Euroleague Final 4 2022 (Stark Arena- Belgrade, 19-21 May)

[Jazz]

Thanks to Worrax for reminding me to make a Final 4 topic.

One thing I wasn't aware of- apparently the semi finals are on a Thursday and the final is on the Saturday? Did EL discuss this change or was it partly due to having to move the F4 to a different country only a couple of months ago?

Congrats to all the teams involved and to their fans after another strange and challenging season. It's going to be interesting to see which of them Interbasket members select as their favourites!

[Worrax]

Thanks for your interest Jazz...
Of course i'm cheering for my team, Efes. But my inner voice whispering me Real Madrid At the end of the day i want to see that psycho is wrong and Efes being back to back champions. May the best win!

[Worrax]

Any information about the players who will miss F4..?

[trey from mars]

Greek fans have bought 45% of the tickets. 16% were bought by Spanish fans, so I guess Barca and Real will have about 8% each. Only 5% went to fans from Turkey, 5% to Serbia and for some reason 6% were boaught by fans in Israel.

I intimated as much in the other thread but with the above disparity in support this F4 desperately needs strong referees.

[trey from mars]

Greek fans have bought 45% of the tickets. 16% were bought by Spanish fans, so I guess Barca and Real will have about 8% each. Only 5% went to fans from Turkey, 5% to Serbia and for some reason 6% were boaught by fans in Israel.

I intimated as much in the other thread but with the above disparity in support this F4 desperately needs strong referees.

Those were the countries with the top 5 sales, leaving about 29% of tickets bought elsewhere. I suppose it’s possible that diaspora sales might narrow the gap, eg Turks in Germany and elsewhere, but even allowing for that Olympiakos are going to be the best supported team by far. This gives Olympiakos an unfair advantage, I just hope the referees aren’t intimidated and stay strong.

[Pero]

Olympiacos played its last two finals in Madrid against Real and in Istanbul against Fener, so it would be nice to have the fans on our side for a change.

[paspalj]

Those were the countries with the top 5 sales, leaving about 29% of tickets bought elsewhere. I suppose it’s possible that diaspora sales might narrow the gap, eg Turks in Germany and elsewhere, but even allowing for that Olympiakos are going to be the best supported team by far. This gives Olympiakos an unfair advantage, I just hope the referees aren’t intimidated and stay strong.

1. It's not an unfair advantage. Tickets were available to everyone. As Pero mentioned, when the home team is playing it's natural that they'll have the majority of the tickets (for various reasons that are obvious). Now the F4 is in a place that very easily and cheaply accessible from Greece. Nothing unfair about this.

2. Are you really going to play the ref card without having seen a single minute of a game? Like what? Do you think Oly has been favored by refs in the past especially against teams like Real, Barca, and Efes? Come on now, that's just reaching.

[trey from mars]

1. It's not an unfair advantage. Tickets were available to everyone. As Pero mentioned, when the home team is playing it's natural that they'll have the majority of the tickets (for various reasons that are obvious). Now the F4 is in a place that very easily and cheaply accessible from Greece. Nothing unfair about this.

2. Are you really going to play the ref card without having seen a single minute of a game? Like what? Do you think Oly has been favored by refs in the past especially against teams like Real, Barca, and Efes? Come on now, that's just reaching.

Where one side is going to have about 10000 supporters and the other 500 that is clearly an unfair advantage, regardless of the underlying reasons. Particularly given that the game is being played at what is in theory meant to be a neutral arena.

Perhaps more than in any other sport I watch in basketball home fans can and do influence refereeing decisions and the risk here is all the greater for the vast disparity in support Olympiakos will enjoy. It’s naieve not to acknowledge this. Efes can still overcome this disadvantage, but it’s going to take strong referees who aren’t intimidated by the crowd and also the team to go into the game with the mindset that they won’t get any justice from the officials and to change their strategy accordingly, eg don’t risk contact when defending in the paint so as not to give away needless +1s, don’t challenge outside shooters so as not to give away needless second chance free throws, earn everything in open play and don’t rely on refs giving fouls in our favour. 10000 Olympiakos fans or not we have the talent to win, we just need to be smart in how we go about it.

[janketa]

Just one notice about access to Belgrade for Efes and Oly fans. Belgrade is closer distance to Istanbul then Athens.

Tickets were availabele for all like Paspalj said. Efes even had advantage one week because earlier qualify for F4

So the only reason for this majority is the laziness of Efes's fans and much smaller fan base.

[paspalj]

Where one side is going to have about 10000 supporters and the other 500 that is clearly an unfair advantage, regardless of the underlying reasons. Particularly given that the game is being played at what is in theory meant to be a neutral arena.

Perhaps more than in any other sport I watch in basketball home fans can and do influence refereeing decisions and the risk here is all the greater for the vast disparity in support Olympiakos will enjoy. It’s naieve not to acknowledge this. Efes can still overcome this disadvantage, but it’s going to take strong referees who aren’t intimidated by the crowd and also the team to go into the game with the mindset that they won’t get any justice from the officials and to change their strategy accordingly, eg don’t risk contact when defending in the paint so as not to give away needless +1s, don’t challenge outside shooters so as not to give away needless second chance free throws, earn everything in open play and don’t rely on refs giving fouls in our favour. 10000 Olympiakos fans or not we have the talent to win, we just need to be smart in how we go about it.

My guy, what are you on about right now? Your team is the defending Euroleague champion. Act accordingly please.

[Victorious]

Where one side is going to have about 10000 supporters and the other 500 that is clearly an unfair advantage, regardless of the underlying reasons. Particularly given that the game is being played at what is in theory meant to be a neutral arena.

Perhaps you are new to this, but some teams always have a disproportional amount of fans in Final Fours. Either they play at home, nearby one of the sportsclubs city, or the fans are very thirsty for victory. I remember these good old Pao-Maccabi derby's. Just amazing. Best victory Pao has had was against Ginobili's Kinder in Bologna. Sure hope this club is coming back to the Euroleague.

[ab_mj]

Where one side is going to have about 10000 supporters and the other 500 that is clearly an unfair advantage, regardless of the underlying reasons. Particularly given that the game is being played at what is in theory meant to be a neutral arena.

Perhaps more than in any other sport I watch in basketball home fans can and do influence refereeing decisions and the risk here is all the greater for the vast disparity in support Olympiakos will enjoy. It’s naieve not to acknowledge this. Efes can still overcome this disadvantage, but it’s going to take strong referees who aren’t intimidated by the crowd and also the team to go into the game with the mindset that they won’t get any justice from the officials and to change their strategy accordingly, eg don’t risk contact when defending in the paint so as not to give away needless +1s, don’t challenge outside shooters so as not to give away needless second chance free throws, earn everything in open play and don’t rely on refs giving fouls in our favour. 10000 Olympiakos fans or not we have the talent to win, we just need to be smart in how we go about it.

10000 to 500 is advantage but not unfair.

[janketa]

10000 to 500 is advantage but not unfair.

10000 loud beasts against 500 fancy Efes fans in suits is biiig adventage Not unfair of course, maybe just from EL. Around 20 capitals with big Arenas in Europe and every 4 years F4 in Belgrade

What is with Zagreb. Ljubljana, Athens, Rome, Milano, London, Tel Aviv, Ankara etc

Saying this I think that EL by changing location this season made damage to Serbian clubs. I expect they will probably have F4 candidate(Partizan or even CZ) in next 2 years but they won't host F4 next 4 seasons at least

[paspalj]

What is with Zagreb. Ljubljana, Athens, Rome, Milano, London, Tel Aviv, Ankara etc

If I'm not mistaken the London F4 bombed hard. There needs to be sufficient excitement from the home city + I believe the city needs to be willing to host.

[janketa]

If I'm not mistaken the London F4 bombed hard. There needs to be sufficient excitement from the home city + I believe the city needs to be willing to host.

What is difference between London and Belgrade, just shorter distance to Greece and Turkey

Home people don't care in both cases, 90 % of crowd are 4 participant teams fans

[janketa]

It's said many times that chances on F4 are divided in 25% ratio and all teams have the same opportunity to take the title in two games.

That was not the case many times and there were some teams with 1-2 pct to realy make something bigger then playing semi without any impact on final score.

This time is different and I would say that all 4 teams are equal, but from different reasons.

Barca has the best roster on the paper and biggest budget, they were best team in RS. I would vote for them as favorites if Higgins could be there.

Real has 2nd budget in EL and the best coach imo(from those 4). Also there are 4-5 experienced F4 players

Oly will have the most fans and the biggest support, we can say almost home court. Same as Real they have 3 multiple title winners, players who know how it's going in such games

Efes is actual EL champion with just one player missing from last season. BTW Pleiss is even better then Sanli was( if that is possible at all)

Just because Efes is the title holder and they are not worse then last season(unlike Barca and Real) I would pick them.

If not Efes, then Oly(much stronger then last season and the biggest support in the arena)

[Jazz]

If I'm not mistaken the London F4 bombed hard. There needs to be sufficient excitement from the home city + I believe the city needs to be willing to host.

Correct, the London F4 in 2013 didn't work out. It was supposed to be there in 2014 too but Euroleague decided to move it to Milan instead.

[Toruko]

Correct, the London F4 in 2013 didn't work out. It was supposed to be there in 2014 too but Euroleague decided to move it to Milan instead.

You really turned out to be an EL expert.

[paspalj]

What is difference between London and Belgrade, just shorter distance to Greece and Turkey

Home people don't care in both cases, 90 % of crowd are 4 participant teams fans

I might be wrong but I think that it’s much easier to promote your event in a city that actually cares about the sport. Citizens of Belgrade might not be interested in going to the stadium but at least they know the F4 is happening. Unfortunately basketball popularity is not exactly off the charts.

Like, assuming Athens had a couple of ice hockey rinks, would we ever host some important event? I don’t think so. It feels strange to organize something and having literally no one care about it.

[Jazz]

You really turned out to be an EL expert.

No, I've just been on here for too long.