To say my sin I would very much like to be on the one hand at the Palau Olimpic in Badalona tonight (2/2)…

I don’t know if after thirty years the Dream Team scent still lingers in and around him, but there will surely still be evidence of a crime!

one, did I write?

Error!

The evidence of two crimes, I mean it’s well known that the killer always returns to the crime scene!

To put things in order, tonight at 22:00 Juvedud Badalona will host Zeljko Obradovic’s Belgrade Partizan in the top derby of the 1st group of the EuroCup…

The thriller and the one… mouse

The Catalans lead the race 9-2 while the Serbs follow 8-3 and on top of that they even have to defend a very expensive and priceless point!

In the first round game on November 2nd last year, the 1992 European champion had defeated his opponent after two years with 68:67 in a thriller in which the victory slipped to one side and the other within 12 seconds!

In the 12th minute Pau Rimbas put Juventus ahead (66-67), in the 4th minute Kevin Panter scored to make it 68-67 and on the cover a myriad of things happened: Guillaume Vives’ mistake, Joel Para’s foul. Aleksa Avramovic’s two missed shots and finally Para’s missed three-pointer.

Damn the Isoma!

I don’t know if Jordi Villacaba and Juan Antonio Morales were at the old Hala Pionir that night and – anyway – what their feelings were about it…

But I’m sure of two other things: on the one hand, the heart of Zeljko Obradovic would fly, and on the other hand, they would throw the bones of Professor Aca Nikolic, whose colorful name this stadium already bears…

Incidentally, the two teams also competed in last year’s event, where they played two other thrillers where they shared the wins: 85-82 in favor of Juvedut on September 30, 2020 and 78-75 in favor of Partizan on September 30, 2020 19 November 2020 …

Three games, five points

Of course, the tangle of this story began to unfold thirty years ago, when Juventus and Partizan met in three games in which the total difference did not exceed five points !!!

In Group B (in which Aris also took part with his swan song in the elite of the Champions Cup), the Catalans prevailed 79-76 in Badalona on December 5, 1991 and in Fuenlabrada on February 6, 1992 (where the Serbs because of the civil war participated) through. with 76-75, but the pear had the tail behind …

Juvedut won their group 11-3 and defeated Cibona 2-0 in the playoffs.

Partizan finished fourth, beating Knor Bologna 2-1 at home as they played a game in Belgrade.

Thus, both qualified for the Final Four at the Abdi Ipekci in Istanbul, won the semifinals (either Badalona, ​​compatriot of Estudiantes, or Partizan Phillips Milan) and met in the Final 16^ης Apr 1992…

The “the Shot “ by Sascha

The finale was pure…drama!

Four seconds before the end, Tomas Tzofresa pressed hard on the racket and let the ball lie in the basket to make it 70:68.

The Catalans were celebrating, but the Serbs had yet to say their last word: after Predrag Danilovic’s return, the ball quickly reached the hands of Alexander Djordjevic, who sent it into the basket, marking one of the most shocking moments in European history with that three-pointer Basketball.

An unprecedented “The Shot,” that is, what only Michael Jordan had the right to bounce like that?

A shot that froze in time and catapulted a team (with an average age of 21.7), a country suffocating in the rubble of war and under a UN embargo, to seventh heaven and some careers.. .

Zeliko, like.. Bond!

One of those careers continues to this day in glory, bearing the signature of the coach who, as usual, was introduced to the European scene tonight… James Bond, written by Ian Fleming.

“My name is Obradović. Zeljko Obradović »!

Eleven months ago and while the pardoned Duda was waiting for him at the airport for the national team’s departure to Germany, where a preparatory tournament was taking place, Zots fell asleep at night as a player and woke up as a coach the next morning!

The rest is history that goes on and has now become mythology!

As soon as the final horn was heard, Danilovic climbed into the editorial office with an acrobatic leap and fell into the arms of Ivkovic, Kitsanovic, Savovic and Nikolic.

They had all become a mess, but in the euphoria the professor’s harsh voice towards Obradovic could be heard…

«Zeliko, whatever happened, happened. The Champions Cup is good, but it’s over. Look, don’t miss Saturday in the championship»!

“Partizan will take it, I tell you”!

Anyway, I celebrated it with my soul, after all I didn’t have a match on Saturday!

I was where I was … Yugoslavophile, eh, that night I broke up and renewed the oath of eternal love I had taken with them since the early 80’s thanks to the late Drazen …

I also have a little extra from those days that changed the world of basketball…

At noon before the semifinals, the phone in my room at the hotel rang (since we didn’t have cell phones at the time) and on the other end of the line was George Trapezanidis, who was broadcasting on ERT radio station in Thessaloniki.

He asked me my predictions on the air and (more out of desire and intuition than thorough basketball analysis) I dismissed that “Partizan will take it”!

Giorgos’ headset fell off, but two days later he found that it had housed a… global exclusivity!

Here are the compositions of this unforgettable finale:

PARTISAN (Obadovic): Djordjevic 23 (2/7d., 5/7tr., 4/4b., 3as.), Danilovic 25 (7/12d., 2/4tr., 5/6b.), Stevanovic 6, Koprivica 4 , Nakic 5, Rebratsa, Silobad 4, Loncar 2, Dragutinovic 2 (5p.).

JUVENTOUT (Sainth): R. Tzofresa 8, Villakamba 13 (4 / 10d., 1 / 2tr., 2 / 5b., 4kl.), Presley 20 (6 / 13d., 1.4tr., 5 / 5b.9r.) , Morales 6, Thompson 5, T. Tzofresa 18 (4 / 5d., 2 / 3tr., 4 / 6b., 6r., 3kl.), Pardo 4, Rouf 8.

Olympiakos paid for the broken ones

The… Rufiana fate hadn’t erased Obradovic and Badalona from its folds though, the bill was simply not footed by Partizan but by Olympiakos!

Zots stayed on the Partizan bench for another year and in the summer of 1993 moved to Badalona to turn the project on its head and turn “Penya” from victim to perpetrator!

And how;

Again with a big shot, only this time not on the exhale, but a few seconds earlier…

On the night of April 21, 1994 (a handicap by definition for the Greek nation due to the creation of the junta), when Olympiacos and Juventud competed on the ground at Yad Eliyahu, the Piraeus were considered favorites to win the title. .

In the civilian semi-final, Olympiakos had thrown Panathinaikos to the canvas while Juventud conceded Barcelona…

The Piraeus team did have what they called a ‘victory show’, but the 48 hours that passed were dramatic.

The excitement with Tarpley

At the hotel where the team split up, Roy Tarpley had a falling out with Papadakis (because he recalled Babis saying earlier in the season that “Roy gets a lot of money”), and word of mouth ensued and until the teammates came in the middle, their punches became cloudless.

Aside from himself, the American threw them out of the hotel and Olympiacos nearly called the Red Cross Tracing Service to find him.

Socrates Kokalis intervened immediately, while “Xanthos” collaborator Giannis Ioannidis (the so-called “Dutchman”) took over and successfully completed the difficult mission of returning the lost man!

The excitement in the team had soured and the final turned into an unexpected adventure.

Olympiacos was in the lead from the start, but suffered a blackout in the last seven minutes, took just one point and also “eaten” Corney Thompson’s fatal three with 15 seconds to go (59:57).

Thompson……s prayer

That Thompson shot may have sounded like… a prayer, as they say in such cases, but it was a product of (and) Rafa Tzofresa’s intelligence…

The blonde point guard followed the intrusion from Mike Smith, dragged Tomic with him, made the full circle of the bat, took the screen to the high post and, instead of shooting, passed to Thompson, who completed the fatal three-pointer in front of Tarpley .to continue.

Then (ending with 4”8) and while Ioannidis was pulling his jacket on and off, Paspali Smith posted he won the foul but missed both shots!

The ball reached the hands of Tomic, who found no target, while the same fate befell Paspali’s jump shot and Tarpley’s foul when the Israeli referee running a timer, David Dagan, was too slow to press the button…

God and Gastone!

The final lengthy honk found the Catalans driving out the ghosts of the city’s lost final, the Zots champion for a second time and even off the railing again and Ioannidis who was hit, Obradovic characterized as ‘Gastone’ and ended fatal conclusion that “these don’t happen in the cinema either, but when God directs something you can’t change the script»…

The compositions of the finale:

JUVENTOUT (Obradovic): R. Tzofresa 4, Villagaba 16 (5/10d., 1/2dr., 3/5b., 4r.), Smith 6, F. Martinez 17 (5/15d., 1/3dr., 4 / 7b., 10p.), Thompson 9 (2 / 8d., ½ tr., 2 / 2b., 4p.), T. Tzofresa 5, Morales 2.

OLYMPIC (Ioannidis): Tomits 10 (2/6d., 1/3tr., 3/4b.), Bakatsias 2, Paspali 15 (6/16d., 3/10b., 6r.), Fasoulas 2, Tarplei 12 (5 / 16d., 0 / 3tr., 2 / 2b., 14r., 5λ), Sigalas 14 (2 / 6d., 2/2 tr., 4 / 5b., 3r.), Stamatis, Limniatis 2.

As an epilogue, I added two personal details from that finale…

I was lucky enough to broadcast (along with Giannis Karalis, on ERT) the first final by a Greek team in Champions Cup history and when Tomic shot I yelled out of the mic, ‘It’s got to come in’, but the ball got it found an iron and done!

A few minutes later, a snapshot was taken from the dressing room, yielding the script of the show, which played on ERT after two days…

A snapshot with wildly smoking “Xanthos”, with the cup in the background and musical accompaniment with “I see you in my glass and drinking I drink you” performed by Jenny Vanou!

Time flies so the killer returns to the scene of his crimes tonight!

Thirty years older, with gray hair, grandfather, but always the same…

Zeljko Obradovic himself!