EL2022/23 - The Playoffs

[Levenspiel]

To be honest basketball in Europe is in total decline. You can't have players as Punter, Lessort, Vezenkov, Sloukas...being the best players.

Sadly this is true. I said almost exactly the same thing earlier this year. Today, the shells of 3 great players of the older EL were enough to beat Partizan.

Quality is missing but the intensity is still there, and I really liked that aspect this year.

[Serbian_Layup]

What understadble reasons? You're making Punter an European Jordan.

I would say that losing after being 2:0 up is pretty bad, no matter what.

Ok...I won't bother anymore.

[Killer Bob]

Sadly this is true. I said almost exactly the same thing earlier this year. Today, the shells of 3 great players of the older EL were enough to beat Partizan.

Quality is missing but the intensity is still there, and I really liked that aspect this year.

Exactly. Those players were in the prime 10 years ago and sadly enough there's no new names behind, because anyone half decent young player goes immediately in Nba.

in some aspect that brings much more competitive playoffs, because there really isn't much difference in the rosters.

[Serbian_Layup]

Sadly this is true. I said almost exactly the same thing earlier this year. Today, the shells of 3 great players of the older EL were enough to beat Partizan.

Quality is missing but the intensity is still there, and I really liked that aspect this year.

Aside from the fact that Partizan had to beat Real 3 games in a row in Madrid to make the F4, also had to beat history tonight and become the first team to win G5 on away. So, it's not just 3 washed up players or crippled Real tonight, but some other aspects too which often have a lot more weight than it seems, otherwise it could have been done a long time ago when Euroleague was stronger competition.

[tonia]

Do you believe that incredibly inefficient 6/4 is enough for 1 mio + player?

And why do you think Barca bought out his 1.5 mio contract? Because they believed he's great Pg?

Barca didn't want to keep Calathes, but Fener wanted him and so did PAO. You try to give an explanation why Barcelona may wanted him out of the team but all these contradict with the fact that he signed a 2 year contract with Fener and was the personal choice of Itoudis.

[Jazz]

So Real have not only kept Yabusele on their roster but also let him attend this game and didn't even have the class to suggest he keep a low profile. Some of their other players were treating him as a conquering hero afterwards.

[Killer Bob]

Ok...I won't bother anymore.

After that fight Real has lost Yabusele for the series and they lost Deck in Belgrade. And your assessment how Real is much deeper team isn't accurate, when you know that they were playing already without Poirier, Abalde, Alocen, Causeur and Randolph being pretty useless after being out almost 1 year.
Partizan had full squad in game 1.2 and 5. Real was missing 4-6 players every game.

And about the fight. Yes Llull made hard foul, but nobody forced Punter to punch Musa.

[Killer Bob]

Barca didn't want to keep Calathes, but Fener wanted him and so did PAO. You try to give an explanation why Barcelona may wanted him out of the team but all these contradict with the fact that he signed a 2 year contract with Fener and was the personal choice of Itoudis.

And he for sure regrets it, because he was disastrous, like many times before, in playoffs. For that money or cheaper you have players like Punter, Loyd, Brown, Baldwin, Evans, Sloukas...

[Killer Bob]

So Real have not only kept Yabusele on their roster but also let him attend this game and didn't even have the class to suggest he keep a low profile. Some of their other players were treating him as a conquering hero afterwards.

Why shouldn't he attend the game?

[Serbian_Layup]

After that fight Real has lost Yabusele for the series and they lost Deck in Belgrade. And your assessment how Real is much deeper team is accurate, when you know that they were playing already without Poirier, Abalde, Alocen, Causeur and Randolph being pretty useless after being out almost 1 year.
Partizan had full squad in game 1.2 and 5. Real was missing 4-6 players every game.

And about the fight. Yes Llull made hard foul, but nobody forced Punter to punch Musa.

Don't you understand that Partizan without either one of Punter, Exum or Lessort is a much weaker team? Real can afford to lose just about anybody except Tavares, and Partizan had lost their irreplaceable players for two crucial games at home and one of them playing through injury rest of the series. That changed momentum of the series. If that didnt happen, how do you think this series would have been finished? Game 5 is something different. So far, 100% of such games were won by home teams in whatever circumstances and times. Real knew how to take advantage in their favor after G2.

By the way, Punter punched Musa only after Musa swinged at him first. So, the real question is why Musa wasn't suspended too?

And for 100th time, I don't care who Real or Partizan missed or might have missed before G2 due to injuries. Those are normal circumstances. The real swing of momentum was caused by suspensions and injuries in G2 that had hit Partizan a lot harder than Real.

I'm done with this, can't go around in circles forever.

Congrats to Real, especially to Balkan boys who bailed royal asses.

[Killer Bob]

Don't you understand that Partizan without either one of Punter, Exum or Lessort is a much weaker team? Real can afford to lose just about anybody except Tavares, and Partizan had lost their irreplaceable players for two crucial games at home and one of them playing through injury rest of the series. That changed momentum of the series. If that didnt happen, how do you think this series would have been finished? Game 5 is something different. So far, 100% of such games were won by home teams in whatever circumstances and times. Real knew how to take advantage in their favor after G2.

By the way, Punter punched Musa only after Musa swinged at him first. So, the real question is why Musa wasn't suspended too?

Game 1 was buzzer beater and in game 2 Real played without Tavares, being totally depleted in front court, nobody knows how game 3,4 and for would have ended, if both teams played everyone. But we know who has won last 3 games.

Real can't replace Yabusele and Deck and they're very thin on guards with all those injuries. Like I said before, Real was pretty bad in this series.

Maybe Punter is better boxer, because Musa wasn't even close to hit him.

[radallo]

I wasn't rooting for any particular team, since I like both... slightly cheering for PAR: my "take home message" from this rmb.par Series is "never lose your focus".

Punter lost it for a few seconds.


Then we can talk about all the rest that happened in and off the court.

[Killer Bob]

I wasn't rooting for any particular team, since I like both... slightly cheering for PAR: my "take home message" from this rmb.par Series is "never lose your focus".

Punter lost it for a few seconds.


Then we can talk about all the rest that happened in and off the court.

Totally agree. And we mustn't forget that Partizan was + 18 in second half of game 5, 15 points up just 11 minutes before end, playing with full roster unlike Real. They had everything in their hands but just weren't good enough to close the game.

[tonia]

Partizan blew their chance to participate to F4 but also to win the title. The fact that Real with home advantage ended up being underdog against Partizan says it all.

[Killer Bob]

Partizan blew their chance to participate to F4 but also to win the title. The fact that Real with home advantage ended up being underdog against Partizan says it all.

Anything can happen in F4, but experience matters the most in F4 and they have nobody with that except Obra. We have seen in game 5, how they just totally melted down, when they saw the finish.