February 14, 2004 

EPISODE TWO: Tracer Milan versus Aris; European Championship Final Four, 1988 in Gent Belgium

 

 

Well, well, well… every time we approach the Lombrosian files, there’s one person who always shows up: coach Ioannis Ioannidis. This time, he was trying to lead his side, Aris Thessaloniki, to a victory in European Championship. Not by coaching, of course, since, as I said in “Tales from Lombrosia: Episode One”, he is totally unable to solve basketball puzzles, like give-and-go or pick-and-roll plays. But by applying his great “politics” ability of cursing the referees, he is good.

 

The 1988 edition of Aris did not even need someone concerning for replacements. There were only 5 players able to stand still, run and try to throw some shots towards the rim: Giannakis, Galis, Subotic, Filipou and Wiltjer… well… at least the guys in 1, 2 and 3 positions, Filipou and Wiltjer were nothing but brick-throwers and had their share of shots (mostly during pre-game warming drills), but not always: when the coach called for loose shooting drills, there were always two people under the basket, to catch the rebounds and pass the ball out to team-mates… guess who?

 

Aris could not afford a replacement, unless a player was tired or injured. In this case a guy called Lipiridis was ready to come in. And, as we’ll see, put up a true Lombrosian show…

 

Milan starters were D’Antoni, Premier, McAdoo, Brown and Meneghin.

 

Nervous start. no-one could score. Aris’ offensive play was: Galis dribbling for 20 seconds, then 1 on 1, then a shot… when double-teamed or facing a help, pass to Giannakis or Subotic. The first one who touched the ball, immediately took a shot, with the two brick-throwers to hustle for an offensive rebound. Milan, to be honest, did not much better, with McAdoo and Brown to take up the entire shooting burden.

47-45 Milan at halftime… all-time less-balanced individual scoring game: McAdoo 23, Brown 16 – Galis 20, Subotic 10, Giannakis 9. Galis was virtually unstoppable with 8-10 shooting accuracy.

After the break, defensive players lifted up. Milan subs Pittis and Montecchi, took care of Galis, limiting him to just 8 second-half points. A sixth man finally got in for Aris, Lipiridis, who blocked two McAdoo shots! Every time I watch the video tape, I have to push the rewind button 3 or 4 times, and see those blocks again and again to make sure they actually happened! They are eligible to be included in the Top-Ten Lombrosian actions of all-time.

Aris trailed for the whole second half, and was totally on Giannakis’ shoulders… a true warrior. Late in second half, highlighted a steal from D’Antoni, banking in a three-pointer from 20 feet to close the gap to two points, but Milan was simply deeper, and better, and cruised to an 87-82 triumph, to advance to the final and face up with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Ioannidis is a real lucky guy.

I’ve seen REAL coaches doin’ it for spare change, while he lives, and gets richer and richer, with basketball.

EPISODE ONE: Olympiakos vs. Buckler Bologna, Euroclub 1994-95

Let’s look at the Classic Game with Olympiakos featuring the former NBA star Eddie Johnson…an outstanding shooter, who needed just one inch of room to nail a deadly three-pointer: the Master of “in-your-face” pull-up jumpers.

 The match was played in the so-called “Palace of Peace and Friendship” (in Italy)…Peace and friendship were provided by 20,000 or so punks, who were looking forward to cheering the visiting team, by chanting them some sweet anthems (Italiano Ruffiano), and by throwing them signs of approval, like coins, lighters or glass bottles…

Olympiakos’ starting five was quite impressive: Tomic, Johnson, Volkov, Tarlac and Fasoulas, a frontline who could outsize most of NBA ones. The smaller Buckler Bologna started with Coldebella, Danilovic, Morandotti, Binion and Binelli.

We’d better point out two major mismatches: Morandotti vs. Volkov and Binelli vs. anyone taller than 6’8” of Olympiakos. Riccardo Morandotti, a 6’6” forward, was nothing but a sissy. If you were short on money, you could easily make some by betting on a 1-point-and-5-fouls-in-25-minutes performance in traveling crunch games from Morandotti.

Especially against though and big players like Volkov. Augusto Binelli, a 7-footer, was a classy and smooth player, with outside range, but too soft to face up the bulky Tarlac, and backup “Prince of Lombrosians” center Kampouris…a sort of “Young Fred against the Blue Meanies” – remember? John, Paul, George and Ringo singing: “we all live in a Yellow Submarine?”

In fact, after hitting a couple jumpers from 15 feet, Binelli virtually disappeared from the court, terminated by Kampouris, the 1987 European Championship hero, who, in the mean time, scored in a tap-in, making the crowd go crazy, by sending them sweet kisses while returning to play D, which meant knocking Binelli out…

Morandotti was just kicked in the ass. Only Danilovic and Binion, who hit a three-pointer, were effective threats, and Buckler Bologna managed to stay close, helped by useless Olympiakos coach Ioannidis, a monkey-level tactician.

There was not one single play to open Johnson, who had to create his own shots without any pick or screen.

47-36 at halftime. Olympiakos up. And hopes in. But the game turned dramatic for Buckler Bologna after returning from the locker-room. Eddie Johnson, who was sick and tired of not receiving help, hit two consecutive treys in about 30 seconds, with all four teammates behind him, no-one near the basket for an offensive rebound. Ioannidis could not open his mouth, as there was no need of offensive rebounders. The referee automatically raised both arms to the sky, indicating three more points had to be awarded to Olympiakos.

53-36 --game, set and match-- since then, 19 min and 30 sec of garbage time, with proud Danilovic and Brunamonti to settle for a 25 point margin loss. 89-64, and the triumph of Peace and Friendship, with Olympiakos fans saving a lot of money by not throwing coins towards the court.

It the end, Johnson had scored 34.