about the battle in the paint.

INSIDE/ OUTSIDE THE ARCH DEFENSE RELATION:

PCT: Opponents' 3P percentage
O3FGA/OFGA: Opponents' 3P attempted divided by opponents' overall field goals attempted

I was interested in how the respective defenses play their opposition, and it's quite obvious, regarding the stats, that Panathinaikos does make the opponent shoot a lot of 3P. However, this might still be influenced by the group opponents' style of play, but still it is very impressive that Panathinaikos not only forces their opponents to the second-to-worst 3P percentage, but also force them into a whole lot of 3P attempts. This to the disproof of the claim that Panathinaikos has a weak font-line.

OPPONENTS' ASSISTS:

ASA/G: Opponents' assists per game

Not letting the opponent get into offensive rhythm is obviously of big importance, and CSKA alongside with Siena are allowing the least assists.

OPPONENTS' TURNOVERS:

TOA/G: Opponents' turnovers per game

Montepaschi Siena still up there, provoking an amazing 18 turnovers per game. Along with opponents' field goal percentage, that makes up a great defensive effort, probably the best one of the 24 Euroleague teams. The thing that certainly hurts them is the bad job they do on the defensive boards... and that's what we will check out next. Real Madrid, Aris and Panathinaikos seem to do a good job pressing their opponents.

REBOUNDS DIFFERENCE:

REBF/G: Rebounds per game
REBA/G: Opponents' rebounds per game
DIFF: Rebounds difference

DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS:

DEFRF/G: Own team defensive rebounds per game
OFFRA/G: Opponents' offensive rebounds per game
PCT: Opponents' offensive rebounds per game divided by all shots missed by the opponents (which is in turn the own team defensive rebounds per game + opponents' offensive rebounds per game)

Lietuvos Rytas make clear that their lead in this category in the early stages of the competition was no fluke. They seem to be rock solid rebounding the basketball defensively...

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS:

OFFRF/G: Own team offensive rebounds per game DEFRA/G: Opponents' defensive rebounds per game
PCT: Own team offensive rebounds per game divided by all shots missed by the own team (which is own team offensive rebounds per game + opponents' defensive rebounds per game)

Rytas is leading the offensive rebounds category as well, making them the kings of the boards in the Euroleague. Top teams such as CSKA and Panathinaikos are placed at the bottom here. Bad front line? Lack of athleticism? Or just too good shooting in the first place?

Important NOTE:

This article was written by Simon Jatsch and some comments and notes were added by me.

IonX - Revolution or Doping by the book?

The British newspapers 'The Sunday Mail' has brought up an interesting issue. The latest word in sports technology, which is called IonX. What the hell is IonX? It is a shirt called CCC BaseLayer IonX which is produced by Canterbury firm in New Zealand! But let's see how it works exactly.

• It is revolutionary in apparel technology as it delivers ionic energy to the body through a negatively charged electromagnetic field.
• It improves performance. Ionisation improves the flow of oxygen-enriched blood to bring more energy to the muscles, which increases your average power output, improving speed and strength.
• It accelerated recovery. The improvement in blood flow efficiently flushes out residual waste products such as lactic acid, which is left in the muscles after high intensity activity. Recovery is accelerated, therefore training or competition can begin again sooner.

And when i looked for more info about this innovation in their official site i found further details such as:

Electomagnetic fields saturated with negative ions have been used for decades by international militaries, international space programs and by Olympic athletes to increase alertness, attentiveness and give an overall sence of well being.

A double blind study conducted in the Sports Technolgy Laboratory at Loughborough University in England concluded that IonX represents a revolutionary apparel technology.

IonX represents a revolutionary performance apprel technology. A study conducted in the Sports Technology Laboratory at Loughborough University showed a significant increase in repetitive, short duration, high intensity exercise performance (power output) in both competitive and recreational athletes when wearing IonX versus non-ionised control garments. This improvement is likely to be functionally relevant to all team sport players or indeed anybody undertaking repetitive bouts of high intensity exercise during training or performance"

Dr Mike Caine, Senior Lecture, Sports Technology, Loughborough University UK

What are the effects of IonX?

• Increased Blood Flow
• Increased delivery of oxygen to muscles
• Increased average power output by 2.7%
• Accelerated recovery

Further more IonX garments carry a minimum of 3500 IEI. (Ionic Energy Index) which is literally the amount of energy needed to be on the top of a (really) high mountain. Just have a look at this:

Does this actually work? Apparently it does if we judge by the results of this shirt on the South Africa Rugby NT as they were the only team to wear these shirt and won the Rugby World Cup and on Portsmouth, an English Premier Division Club which is doing just fine so far.

Is it legal would the next question be. Apparently yes judging from this:

The International Rugby Board asked the World Anti-Doping Agency for a ruling. They replied that they were happy — for now. Spokesman Frederic Donze said:

'Since there is no scientific publication supporting claims that changes in the body ion charges or magnetic field distribution enhance performance, and since such technologies do not contain prohibited substances, these technologies should not be considered as a banned method to date.'

But as stated above this technology is not that new at all.

The Japanese long ago realised that standing next to a waterfall, where ionisation also occurs, makes people feel better and German scientists in the 1930s used ionisation chambers to train bomber pilots to stay awake longer and be more alert. That technology was then applied to athletes in the former East Germany and Soviet Union.

It took an American textile company, who made protective suits for the Chernobyl clean-up operation as well as Ian Thorpe's 'shark-skin' swimming outfit, to work out how to incorporate the technology into fabric. Canterbury have a 25-year agreement with that firm.

The final questions are obvious:

• How long will it take basketball clubs to get a hold of this technology and use it?

And when they do use it...

• What will it's role be?
• How will it affect their performance?
• What will be the consequences on the competition between the teams?

Imagine (for example) a Final Four Final where the teams are tied in the dying minuted of the game. Then imagine one of the two teams getting a 3% energy boost.

What's next? Re-chargeable players?

Euroleague Look Alikes 1

Is it me or were Joan Plaza, coach of Euroleague club Real Madrid and Steve Carell, a Hollywood star, were separated at birth?

Joan Plaza:

Steve Carell:

So after establishing that Joan Plaza and Steve Carell are twins, I wanted to know more about their family tree and I did some digging. Apparently they have a big brother too. Want to know who it is?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!

PS: Mahmoud, if you ever read this, please don't send the Pasdaran after me.

Euroleague Fantasy Scouting 2

Download all 24 Euroleague teams' boxscores of their weekend domestic leagues games HERE.

Demetris Diamantides and Sarunas Jasikevicius ON AIR!

Watch Demetris Diamantides and Sarunas Jasikevicius, arguably the best point guard duo of Euroleague talk about how is it playing for Panathinaikos and working with Zeljko Obradovic.

They also explain their playing styles, explaining why they do some of their moves, what are their strong and weak points and what they do in order to improve themselves daily.

I think Jasikevicius' English is a bit better than Diamantides', don't you?

Follow the Link Below:

Talking to Diamantides and Jasikevicius.

Milos Vujanic in Moscow

Milos Vujanic made his debut for Dynamo Moscow. He played for almost 20 minutes and scored 8 points, grabbed 3 rebounds and handed out 2 assists in Kazan. Upon his return to Moscow http://www.sports.ru/ looked him up to discuss his first impression of theRussian league, the chances of Dynamo Moscow of winning the ULEB Cup and the crisis of the Serbian basketball.

Q: Congratulations on your debut Milos! An away game in Kazan is considered one of the hardest games of the season but you won easily. What are your impressions from the first game?

A: The most important thing is that we won. Escaping with the win from Kazan is really difficult, especially if you consider the fact that we played without Hansen and Domercant. That is why this win has an extra value for us. I'm slowly adapting to the team, after all i have been training with the rest of the team for just a few days. I hope that my game will get better by the time.

Q: It hasn't been long since you had a serious knee injury. Does this injury still affect you? How do you feel now?

A: I'm hoping to leave all that behind me. I try not to recall this event but i have to live with it. Injuries are a part of an athlete's life. I feel great now and I'm trying to concentrate jut on basketball.

Q: Your therapies were the reason why you had asked Zoran Slavnic to delay his Nation Team selection for the Eurobasket. But your request was ignored. Couldn't the two of you reach a compromise?

A: I think that we could have reached a compromise if a third part took part in the talks. After all I didn't ask for unreasonable privileges. I just asked for a 10-days leave in order to finish my therapy and gain my rhythm. I had an extremely hard season with my club and I didn't have any time to rest at all. I couldn't find a lingua franca with Slavnic.

Q: Last season you won everything with Panathinaikos, including the Euroleague trophy. Are you satisfied with your personal contribution to Panathinaikos' triple crown, taking into consideration the fact that your playing time was significantly smaller than your average before the injury?

A: Yes, I'm totally satisfied with my spell in Greece. Because of my injury I joined the team 1 1/2 month after the season started and i needed a considerable amount of time to adapt. I was in my best shape during the Final Four where i played my best games of the season.

Q: The Euroleague trophy was the highlight of the season. But what else do you strongly recall from your stay in Greece?

A: I think that the most memorable fact is the triple crown we won. First it was the Greek Cup, then it was the Euroleague and finally the Greek Championship. It was the first time that Panathinaikos had achieved this and everyone who were involved in this feat feel very proud.

Q: The reason why you left Panathinaikos were the many transfers made of players that shared the same positions with you, which left you with minimal playing time. How do you see yourself in Dynamo Moscow and hat do you expect from your coach, Svetislav Pesic?

A: I started the season at Panathinaikos, but after the signings of Jasikevicius and Spanoulis it was clear to me that I wouldn't be getting much playing time. I talked with Zeljko (Obradovic) about this and he said that the club wouldn't mind if I looked for another club. The first offer i got was from Dynamo Moscow and i traveled to Moscow. Even if the season has fully started i think i can contribute a lot to Dynamo Moscow.

Q: What are the realistic targets of Dynamo Moscow this season?

A: I don't like looking way ahead. I think we should take game by game and gradually sort out our targets. I think we have solid chances of getting in the Final Eight of the ULEB Cup and eventually fight for the trophy. In my opinion Russia should have more than just 1 spot in the Euroleague. A nation with such a tremendous basketball tradition surely deserves another spot. Taking into considerations facts like organization, the know-how, administration i think Dynamo Moscow is definitely a Euroleague calibre club and we will try to take Dynamo Moscow there.

Q: Did you have the chance to watch how your teammates beat the Russia Champions CSKA away?

A: Unfortunately i didn't have the chance to watch the game but i was informed of the result. Beating CSKA away is extremely difficult but the result was no luck, it was the result of hard work from the team and the coach. This win verified the quality of Dynamo Moscow. Of course winning the Championship off CSKA will be even harder and we have to work even harder to be able to beat CSKA in the play-offs. The season is long, we have time and we will try to constantly progress.

Q: What is your role in the team?

A: I share the position with Samoylenko, a member of the Russian NT and Khvostov, a young and very talented player. I think that the competition between us will benefit us all.

Q: Russian basketball, both in Club and National level is on the rise. More basketball fans are expected to be created in the future which will want to see great foreign basketball players. Do you feel this responsibility?

A: I am playing abroad for five years. I have played in Italy, Span, Greece and currently in Russia. I am used to the expectations the fans have from me. As for the Russian League it is on a very high level but it will rise even more while more good clubs and players are added and more money is invested.

Q: You are a point guard, but that didn't stop you from becoming Euroleague's top scorer some seasons back. What do you like more? Scoring or making assists?

A: It is hard to tell. I have played as a point guard and as a shooting guard. My role depends on the needs of the team. In any case, the game result is by far more important than individual stats. If I score 35 points and make 15 assists and my team loses, what is the point? and when my team wins, I can't be bothered with my individual stats. The team is above all.

Q: Months before the World Championship of 2002 in Indianapolis you were drafted by the New York Knicks. Do you still think of an NBA career?

A: Why not? If I get the right offer, which will satisfy me both financially and in playing terms I would like to try my luck overseas. We all know that none can get guaranteed playing time in any team, let alone NBA teams, so in my opinion in order for one to travel to the NBA he must be sure that he will have a certain role in the team and you will get the chance to prove yourself. But thinking about all these is way too early for me.

Q: Serbian basketball is in crisis. Serbia hasn't won any medals in the past five years in major tournaments, something which hadn't happened for decades. On top of that Serbian 'star players' deny playing for the NT. What are the reasons of this crisis and how could Serbia overcome this crisis?

A: This is a subject i don't like talking about. I am a player and my job is to play and not resolving the reasons of a crisis. I am very sorry that I missed the Spain Eurobasket but I think that I'm still young and I will have more chances to play for Serbia NT. From my part I can assure everyone that I'm always willing to wear the NT jersey. It will be a bit awkward playing the Eurobasket 2009 qualification Groups but I don't see anything wrong with this.

Q: About the future coach of Serbia NT now, the name of Dusan Ivkovic keeps popping up more and more. What do you think about this possibility?

A: I want to avoid commenting individual candidates before an official announcement. It is not about the individuals and me commenting on them would not make any sense.

Euroleague Fantasy Scouting 1

To make the lives of Euroleague Fantasy Challenge players easier i have decided to help them out by offering them all 24 scoreboxes from their domestic weekend games.

You can download them HERE.

Fascism in Euroleague

How popular is fascism in Europe nowadays? Have you ever wondered? Generally speaking one can run into a great variety of fascism forms all over Europe pretty easily, unfortunately.

But I never though that fascism can be met in Euroleague basketball arenas. And I am not talking about the fans. I am talking about the officials of Euroleague clubs.

It seems that the authoritarian and arbitrary way in which Jordi Bertomeu is running the Euroleague, has made Euroleague club managements to take liberties with fascism, or just one club in particular that is.

I am referring to Maccabi Tel Aviv. One would say that as an Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv would know better than this and not affiliate fascist measures. OK, enough talking, let's see what happened.

Last Thursday a fellow Euroleague fan decided to attend the Maccabi Tel Aviv - Cibona game for the Week 5 of Euroleague. Having seen enough and being disappointed with Maccabi Tel Aviv's poor performances he decided to show his discontent about the situation with a friend. No, he did not swear at the players. He did not call for Katash to resign. He did not throw chairs, fireworks, food, whatever in the arena. He just... dared to make a banner which quoted "BYNUM OUT OF MACCABI", take it to the Nokia Arena with him and raise it during the warming up of the two teams.

The result? Well, I'll just let the fan talk for himself here:

Me and my friend had enough of Bynum. The managment aren't doing anything about it and won't release him. Same goes with Kattash and the GM of the team Zvika Sherf. So we decided to show our disapproval and made a sign which said "BYNUM OUT OF MACCABI". We arrived at the Nokia arena an hour before the game started. At around 7:30 PM (local time) we raised the sign when Maccabi T.A. players made their pre-game shots and while the entire Maccabi T.A. Staff and Management were on the courtside.

So after we raised it the Nokia Arena manager (his name is Nir Parselina) saw it and he sent two security officers towards us. They told us that if we showed the sign once more they would throw us out of the Arena.

***(AND WE ARE SEASON TICKET HOLDERS!! WE PAID MORE THAN $1500 for those season tickets!)*** So we told them that it was our right and thar Israel is not a Dictatorship. After we told them this, the security officers tear the sign from us and walked away.

Is this the Euroleague, and the European basketball in general, that we want? Where a fan, which contributes considerably to the team both financially and morally, can not express his feelings and opinions and instead sees his constitutional rights being blatantly violated in the home court of his favorite team that he and so many more people, who love democracy and freedom, supports?

I think that this incident was a huge foul from Maccabi Tel Aviv's side and that they liable to all basketball fans.

Keep rocking and balling my fellow Euroleague fans. Never Mind the Bollocks!

CSKA Moscow Cheerleaders Unplugged!

Why do I think that this will be the most popular post of this blog? Until the next one ofcourse.

Have you ever wondered how do cheerleaders look, behave, live outside the Arenas? Personally, I haven't. But I'm sure that you have...

So here we go:

Anna Burkina is the head of the CSKA Dance Team. Here she is in action in a CSKA home game:

And here she is enjoying her life:

Here is Anna Zvereva, a CSKA cheerleader

And here she is outside the Arenas:

The list goes on... Here is Evgenya Provodyna in action:

And here she is going on with her perfectly normal life...

Guess what? Another CSKA cheerleader! Please welcome Miss Darya Petrovskaya

Wanna see what she does in her free time? Why not?

I think you haven't had enough and want more... So here comes Darya Goryacheva:

Check out her hobby of... having her pictures taken...

What? You want more? Ok, ok... Ladies and Gentlemen... Masha Pozdnyakova!

Wanna know where she was on holidays this summer? On an island... i'll keep the name for myself though...

OK, I think we had enough for today... Allright, allright I'll post another cheerleader, the last one! Seriously... Miss Nastasia Zaiditinova, my favorite i would dare to say.

Here she is under the sun...

TIP: Click on the pics to see them in full size!