BARCELONA — Next season, the Euroleague’s Top 16 phase will have two groups of eight instead of four groups of four. Keeping in line with the home-and-home format, that means each team will play 14 games instead of six.
Some people are digging the switch. An additional eight games mean more Milos Teodosic sleepy-eyed step backs, a blitzkrieg of bombas from Juan Carlos Navarro and, God willing, more of Petr Samoylenko’s fantastic mullet.
Others are less pumped. Having eight more games could suck the importance out of a single win, dilute that NFL-like intensity and give Vladimir Romanov enough time and attention to hire, then fire at least another couple Zalgiris coaches.
Dig it or despise it, the six-game Top 16 has left the building. But damn, did she ever look sexy walking away.
Coming into Wednesday, seven teams readied themselves for a mad scramble as half of the eight playoff spots were there for the taking. What resulted was a 30-hour blur between Wednesday’s opening tip and Thursday’s closing buzzer, full of big time performances, choke jobs and enough tiebreakers to send John Isner into an icy sweat.
Bilbao, Montepaschi Siena, UNICS Kazan and Olympiacos handled their business while Fenerbahce Ulker and Galatasaray did nothing of the sort, coughing up playoff berths in their season’s final week.
The seventh and final team vying for a spot in the next phase was Real Madrid, who flew to Siena and hung 102 points on the fabled Montepaschi defense in a stunning 102-90 road win. Yet heads hung heavily as Madrid made their way off the court, knowing that their 12-point victory was still 11 short of the 23-point margin they needed to satisfy a laundry list of tiebreakers.
Last season Real Madrid was two wins away from a Euroleague championship. This year they’ll have to watch from home. Now that Pablo Laso has molded one of Europe’s largest budgets and burped out a bummer, one has to wonder whether we’ll see him on Madrid’s sidelines at the start of next season.
Ladies and gents, your 2012 Euroleague playoff matchups (home team listed first):
CSKA Moscow (15-1) vs. Gescrap Bilbao (9-7)
Montepaschi Siena (12-4) vs. Olympiacos (9-7)
Panathinaikos (11-5) vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv (10-6)
Barcelona Regal (15-1) vs. UNICS Kazan (10-6)
The best-of-five series begin March 20. Expect an extended preview on Sheridan Hoops before they get under way. Winners advance to the Euroleague Final Four in Istanbul in early May.
Let’s see what else the Old Continent had to offer this week.
David Blatt Extends with Maccabi
Last May, David Blatt led Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Euroleague Final Four. Three weeks ago, he rescued the Yellows from the jaws of possible elimination and definite disappointment with a 75-60 win over Cantu. Last week, he led Keith Langford & Co. past Sonny Weems and Zalgiris to reserve Maccabi’s spot in the next round.
And three days ago, Maccabi rewarded Blatt with a two-year contract extension.
After Maccabi’s 70-67 loss in Barcelona (one of three Euroleague games this week devoid of playoff implications) Blatt told Sam Meyerkopf of Euroleague Adventures that Maccabi was the only club he wanted to coach.
“My experience with the organization is that if you’re doing the right things and you are loyal to the values and the vision of the club and you help bring results, then your position in the team is relatively safe,” said Blatt.
Still, the man who will coach Russia in this summer’s Olympic Qualifiers said the new deal won’t dull his drive one bit.
“You don’t get satisfied because you get a contract,” said Blatt. “You feel responsible and you feel challenged by the fact that you have to justify it.”
Asked after Maccabi’s loss to Barcelona how he would prepare for his playoff matchup with Panathinaikos, Blatt gave a very blunt, very Blatt answer: “The game just ended 20 minutes ago.”
Laker Killer Mickeal Keeps Barca Perfect
At every position past the point, Barcelona’s roster is a veritable potpourri of similarly gifted stars. With ex-Gamecock Chuck Eidson out with a sprained knee (which should heal in time for the playoffs) and Juan Carlos Navarro in street clothes for no other apparent reason than to sport his velour sweat suit, Pete Mickeal stepped in and shattered any notion that injuries had knocked the former Knick out of his prime.
Mickeal threw up season highs in points (20), rebounds (7), steals (2) and minutes played (32) in Barca’s 70-67 win over Blatt’s Maccabi team, making the Spanish champs a perfect six-for-six in the Top 16.
After the game, I mentioned to the 34-year-old Mickeal that this game “meant nothing.”
He laughed. One of few smiles the ultra-focused Laker killer cracked in about four minutes of conversation.
Now let me dislodge tongue from cheek before Los Angeles starts to throw things at me.
Weems Winless, Not Making Pals
If his Twitter account is any indication, Sonny Weems won’t be buying a summer home in Kaunas, Lithuania, anytime soon.
The weather (admittedly cold), the food (admittedly less available than in US cities) have drawn most of his ire in tweets, with boredom another recurring theme.
According to Sonny, the locals aren’t taking too kindly to his megaphoned discontent.
After a line of 17.5, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 10 regular season games, Weems’ averages dropped to 11.6, 3.2 and zero total steals as Zalgiris went 0-6 in the Top 16.
Maybe it’s not Sonny’s tweets that are bothering Kaunas.
Bobcats’ Byron Mullens to Play for Great Britain?
Charlotte Bobcats big man Byron Mullens has an empty summer schedule and a mother from Middlesex, England. Now that he’s got a British passport, we could see him in London for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Mullens is having his best year as a pro, averaging career highs in points (9.4), rebounds (4.2) and everything else, although he did lose his starting role to the 7th overall pick, 19-year-old Bismack Biyombo in late January.
Having another NBA caliber player to help out Luol Deng and possibly Ben Gordon (I’ll believe it when I see it) is always a plus, but let’s not pencil the 23-year-old Mullens into Chris Finch’s roster just yet. (Finch is Great Britain’s head coach and an assistant with the Houston Rockets.)
At his best, Mullens would be Great Britain’s third best big man behind Unicaja’s (Spain) Joel Freeland and Pops Mensah-Bonsu who, finally healthy and seemingly done with those silly NBA 10-day deals, is playing so well for Besiktas that jersey retirement could be days away.
Aside from those two, he’d have to dislodge incumbent EuroBasket starter Dan Clark of Asefa Estudiantes (Spain, too) as well, a task Byron should be able to handle.
Point being, this is not a Chris Kaman-to-Germany situation. Byron’s inclusion in the rotation, even the final roster itself, is not guaranteed.
After all, when Kaman suited up for Germany last summer in Lithuania, he had started 435 NBA games and made an All-Star team. Mullens is backing up a rookie on a team with three fewer wins than the Wizards.
Nick Gibson, editor of EuroleagueAdventures.com, covers Euroleague and other European basketball developments for SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear weekly. Click here to follow him on Twitter.