October 24, 2008
- The first Euroleague game day of the 2008/09 season is in the books – all the home teams won their games besides Avellino (Italy) who lost to Olympiacos, and SLUC Nancy (France) who got killed at home against FC Barcelona.
- Player that impressed me the most: Loren Woods. I know Will McDonald is the Euroleague MVP of week 1, but with all the big problems in Kaunas, money problems, Loren hitting people on the court and then facing Panthinaikos, Loren pulls off a game with 17 points and 16 rebounds in 33 minutes, which means 28 ranking points for Loren. Good job!
- Player that disappointed (me) the most: Ibrahim Jaaber – come on man: you’re on my Euroleague fantasy team! I chose you for your steals and defense last season…and this time not one steal, not one assist and not even one point in 18 minutes. Thanks for your -3 ranking.
- Euroleague TV comments: I watched at least 10 minutes of every game during the first gameday to find out if the pay-more-money-for-fewer-games thing works out. I have to say that the stream works really fine and I had no problems following the games even switching between them all the time. What I did not like is the resolution offered. The windows are clearly too small to really enjoy a game and by switching to full screen you can’t even read the score because of the bad resolution. Also new this year – as far as I remember – EL.tv stays online during halftime and offers a closeup of the bench during timeouts.
- Brandon Jennings watch: Evin Demirel talks about it: It’s obvious Jennings is learning to adjust to the European game. 9 points on 3-of-7 for threes and 0 assists – not sure if this is what European basketball is about. I am sure, though, that it won’t take too long for Brandon to show his real potential and we really are looking forward to this.
- The 31st overall draft pick for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nikola Pekovic, in his first Euroleague game out of Serbia and for Panathinaikos: 14 points in 14 minutes in a 78-51 win against Zalgiris Kaunas in front of 12,000 visitors, according to Euroleague statistics.
- Speaking of Euroleague statistics: Marques Greens (Fenerbahce) played 30 minutes and had 5 points by making one two-pointer, one three-pointer and two free throws. Please tell me that this still would equal 7 points.
- Same game, same problem – Gasper Vidmar: 1-of-2 on free throws equals 3 points right?
- Josh Childress watch: 14 points, 8 rebounds in 25 minutes with a ranking of 22. Josh, learn to look at these ranking points – This is what Europe, especially Euroleague fantasy players, will judge you for. Here are the highlights.
- Finally our thoughts on the Euroleague TV commentators. Overall judge – funny and entertaining – with insightful comments in a true European/Italian way (in terms of pronunciation and passion). Really disappointing is the only guy who seems to be an American. His English might be perfect but the way he commentates a game made me fall asleep while Unicaja and Le Mans were actually playing a very interesting game. We know that he had problems with European names: problems with European names in the past, but I am sure, if you prepare a little bit for a game you can see that David Bluthenthal is not spelled David BLUMENthal, which in German means David Flowerthal, by the way.
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This post was published on October 24, 2008
