EUROLEAGUE 2020-21 season

[Mirotic12]

Larkin got it worst, cause he will play 2 35 minute games for Turkey in 3 day span, and he will go back to Ataman and play 30 minutes the very next day Some coaches do a good job resting players in Domestic front, but some do not care, that said NBA is just as demanding for some players, for others like James, he will just play far less minutes and will have lesser role, so for him NBA will be less demanding.

Watched every EL play off game so far, I really cheer for Zenit, hope they beat Goliath for Barcelona. All other series are boring, I mean Real looked better with switchy bigs Garuba and Tyus yesterday, but they just prolonging the inevitable, Larkin had a really bad game yesterday.

I don't think it is though. Dominique Wilkins reportedly felt that the EuroLeague was much more physically demanding on the body than the NBA was. He reportedly told Bozidar Malkovic that his Panathinaikos practices were harder than dealing with an NBA season.

The point is, that was back in 1995. By now, European coaches really should have let up some on their training demands.

[UcanUwill]

Unfortunately Zenit lost pivotal game 3. That said, beside short flashes, Mirotic and Calathes has been total trash in the play offs so far, Davies and Kuric carrying whole team.

[THE J0KER]

Unfortunately Zenit lost pivotal game 3. That said, beside short flashes, Mirotic and Calathes has been total trash in the play offs so far, Davies and Kuric carrying whole team.

I'm not sure how good is for the sport when some teams like Zenit (or Manchester City in soccer for example) coming from nowhere and thanks to their $$$ big-budget instantly making notable results, so I like more to see Euro-basket established giant, good old Barca, winning this series. That said I think it is good that teams like Zenit or Bayern at least have a big fan base since the start of their EL basketball project thanks to their big-brother soccer team.

[UcanUwill]

Real with another come back victory, 2-2. Team is just so much better with bigs who can switch, Garuba and Tyus, Garuba was especially impressive, completely shut down Larkin during switches. Such a fresh air from Tavares, who can be such a defensive liability.

[THE J0KER]

3 out of 4 quarterfinals are 2-2 tied. This format works!

[UcanUwill]

3 out of 4 quarterfinals are 2-2 tied. This format works!

Amazing game in Istanbul, Efes pulled through in the final seconds. Krunoslav Simon added another epic shot to his career, 2 2 1 format is something, teams without homecourt advantage in Real & Bayern got a momentum going, it is similar to old NBA finals 2 3 2 format, at the end Real came up short, we will see what Germans got up their sleeves. I will be checking out Zenit Barca game though, hope Zenit wins, kinda feel dirty cheering for Russians ha, but screw it, I am huge Pangos fan.

[UcanUwill]

Well, it is set, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Turkish clubs left standing.

[Mirotic12]

UcanUwill, have you finally accepted that Mirotic is in no way in hell an MVP level player? Larkin isn't either. Both of them were completely carried by their teams. Micic better get the MVP. If Mirotic wins, it's a complete joke award.

[Mirotic12]

Vasa Micic rightly got the MVP award. Despite some arguments here about that, no way in hell did Mirotic did deserve it.

[UcanUwill]

Mirotic chocked in the playoffs, I mean his team advanced, but no thanks to him, where Micic elevated his game after regular season.

Final 4 CSKA spanking in a nutshell :

[UcanUwill]

Nevermind about Spanking, what a comeback, almost the epicless of epic choke jobs ever. Ataman, what a POS, game, control, everything falling apart and he does nothing, what a coach, carried completely by talent on the court. You were leading by double digits all game, you cant find time to sit and rest Micic? He was so tired, everyone on CSKA were far fresher to finish the game. Terrible coaching.

[Sgt Major]

What a game

[Mirotic12]

Shane Larkin is so overrated it's ludicrous. All he does on offense is dribble and shoot around amazing screens set by guys like Singleton and Sanli. Even against switches, his offense is terrible.

He provides very little play making and his defense is beyond horrible. He's pretty much the worst defender at either guard position in EuroLeague.

It's really sad that people make ridiculous claims about him being the best player in EuroLeague history, and yes many people claim that. This site has numerous threads where multiple people make that claim. Unbelievable really. If Efes wins, and Larkin got the final four MVP, that total BS will just continue. But no one that watches the games, and has even a basic concept of basketball could possibly think Larkin is that good of a player. Half the time he's actually a clear detriment to his team.

[Mavrelous]

I hope Calathes injury isn't serious.

[Mirotic12]

Malcolm Delaney..............what in the hell was he doing in that game? He was a complete disaster.

[Mirotic12]

This Barca finals loss is on Sarunas Jasikevicius. He's totally responsible. He forced Thomas Heurtel out of the team, and decided to go with a point guard combo of Nick Calathes and Leandro Bolmaro for the rest of the season.

Calathes is known to be a complete liability on offense, in terms of shooting, in 90% of the elimination games he plays in.........

Bolmaro is a very talented player, but he's quite a ways from being a competent point guard at the level of something like a EuroLeague Final Four. He's just not that level of player currently.

Calathes got his right ankle injured at the end of the semifinal, and because of that he couldn't play effective defense in the final. Plus, offensively, he had one of his classic shooting nights, of hitting the backboard on wide open jumpers.

Bolmaro played like the level of player is he right now. Quite talented, but not ready for something like a Final Four. He was the clear weak link of Barca, and he just wasn't good enough to man the point guard position properly.

All in all, Barca 100% lost that final from the point guard position. And it was that decision by Jasikevicius to force Heurtel out of the team that looks quite ridiculous and pathetic now. They would have won that game if they could have gone to Heurtel, instead of Bolmaro.

Jasikevicius will always be one of my all-time favorite players, but his coaching personality cost him here.

[THE J0KER]

I find some similarities between this week's European champions of the Champions League and Euroleague FC Chelsea and Anadolu Efes. Not a big names in international competition in the XX century, but once big money comes into a franchise connected with competent management and all that continues year after year... so results are here, and after this season nobody will ever deny that Chelsea and Efes are European giants in their sports.

MVP Micic should try his NBA career already next season, under construction and tanking OKC team will give him all possible freedom to develop.

[Mirotic12]

Micic is a really good player, and clearly the best player on Efes, even though all the ridiculous hype by the media claims it is Larkin. That's the crazy influence of NBA marketing gimmicks even controlling European media.

Micic is bad on defense. I wouldn't call him a choker at all, but he just seems to be unsure of how to properly close out games. He's not a natural finisher or killer, not a natural closer.

But other than that, he's pretty damn good.

[Popovich]

Micic a really good player, and clearly the best player on Efes, even though all the ridiculous hype by the media claims it is Larkin. That's the crazy influence of NBA marketing gimmicks even controlling European media.

Micic is bad on defense. I wouldn't call him a choker at all, but he just seems to be unsure of how to properly close out games. He's not a natural finisher or killer, not a natural closer.

But other than that, he's pretty damn good.

Watch on YouTube

[Fundamentals21]

Congrats to Beaubois and Larkin. Extremely well played.

Micic looks like an intriguing prospect for OKC. Spurs need to grab one of these guys and dev.