LKL

Lithuanians play basketball, learn the basics correctly, but they also have the opportunity to play professional basketball at a high level. If you allow unlimited number of foreign players in each team, then the talents of the next generation will never get a chance. Of course there might be players that are so talented to play nonetheless, but “talent production and development” doesn’t mean 1-2 players. It means a whole generation each time, that starts from an early age and reaches men’s competitions (if the chances of playing professional basketball in Lithuania are limited due to foreign players many talents will give up on basketball and choose to do something else with their lives). 
Nikos Kousoulis

In Euroleague history (the 10 years the competition is running) only 5 players have had more that 18 games in a row (without missing any games and starting from the 1st game of the season) with 10 or more points in each and every one of them. It was Dejan Bodiroga of Panathinaikos in 2001-02 that finished all 22 games of the season with 11 or more points. That same year, it was Dimos Dikoudis of AEK Athens that had the first 19 games of the season with 10 or more points. It was Marcus Brown of CSKA Moscow in 2003-04, that started the season with 10 or more points in the first 19 games (he went on to finish all 21 games of the season with double digits, but missed a game after the first 19). It was Tanoka Beard of your Zalgiris Kaunas in 2004-05 that started and finished the season in double digits, having 20 games in a row with 11 or more points.

Well, I mentioned 4 of them, but I bet that you can easily find which one I left out to mention last. Come on… the trophy is called “Alphonso Ford Trophy” for a reason! The late (and great) Alphonso Ford is by far the best scorer in Euroleague history. He played three seasons in Euroleague, he didn’t miss any games and he had 10 or more points in each and every game of every season! He went 12 of 12 in 2000-01, 20 of 20 in 2001-02 and 22 of 22 in 2001-02, summing up to an unbelievable 54 games in a row (without missing any games in between) with double digits in points! Simply… respect for the greatest of them all!

For most of the game (since the 11th minute actually) Olympiacos was better, played tougher defense getting 14 steals out of it (Greens had 5) and had more passion and energy to its game. The Reds got 17 offensive rebounds (Greens had 5) and used that to score on many occasions that their initial efforts failed. Panathinaikos had a big trouble in controlling the game and in developing a good attacking system. These all led to their defeat and the Cup went to the hands of Theo Papaloukas and Linas Kleiza. 
Nikos Kousoulis

He can play at small forward, which is something that coach Giannakis likes a lot (especially with Vasilopoulos in the team), he can shoot from outside, he can drive to the basket, he can play with his back or his face to the basket, he can dunk, he can rebound a lot and he is very, very strong for most small forwards and very, very fast for most power forwards. A player that is a tough riddle for every coach to find ways to help his players guard him.
Nikos Kousoulis

Eurobasket is starting and Greece starts its journey there. This year, we have a brand new coach, Jonas Kazlauskas, that wants to put his signature to his creation. Of course, that is absolutely logical, since every great coach wants to do so.  But this also means that some of the things us Greeks were used to watch during the previous years, won’t be here at this tournament. For example, the defense (the defense that made every Greek feel… safe) won’t be the same, strangling every opponent to the point he can’t breathe, like it was with Giannakis. This Greek team plays good, “offensive”, defense, but only for parts of the game. 

Nikos Kousoulis