Eurocup F4 2010 - Vitoria, Spain (17.-18. april)

[ArnoldPettybone2]

Thank you ULEB for scheduling the games back to back Saturday and Sunday AND not on Friday-Sunday like all EL final fours, so we could all enjoy european football and domestic bball leagues instead of the second most important european club competition, that because of the ingenuity of the ULEB mafia is aired on 3 channels alone over the entire continent...

 

[Picek2]

ridicilously good 3pt shooting from De Colo and entire Valencia team in the first half..
De Colo has improved so much this season, if Parker decides to rest this summer frenchies doesn't have to worry..
it could even be a better thing for the frenchies to be without TP..

 

[Kwijibo2]

We have 1 spanish finalist

 

[FIBA Europe Basket2]

Good luck to both Spanish teams. This is their sole ticket to next year's Euroleague

ALBA will probably win the German League and go directly to the regular season. Even if they finish second they will go the qualifying round and only have to win one series. Either way it's very doable for ALBA to be in Euroleague next year.

Panellinios will probably finish fourth in Greece which means they will go the qualifying round and have to win two series to qualify, but if they are as good as they were this year next season, they would probably qualify.

For Valencia they have to finish third in Spain to make the Euroleague regular season. They have a chance at doing so, although I don't see them beating Baskonia.

No chance for Bilbao to qualify to the Euroleague. So most likely it is needed by Valencia to win but it's not their only chance. But it is for Bilbao. ALBA and Panellinios have a good shot at being there next year.

 

[robbe2]

ALBA will probably win the German League and go directly to the regular season. Even if they finish second they will go the qualifying round and only have to win one series. Either way it's very doable for ALBA to be in Euroleague next year.

Panellinios will probably finish fourth in Greece which means they will go the qualifying round and have to win two series to qualify, but if they are as good as they were this year next season, they would probably qualify.

For Valencia they have to finish third in Spain to make the Euroleague regular season. They have a chance at doing so, although I don't see them beating Baskonia.

No chance for Bilbao to qualify to the Euroleague. So most likely it is needed by Valencia to win but it's not their only chance. But it is for Bilbao. ALBA and Panellinios have a good shot at being there next year.

Valencia won't catch Caja Laboral or Real in the regular season anymore. They'd have to hope for one of the top teams to crash out in the quarter finals, or they'd have to reach the ACB Finals themselves by beating Barcelona in the semis. You know that's not gonna happen.

ALBA cannot qualify via the 2nd spot, Germany has only one spot that enables EL qualification. And them winning the BBL championship is far from secure. Oldenburg (1st seed in the playoffs, probably) in particular will have a word or two to say.

Panellinios can make the EL qualifying round if they finish 3rd, not 4th in Greece.

 

[FIBA Europe Basket2]

Valencia won't catch Caja Laboral or Real in the regular season anymore. They'd have to hope for one of the top teams to crash out in the quarter finals, or they'd have to reach the ACB Finals themselves by beating Barcelona in the semis. You know that's not gonna happen.

ALBA cannot qualify via the 2nd spot, Germany has only one spot that enables EL qualification. And them winning the BBL championship is far from secure. Oldenburg (1st seed in the playoffs, probably) in particular will have a word or two to say.

Panellinios can make the EL qualifying round if they finish 3rd, not 4th in Greece.

ULEB gave Germany a qualifying round place for the 2nd German club. They gave Greece qualifying round spots for the 3rd and 4th place Greek clubs. The 2nd place German club has to play one round and the Greek clubs two.

ULEB also gave the Adriatic League two qualifying round places. So yes, if ALBA finishes second in Germany and Panellinios finishes 4th in Greece, they can still make the Euroleague next season.

 

[Tap2]

i think Alba is gonna get the eurocup so no worries about the 2nd spot in Germany..i believe that Alba's place with their devoted fans is in Euroleague...!!

 

[robbe2]

Magnificent, super-disciplined win for ALBA, great basketball. Chubb with 27 points ...

@Fiba_Europe_Basket: Source.

 

[Campeondelmundo2]

ALBA was great. My money's gone ;(

 

[jMy2]

is there any possibility to view the alba - bilbao game?
strean / torrent etc. ?

 

[Gruebler2]

@FIBA Europe Basket. If you argue historically, this season ALBA got Dynamo Moskow's (Russian finalist) spot as Moskow got Lietuvos Rytas' c-licence as a wildcard. I haven't read a single word about a qualification spot for 2010/2011 EL for a German team before.

Excellent game of ALBA Berlin today. Chubb was great, McElroy a superb defender and a man for big points.

But I have to support @robbe in his opinion that ALBA is far from qualifying for Euroleague in the German BBL. The German league is different from european Basketball and as coach Pavicevic stated today: It's the league's goal not to allow a single team to stand out. ALBA's management recently pointed out that some of the league's referees might act according to this... Honestly, I can't deny that there are some strange things happening but the major problem appears to be that the German league plays a slightly different ball from the really good european leagues in Greece and Spain. ALBA clearly can compete with good European teams but is not as dominant in the German league as one would expect.

 

[Captain CAAAVEMAAAAANNN!!2]

ALBA was great. My money's gone ;(

hahaha, I had bet for Gran Canaria and Alba Berlin at the begining of the season. Gran Canaria was very close to the final four (i think it was a bucket away from making it) buy Alba is here to make me rich.

 

[robbe2]

The German league is different from european Basketball and as coach Pavicevic stated today: It's the league's goal not to allow a single team to stand out. ALBA's management recently pointed out that some of the league's referees might act according to this... Honestly, I can't deny that there are some strange things happening but the major problem appears to be that the German league plays a slightly different ball from the really good european leagues in Greece and Spain.

Please don't bring this in here as if it were a fact. That's a conspiracy theory brought up by Marco Baldi, the rest of Germany is laughing about it.

You "can't deny that there are some strange things happening" because you're an ALBA fan, I've yet to meet a single neutral person sharing the same feeling. And, in fact, some ALBA fans think it's nonsense.

That doesn't change the fact that this ALBA team is not only playing superb basketball in Europe, they're also having the cojones to complete their work by hitting the big shots. Hats off to Pavicevic, but also the players, who basically played a mistake-free game yesterday.

I think it is difficult to come up with such a performance twice in 24 hours, and Valencia has such skilled offensive players, they can still get productive results even if ALBA again does a great job denying passes. You never know, but I think this will be a double digit victory Valencia.

 

[Picek2]

hahaha, I had bet for Gran Canaria and Alba Berlin at the begining of the season. Gran Canaria was very close to the final four (i think it was a bucket away from making it) buy Alba is here to make me rich.

I had some guts feeling alba would pulled it off against Bilbao..
Pavičević at the bench was one of the reasons why I believed in that and pressure on Bilbao who were set as pre game favorits was the other one..
Bilbao still is just a small spanish club, this was too much for them..

Alba in the final is a better choice for Valencia then Bilbao, IMO..
it's not gonna be easy but Valencia should take it although I expect a completely different game then the first semifinal yesterday..
this should be a slow tempo game, defense being more important then offense..

 

[xtf_no42]

That doesn't change the fact that this ALBA team is not only playing superb basketball in Europe, they're also having the cojones to complete their work by hitting the big shots. Hats off to Pavicevic, but also the players, who basically played a mistake-free game yesterday.

I agree on this. ALBA made two mistakes as far as I remember, there was one shot of Julius Jenkins from 45 degrees midrange totally out of the system and he did not hit it. The second one was an offensive rebound situation where Adam Chubb tried a highly difficult shot instead of passing the ball out. That's it.

Berlin stayed calm despite a third quarter where they got badly hit by the referees (8-1 team fouls or something). They knew exactly what happened in the Bilbao offense (see the missed alley-oop in Q1 or the 5sec violation on inbound situation in Q2).

Now against Valencia, it will be different, there is a 2m17 tall inside player, Matt Nielsen who seems to be hot, but also de Colo on fire. But as pointed out Sasha Djordjevic yesterday on Eurosport2, de Colo played a superb 1st half coming back from injury. But coming back from injury means that you slow down after a quick start, that's what happened to the French guy in the 2nd half and what Djordjevic expects to happen in the final.

Everybody sees Berlin as the underdog, well that's the best what can happen to them. I mean, the ULEB should absolutely see that this organization deserves a Euroleague A License more than any Turkish or French team for example. Even if they have no TV support, coach Pavicevic has re-put the name of ALBA on the international map of successful teams.

 

[pohani komarac2]

ULEB gave Germany a qualifying round place for the 2nd German club. They gave Greece qualifying round spots for the 3rd and 4th place Greek clubs. The 2nd place German club has to play one round and the Greek clubs two.

ULEB also gave the Adriatic League two qualifying round places. So yes, if ALBA finishes second in Germany and Panellinios finishes 4th in Greece, they can still make the Euroleague next season.

no it did not...adriatic league will get 2 qualifying spots if euroleague qualifycations incrise number of team playin from 8 to 16

 

[KWSN-Men2]

@Fiba_Europe_Basket: Source.

Come on man, are you serious?

 

[Captain CAAAVEMAAAAANNN!!2]

I think it is difficult to come up with such a performance twice in 24 hours, and Valencia has such skilled offensive players, they can still get productive results even if ALBA again does a great job denying passes. You never know, but I think this will be a double digit victory Valencia.

I think ALBA is in a great position to win the Eurocup. For Valencia, there is too much at stake, because this might be their only chance to sneak into the Euroleague next season. That will surely put a heavy weight on the taronja's shoulders. To make it worst, De Colo and Rafa Martinez are injured. Obviously, anything can happen, but I would say ALBA has the upper hand for the moment.

 

[goga782]

Valencia is giving fits to Alba defensively. The Spaniards are too quick, too strong, too big for the German representatives. Serious injuries to key players Jenkins and Sekulic didn't help either.

Congrats to Valencia but also to Alba for reaching the final game.

 

[Dreamcatcher2]

Congratulations to Valencia.

+23 in the final, Alba scored only 44 points, total fail...I think Valencia-Bilbao would be more interesting to watch. Nevetheless, Valencia is the strongest team in this year Eurocup.