Euroleague 2009/10

#1
The Euroleague (EL), also known as Euroleague Basketball is the highest level and most important professional basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different European countries. The competition is operated by ULEB, a Europe-wide consortium of leading professional basketball leagues.


Euroleague 2010 format

Beginning with the 2009–10 season, the Euroleague's first phase will be the Qualifying Rounds, which involve eight clubs bracketed into a knockout tournament consisting of two-legged matches. The four survivors of the First Qualifying Round are paired against one another for the Second Qualifying Round, with the two winners continuing in the Euroleague. All losing clubs in the Qualifying Rounds parachute into ULEB's second-tier Eurocup.
The next phase is the Regular Season, in which 24 teams participate; from 2009–10, the participants will include 22 clubs automatically entered into the Regular Season plus the two Qualifying Round winners. Each team plays two games (home-and-away) against every other team in its group. At the end of the Regular Season, the field is cut from 24 to 16. Before 2008–09, the teams were divided into three groups of eight teams each, with the top five teams in each group plus the top sixth-place finisher advancing. Now, the Regular Season involves four groups with six teams each, with the first four teams in each group advancing.
(Thanks For Wiki)


The Groups




this year the strongest teams at the Euroleague are -
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Cska Moscow
Panathinaikos
Real Madrid
Barcelona
and Olympiacos Piraeus.


the Euroleague starts tomarrow officialy, in a game between Maccabi from Israel and Union Olimpija from Slovenia ( @ israel 21:00 CET )
 
#2
The Groups




this year the strongest teams at the Euroleague are -
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Cska Moscow
Panathinaikos
Real Madrid
Barcelona
and Olympiacos Piraeus.


the Euroleague starts tomarrow officialy, in a game between Maccabi from Israel and Union Olimpija from Slovenia ( @ israel 21:00 CET )
I think that Greek teams (Olymp and Panath) will be the best this season. Real and Barcelona are very strong and look great on paper.

Group C has two monsters of European basketball - CSKA Moscow and Maccabi TA. However, I am not so sure about them now. Maccabi is not that super powerful anymore (what happened?) and CSKA is gonna be mediocre this season - no Mikhail Prokhorov, no success. It is a very simple formula for them.

I have already mentioned this year that I am supporting BC Khimki (what a funny name :), I hope they'll win at least 2 games) and my traditional favorite - Olimpija.
 
#4
I think that Greek teams (Olymp and Panath) will be the best this season. Real and Barcelona are very strong and look great on paper.

Group C has two monsters of European basketball - CSKA Moscow and Maccabi TA. However, I am not so sure about them now. Maccabi is not that super powerful anymore (what happened?) and CSKA is gonna be mediocre this season - no Mikhail Prokhorov, no success. It is a very simple formula for them.

I have already mentioned this year that I am supporting BC Khimki (what a funny name :), I hope they'll win at least 2 games) and my traditional favorite - Olimpija.
Maccabi has a realy strong team this year, they brought Alan Anderson, Chuck Eidson (Euro cup last MVP of the year), Machaii Lampe (Poland star, he had 22.5 ppg on the last eurobusket) and Setphan Lazame..
the team is realy strong and with the fans tonight Olimpija gonna get kicked in the bat :)
 
#6
Maccabbi still looks kind of off this season, to be honest -- they didn't play a lot of strong opponents in the pre-season, it's hard to tell. They also have a whole new bunch of players. It will take time to really become a team. They do have a lot of talent, though.

However, the list of strong teams is probably accurate even if it's all the usual suspects.

I will say that I might be slightly biased in this thread as the season progresses - I am an Olympiakos girl. Can't wait for the fun to begin.
 
#7
Maccabbi still looks kind of off this season, to be honest -- they didn't play a lot of strong opponents in the pre-season, it's hard to tell. They also have a whole new bunch of players. It will take time to really become a team. They do have a lot of talent, though.

However, the list of strong teams is probably accurate even if it's all the usual suspects.

I will say that I might be slightly biased in this thread as the season progresses - I am an Olympiakos girl. Can't wait for the fun to begin.
Maccabi won 10 games from 10 preseason games, won france champion and some more teams.. not from the strong level but still maccabi won almost every game by 25+...

i live 5 minutes walk from the stadium and im moving now, Go Maccabi :)

Wait wait wait, Lampe, as in Lampe that played in the NBA? Niiiice. Napred Partizan!
and yeah its him
 
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#8
Maccabi won 10 games from 10 preseason games, won france champion and some more teams.. not from the strong level but still maccabi won almost every game by 25+...
Maybe so, but they haven't played any top Euroleague caliber team so it was impossible to pass judgement.

And as far as I remember Maccabbi didn't win all of their games. I know Winners Cup doesn't count much, but they still lost it.

Watching the Olimpija game now. It's wonderful to see the Israeli players getting so many minutes and contributing so much to the game.
 
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#9
Maccabi Won 85-65, not such a great game of Maccabi, Anderson is a super star, his gonna play in the N.B.A on the next year for sure, he has done 360 dagrees dunk and 180 one + 25 points, his Amazing...
Olimpija is a realy weak team... they had no chance against maccabi..
check Anderson on his 360 -



and by the way, Maccabi has 2 matchs against NBA teams on next week... at the 10/18 (sunday) against the Knicks at MSG and on the 10/20 (Tuesday) Maccabi against the Clippers at the staples center...

gonna be hot this year :D
 
#15
come on mother russia, CSKA, JR Holden
They are still Ok but CSKA is not gonna be CSKA good. They were absolutely dominant in Europe - 4 Finals in a row, 7-8 Finals Four in a row. Just crazy! But they lost several key players and a tremendous coach.
I was surprised to find out that Prokhorov stepped aside last season. Now we know the reason - NJ Nets.
 
#16
Maccabi has a realy strong team this year, they brought Alan Anderson, Chuck Eidson (Euro cup last MVP of the year), Machaii Lampe (Poland star, he had 22.5 ppg on the last eurobusket) and Setphan Lazame..
the team is realy strong and with the fans tonight Olimpija gonna get kicked in the bat :)
Good to know that Maccabi is gonna be a force again. It is boring without a strong yellow side.

I am a very conservative fan :) and I want historical franchises like Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Maccabi TA, Zalgiris Vilnus, Panath and some other ones to be strong.
 
#17
Good to know that Maccabi is gonna be a force again. It is boring without a strong yellow side.

I am a very conservative fan :) and I want historical franchises like Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Maccabi TA, Zalgiris Vilnus, Panath and some other ones to be strong.
You and I are so not going to get along. :) It will be a fun season. Can't wait for next week!
 
#19
Good to know that Maccabi is gonna be a force again. It is boring without a strong yellow side.

I am a very conservative fan :) and I want historical franchises like Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Maccabi TA, Zalgiris Vilnus, Panath and some other ones to be strong.
Zalgiris is not one of the biggest teams in europe.
theres 3 controling teams at europe at the last 20 years -
Maccabi, Panath and CSKA..
Zalgiris and real werent doing even 10% of the things panath, maccabi and cska have done in the last 20 years but real is still the biggest team at europe..

anywayz... Maccabi is way better than CSKA this year from 2 big reasons, 1 the Coach's.. (Pini Gershon of Maccabi) and the new unkown one of Cska.
2nd, the team, maccabi got a realy strong team after a realy bad year... Maccabi got Chuck Eidson and Alan Anderson which reminds Anthony Parker on his game..

anyway, this year is going to be intresting.

by the way, heres a good picture of the fans from yestrday
 
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#20
Zalgiris is not one of the biggest teams in europe.
theres 3 controling teams at europe at the last 20 years -
Maccabi, Panath and CSKA..
Zalgiris and real werent doing even 10% of the things panath, maccabi and cska have done in the last 20 years but real is still the biggest team at europe..

anywayz... Maccabi is way better than CSKA this year from 2 big reasons, 1 the Coach's.. (Pini Gershon of Maccabi) and the new unkown one of Cska.
2nd, the team, maccabi got a realy strong team after a realy bad year... Maccabi got Chuck Eidson and Alan Anderson which reminds Anthony Parker on his game..

anyway, this year is going to be intresting.
I know that Zalgiris is not that super now but it is a great historical team with great players, including my all time European favorite Sabonis.
They cannot compete now because their budget is so small. They have a great basketball youth program though.

And yes, CSKA is mediocre now. I mentioned that yesterday. I heard that their budget was cut significantly because Prokhorov left them after last season and their new boss is not so crazy about basketball, their talented GM Kushenko (I am not sure about spelling) left them a year/1.5 ago. Actually, pretty sad. They had a good run though.
 
#21
some videos from yestrday for you guys -

[yt=Euroleague 2010: Maccabi Tel Aviv Vs Olimpija Ljulbjana]pdf5hZ1EwY4[/yt]

[yt=Alan Anderson With, AMAZING Dunks Show]8MYk-oP1JZM[/yt]
 
#22
Knicks won Maccabi 106-91 in a one-sided game thanks to te refrees,
tomarrow Maccabi gonna play their last game at the USA against the Clippers, at the Staples Center..
 
#24
What was up with the coach...? and a Rabbi??? This is basketball not a circus.
as i already wrote -
This game was for Chairity, everyone was happy, and the refree's was at Knicks, it was One - sided because of the Refrees, and the Coach refused to leave for 15 mins.. it was strange but it was kinda right.. it was a game for Charity and the Refrees has been killing it and telling Pini to get off the court for no reason.
 
#25
He might have been right about the refs but it was no way of behaving. But let's put that aside for a minute in the light of the recent news.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1122096.html

This is so very sad and tragic. I can only send my condolences to anyone who knew him and anyone who Maccabbi was close to his heart. This man was such a big part of that. I was never a Maccabbi fan but I always had appreciation for someone who loved his team so so much.
 
#27
I don't think they will be able to cancel, contract and all. Also, the funeral is too early for anyone of the team to come back anyway. I hope that instead they find some way to honor him at the game.

Back to the actual Euroleague topic - Wednesday is the first of two evenings of Euroleague. Can't wait. Olympiakos is opening the season - even if the first game probably isn't too interesting. The other two games from our group are on Thursday, so I'll probably just watch this and maybe Ulker/Barcelona which starts 30 minutes later.
 
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#28
And back to topic... Euroleague!

Last week's results:

GROUP A
Cibona vs. Montepaschi Siena 40 - 85
Zalgiris vs. Asvel Basket 71 - 52
Fenerbahce Ulker vs. Regal FC Barcelona 59 - 82

GROUP B
Olympiacos vs. Entente Orleanaise 94 - 72
Lietuvos Rytas vs. Efes Pilsen 77 - 70
Partizan vs. Unicaja 64 - 72

GROUP C
Maccabi Electra vs. Union Olimpija 85 - 65
Maroussi BC vs. CSKA Moscow 65 - 66
Lottomatica Roma vs. Caja Laboral 77 - 65

GROUP D
Asseco Prokom Gdynia vs. EWE Baskets Oldenburg 81 - 87 R
BC Khimki vs. Real Madrid 84 - 81
Armani Jeans Milano vs. Panathinaikos 67 - 75

Group A was pretty one sided, as you can see. In Group B my dear Olympiakos got an easy opponent to begin with, but the rest of the group is pretty touch and balanced.

In group C, Maroussi was SO close to surprise CSKA Moscow... I was watching the game and it was truly a nail-biting one and pretty heartbreaking to see Maroussi score a 3 pointer 3 seconds to go, and CSKA still managing to score one of their own with the buzzer and take it.

And the suprise belongs to Group D, where Khimki just beat Real Madrid.

This week's games:

Wednesday:

Asvel B. vs. Fenerbahce Ulker
Unicaja vs. Olympiacos
CSKA Moscow vs. Lottomatica
EWE Baskets vs. AJ Milano
Real Madrid vs. Asseco Prokom

Thursday:

Montepaschi Siena vs. Zalgiris
Regal FC Barcelona vs. Cibona
Efes Pilsen vs. Partizan
Entente Orleanaise vs. L. Rytas
Caja Laboral vs. Maccabi Electra
Union OLimpija vs. Maroussi BC
Panathinaikos vs. BC Khimki

Olympiakos has its first tough game of the season, away at Malaga, but we're getting Schortsianitis back after he missed the first games of the season due to Swine Flu.