IN THE GAME

Amsterdam is new Dutch champion after winning the decisive Game 7 83:71 over EiffelTowers in a series where both team had won all their home games. Teddy Gipson topscored with 26 while adding 8 rebounds, and CC Harrison finished with 21. Taron Downey had 23 for den Bosch.

Next stop is Spain, where both home teams were able to win their respective Game 1s. TAU got off to a quick start against Real behind Igor Rakocevic’s early points and established Tiago Splitter as a presence inside which the guests never had an answer for. Another key factor was the once again outstanding passing display of Pablo Prigioni at the point guard position, leading the hosts to a 91:80 win. The Felipe Reyes – Alex Mumbru tandem fought admirably in the second half to prevent defeat, but TAU, who Rakocevic and Splitter combined for 45 points for, always looked like the better basketball team in this one.

Barcelona had more difficulties with Unicaja, shooting only 5 for 26 from downtown but eventually fighting down the guests 70:62. With Juan Carlos Navarro shooting only 2 for 13 from the field, coach Xavi Pasqual’s team looked for some strong point guard play, and they found it in Jaka Lakovic’s 14 points, 4 assists and 4 steals. Carlos Cabezas led Malaga with 15 points in only 18 minutes.

Things are getting hot in Greece, where Panathinaikos will host Olympiacos this evening for the potential clinching Game 4. If “the Greens” don’t succeed, they will have to go back to Piraeus for Game 5, and nobody in Athens wants that to happen. By the way, young Florida point guard Nick Calathes is in Athens today to put signature under the agreed contract.

Aris and Maroussi are meanwhile battling out the 3rd Greek spot in the 09/10 Euroleague season on Wednesday, after Maroussi had levelled it at two apiece via a 72:70 home victory on Saturday.

The play of Angelico Biella is the feel-good-story of the Italian basketball season, and it continued yesterday when Biella drew even in their semifinal series with Armani Jeans Milano via a 82:81-overtime victory, after having lost Game 1 in Milan 70:72. Big man Luca Garri led six players in double figures with 14, but it was small guard Valerio Spinelli who came up with all the key plays in the extra period. Check out highlights here.

Benetton will host Montepaschi at 8:30 PM CET this evening, trying to level the series against the heavy championship favourite.

A-licence clubs Efes Pilsen and Fenerbahce will fight out the TBL championship between them after sweeping their respective semifinal series’. A 3:0 was to be expected in the Efes versus Galatarasay pairing, but few would have thought that Fenerbahce was able to sweep Turk Telekom, with homecourt advantage being on the latter’s side. Efes won 90:78 in Game 3 on away soil, with Charles Smith topscoring at 18 points. Fenerbahce meanwhile used excellent defense and a scoring explosion by Devin Smith [21 points] to put aside Turk Telekom 70:57, despite Willie Solomon’s subpar game.

Semifinals started with a bang in Germany where big favourites ALBA Berlin, who had already struggled in the first round against Paderborn Baskets, lost Game 1 at home to Telekom Baskets Bonn. Vincent Yarbrough and Brandon Bowman had 14 points and 7 rebounds each for Bonn, and the former hit a clutch go-ahead three in the game’s last minute for the guests. Julius Jenkins, who led ALBA with 21, missed the final shot, a rushed two pointer with three seconds left. Check out the highlights.

Courtesy of albaberlin.de

Meanwhile, Oldenburg beat Bamberg 82:74 in the other semifinal, behind Je’Kel Foster’s 22 and Jason Gardner’s 18 points. Predrag Suput and Elton Brown had 24 and 23 respectively for the guests, thus combining for 47 of the team’s 74 points.

In Latvia, BK Ventspils is LBL champion after winning decisive Game 7 last Wednesday 82:71 over Barons Riga behind Bernard King’s 20 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.

Kalev had a huge Game 5 away victory over Tartu/Rock to go into a 3:2 series lead and get the opportunity to clinch the championship at home this evening. Veteran point guard John Linehan had 24 points, 5 assists and 7 steals for the guests in Game 5.

CEZ Nymburg clinched the Czech League title, sweeping Geofin in the finals.

Zadar drew level 1:1 with Cibona in Croatia via a 83:72 victory on Saturday. Tomislav Ruzic led five players in double figures with 21, while Cibona relied too much on Alan Anderson’s [29 points, 12 rebounds on 9/21 shooting] skills.

Meanwhile, Saso Ozbolt had 23 points and 6 rebounds as Union Olimpija clinched a 2:0 series lead over Helios Domzale in the Slovenian league finals.