By: Slam
The Qualifying Round is over and as the tears roll down my face. I don’t know if they are for joy (as the Euroleague season is almost upon us) or for sadness (as the qualifying madness is over). Regardless of their source, my tears mean we finally have our last 2 Euroleague teams; they are (drum roll please): Entente Orleanaise and Maroussi BC. How thrilling and exhilarating, right? Not so much. After a tremendously close opening day, this feels anticlimactic as the 2 Saturday winners (Benetton Basket and Alba Berlin) are not advancing, while the 2 teams that lost are on their way to Europe’s top level of competition. There’s no 3rd game rubber match. No chance to decide it on the court. Instead, the sum of the two scoreboards has decided the victors. Fair? Of course not. After rummaging through the wreckage here’s what I found:
Stars
Julius Jenkins- It was a win, but it wasn’t as big as Alba Berlin wanted it to be. In Berlin, in front of over 12,000 German fans Alba Berlin took down Maroussi 75-70 to force a deciding third game. Wait nope Alba scored 4 points less than Maroussi overall in 2 games and are eliminated from the tournament. This was not because of Julius Jenkins who had 32 points Sunday in Alba’s win. After making 5 threes and really keeping the offensive pace going for Alba, Julius will be missed in the Euroleague.
Gary Neal- Gary Neal wanted to be a part of the Euroleague season so badly, but it just wasn’t to be. After pouring in 29 points adding 4 rebounds and 4 assists, Neal must have been devastated by a 2 point win. Wait a win? Yes Benetton won as well but it was only by 2 points and they needed to win by 9, so no Euroleague for you Benetton. Gary, you will also be missed but don’t worry you still qualified for the EuroCup.
Stinkers
Maroussi Crowd- 950 people attended the Maroussi vs. Alba Berlin game at Maroussi. That was not a typo, 950 people attended the game. The next game in Berlin over 12,000 people came out. This is sad to see that few fans came to such an important game. This happened in the first game of the series but it needed to be addressed and Maroussi supporters need to step it up for the Euroleague season.
Two Game Series System- One more game, that’s all I ask for. In this series both teams split, which would have led up perfectly into a deciding third game. This would not take up much more time as it’s only ONE MORE GAME. With the last word, I borrow the words of my friend and colleague, Mr. Freaknicholas Gibson: “It’s a basketball game. Not a math test.“
Loading ...
“There’s no 3rd game rubber match. No chance to decide it on the court. Instead, the sum of the two scoreboards has decided the victors. Fair? Of course not.”
Of course it’s fair. This is the way things are decided in europe in both basketball and football and it is fair and square.
One match to each court, and if we have a tie point difference makes thw difference.
I realize its different to way NBA handles things, but “unfair” is a wrong selection of words.
“This happened in the first game of the series but it needed to be addressed and Maroussi supporters need to step it up for the Euroleague season.”
There aren’t supporters to step up, maroussi is lacking a fanbase which is trying to create in the last years.
And a question to slam:
if Berlin had won it by 11 points and had qualified you would still consider it “unfair”?
Or the fanbase and the full german court would made it “fair”?
You have every right to have a personal preference (i would also prefer the germans if i were neutral) but calling it unfair is rather unfair to marousi players that haven’t stole anything from anyone.
they won it fair and square, the way qualifications are handled in europe for decades.
A last comment (sorry but i can’t edit previous posts):
The games of maroussi are going to be held to OAKA stadium and not to the “empty maroussi arena” you have a photo in the “stinkers”.
First off Yannis you bring up some very good points which I took into consideration. To answer your question if Berlin had won I would still have a problem with the 2-game system. I don’t care if Maroussi or Berlin win, I just want there to be a 3rd game. I have nothing against Maroussi either, all they can do is win in the system their placed in. Unfair might not be the best choice of words but I was just trying to get my opinion out there. Thanks for the comments and it’s always good to get a variety of opinions.
Hello Slam and Freaknick. Keep up the good work guys. Having the american way of thinking when it comes to european basketball is something that is certainly missing and is interesting to hear. I was at the O2 arena. and despite being from Greece I was just there to admire the whole Alba organization, the arena and so on….While impressed with the facilities, I was absolutely disappointed with the response of the fans to the game. Apparent lack of basketball understanding. Which brings me to my point, that even if it had been a sold out game with 20 000 people or more attending, I still wouldn’t think they deserved to qualify. I’d rather have two teams from Serbia in the euroleague than two teams from basketball illiterate Germany (unless Dirk was playing for one of those teams
).
Thanks for your time slam.