Partizan, Cibona in 2009

Although I haven’t published any articles about Cibona or Partizan this season, I’ve followed both clubs very closely.

Partizan had a lot of success last season, but most of its key players were traded in the off-season (Tepić, Veličković, Tripković, Lasme). As always, Partizan does good scouting and they acquired new players (Alex Marić, McCalleb). It is still early to say, player-by-player it reads like a net loss to me. Marić seems to be somewhat of the force inside and McCalleb has speed, quickness, and mindset to score a lot of baskets, but their long-range shooting is not as much of the threat this year and they don’t have a clear leader on the court when the game is on the line. Partizan started slow both in the Adriatic League and Euroleague.

Cibona has struggled financially, players played without the pay for some time. They were blown out by Sienna in their first Euroleague game at home. Then, they lost two more, but finally won a game at home against Zalgiris. Cibona is trying to incorporate some younger players into the roster while relying on Marko Tomas to break the defenses and score a lot of points. So far, the results have been mixed. They do have the best start in the Adriatic League in years as they haven’t lost the game their yet; coming back from Belgrade with a win against Partizan. Read more ->

What Brings Paul Pierce and Marko Tomas together?

I’d like to remind my US audience that basketball is played throughout the world. This game is second to only soccer as the most widespread ball game in the world, and one of few truly international games invented on the American soil. But when I say the whole world, I really mean US and Europe. Yes, Argentina and Brasil have good leagues; the game is gaining popularity in China by hour; Australia has put some decent teams together in the past decades. But the best players find their way either to an NBA team or to a team which plays in Euroleague. Most of the best players early in their career (Ricky Rubio) or a bit later (Luis Scola) get drafted into the NBA.

Euroleague is a serious business, fans have real passion, and the quality of basketball is very good. A lot of talented players play Euroleague hoping that it will be a conduit to the NBA, but some choose it as their final destination. For years I’ve been following some teams which play Euroleague, one of them is Cibona from Zagreb, Croatia. This year they have a solid team, but one which is not likely to go very far after the group round. Read more ->

The Outlook of the Season

First, let me remind myself and everybody else about the teams I am committed to write about. Cibona and Partizan from Croatia and Serbia respectively; Boston Celtics, arguably the most famed NBA team (LA Lakers come as very close second); BC Eagles and Harvard Crimson for college basketball; and Belmont Maruaders for high school basketball. This year I am adding the Maine Red Claws NBDL team, associated with the Boston Celtics and the Charlotte Bobcats.

Why did I chose exactly these teams. Either because they are geographically close to where I live, so I am more likely to watch live games, or because of the memories from years ago (I used to watch Partizan in the late-eighties and Cibona in the mid-nineties).

Read more ->

Partizan Gets Their First Win, Cibona Loses Big

Partizan 84 – Lottomatica 76

Partizan won their first game in the Top 16 this year by beating Lottomatica Roma. After first five minutes, the game was never really in question. Partizan was carried to victory on the wings of an excellent game by Novica Velickovic who scored 19 points and added 10 rebounds. He was active the whole night and he also had 3 assists and 1 block. The guards did their part, too. Tripkovic’s shooting was sharp last night and Tepic added 4 assists to his 9 points. The whole game, Partizan was playing off the energy of some 7,000 fans, who never stopped chanting and singing. This is a very important win for the Belgrade team. Panathinaikos defeated Unicaja in Malaga, keeping the group wide open. Most likely, Partizan will be contending for one of two spots that leads to Top 8 with Unicaja Malaga. They play Unicaja in Belgrade next week and after that game it will be clearer who has an upper hand in the fight to the next round.

A side note: Partizan has been in financial troubles for years. Every year around Christmas, these problems resurface when the arena Pionir shuts down the heat during practice (actually, they don’t shut it down completely, just turn it down to 16C, which is roughly 60F). This year is no different. Partizan management blames the city and state governments for not helping one of the premier clubs in the country. The government says that there are many segments of the society more deserving of help. The fans are frustrated, some are asking where’s the money from all the players sold in the previous years to wealthy European clubs while others are offering to send checks to the Partizan’s bank account. It counts as almost incredible that Partizan remains competitive year after year, mostly on ther home-grown talent.

CSKA 87 – Cibona 61

Cibona didn’t expect to win in Moscow, but they did expect not to be blown out. Losing by 26 points can only ruin their hard-won confidence, and almost wipe away the momentum that the great win from last week gave them. CSKA had evenly distributed scoring, with Trajan Langdon’s 18 points leading the stat sheet. For Cibona, Anderson had a decent game, with 15 points and some rebounds and assists. The veteran Prkacin added 10 points, while Calloway scored only 6 points. The most surprising stat is Davor Kus’ 0 points, and I’ll say it again: zero. Not that he didn’t play much, he was there for full 24 minutes (which is about as much as you can get in European basketball). Kus was supposed to be the leader of this team, and with this kind of leadership they won’t go very far.

The good thing is this was a sort of throw-away game for Cibona. The next game is a must win (they are playing Fenerbahce, a not particularly strong Turkish squad). Cibona has to win consistently at home and steal at list one game away. For their last game, they may play it in the newly built Zagreb Arena, especially if they are close to making it to the next round. Who knows, in front of 16,000 fans they may even give CSKA a game.

Cibona Wins Their First in Top 16

Cibona won their first game in Top 16 of Euroleague. They beat Montepaschi from Siena, one of the best clubs from Italian league. Montepaschi lost only two games this season in Euroleague (Panathinaikos and Barcelona, both away) and stands at perfect 16-0 in Italian league.

For Cibona, Earl Calloway scored 23 points and had 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Davor Kus played a good game too (13 points, 7 rebounds). This puts Cibona into good place to reach Top 8, although there are a lot of tough games ahead.

The Drazen Petrovic arena was filled to the last seat and the fans carried their team to the win. Cibona has had issues with lack luster fans in the past. Continued fan support will give them wings for the upcoming home games.

A lot of credit also goes to the coach Velimir Perasovic, one of the golden boys of Croatian basketball. He clearly understands how to put the team together and make key decisions when needed during the game. This time, the victim was Montepaschi, lost in the Cibona zone defense in the second half.