Olympiacos guard Patrick Beverley’s journey is not what you would call conventional. After coming out of nowhere, his rise to fame screeched to a halt after academic violations at the University of Arkansas. Now, the former Razorback won’t let his wasted opportunity go to waste. The excerpt is below, and the full article is on SLAMOnline.com here.
Practice was supposed to be over. Instead, Olympiacos point guard Patrick Beverley picks up a ball and summons a coach. Armed with a football-style blocking pad, the coach digs in underneath the basket as the 6-1 Beverley lowers his head and locks in on his target some 18 feet away. Leather hits hardwood once, twice, and without warning he’s hanging in the air, ball cocked in his right hand as the left fends off the coach’s blow.
This was supposed to be my metaphor for toughness. Instead, Patrick Beverley soars above lazy clichés. While many sport folk kick around words like “adversity” and “toughness”—terms that have been emptied of all substance by today’s sports media—Patrick Beverley uses words like “blessed” and “fortunate.” A couple of years ago, you’d have been hard pressed to find anybody who would volunteer such a positive outlook on Beverley’s situation.
It’s not a basketball court, it’s a classroom. It’s not a game, it’s a learning experience. It’s not a veteran point guard, it’s a teacher. Leaving the Quicken Loans Arena this is what I felt from my experience watching the Euroleague American Tour game that featured the Cleveland Cavaliers and Olympiacos Pireaus. The final score gave the Cavs a 111-94 win, but you have to look deeper to find out what Olympiacos can learn from this game. We learned that on this team, in this game, Theo Papaloukas was a teacher in his classroom.
Through all of the accolades (Named as one of the Top 50 Contributers to the Euroleague), championships (2 Euroleague Crowns), and All-Euroleague team awards (Including Euroleague MVP honors in 2007), Theo Papaloukas cares about improving those around him and winning. On their first stop in the United States, Olympiacos lost by 19 to the San Antonio Spurs. Theo Papaloukas was the only player to have a positive plus/minus ratio both in that game and in the 17 point loss to the Cavs. Positive things just happen when he is on the court because he operates like a teacher; all he wants to do is make the other players around him better. He is properly nicknamed “The Mentor” because of his ability to learn and teach others.
“It’s fun and interesting to play these games, no stress no pressure” said Papaloukas after the game, who finished with 4 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds after averaging 8 points and a Euroleague leading 5.18 assists for Olympiacos last year. Those words frame exactly the type of game Papaloukas was playing, he forced some offense (5 turnovers), but it was always to learn something new about the team. If he bounced a ball into Big Sofo and it got tapped away, he knew that a different entrance pass was needed. If he gave Josh Childress a low bounce or chest pass on the fast break that got intercepted, he knew that he is going to have to throw it up high in the air for the athletic Childress to come down with it during the season. If he finds that Kostas Papanikolaou is always releasing back on offense after a defense rebound, then he knows he has someone to run back down the floor with.
POSTGAME: Here’s the guys’ take on the victory that could have been as well as the highs and lows from tonight’s 111-94 Olympiacos loss.
HALFTIME: Slam and Freaknick are coming to you live from Cleveland at halftime. They break down the first half and consider Olympiacos’ chances the rest of the way.
We’re here at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio getting ready for the Cavaliers vs. Olympiacos game. I’ll be giving you a live diary during the course of the game, while Freaknick will be live tweeting. Excuse any spelling errors as this will be updated immediately as the game is going, and as always comments are always appreciated.
9:23- Slam is out, I will see you later tonight with an article after Freaknick and I hit up the Olympiacos locker room. Keep the comments coming and thanks for those who followed the diary, thanks for hanging with me for the night.
9:20- Olympiacos Highest Scorer- Childress and Kleiza with 16, and yes they both had that many in the 3rd quarter.
Player I’m most Impressed with: Kostas Papanikolaou, he finished with only 7 points and 3 rebounds but he was all over the court with energy and hustle you like to see. He didn’t back down from guarding Lebron and even showed us some outside shooting along with finishing ability near the basket.
9:19- GAME OVER Final Score: Cavaliers- 111 and Olympiacos- 94. They brought it back to 17, but it just wasn’t enough
9:17- Pat Beverley is just doing work, he doesn’t care what the score is because his motor is always running. NBA teams beware
9:16- Are NBA players on steroids now or is Darnell Jackson just not fat anymore? Or is it a mystery to everyone why he is playing so well? Ok that’s enough on Darnell
With the qualifying round over and done with, the 24-team field is set for the tenth “official” season of the Euroleague. Despite losses in their final games, both Maroussi BC and Entente Orleanaise will advance to group play to try their luck against the best teams in Europe. Meanwhile, Slam and Freaknick think the Euroleague missed a chance to distinguish themselves from other European sports by bucking tradition, spicing things up, and adding a third, deciding game to the mix. Then of course, it’s on to the main event: Baby Shaq, J-Chil and Olympiacos vs. Old Shaq and the LeBrons in Cleveland. It’s sure to be a doozy, and the guys tell you who they expect to shine, who they would want on the floor with 2 minutes remaining, and are they crazy enough to think Coach Giannakis’ bunch can go back to Piraeus with a win?
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.
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