# OPEL CUP in Helsinki



## Scipio (Feb 18, 2004)

Schedule

22.09.

Scavolini Pesaro, ITA – Honka
Zalgiris Kaunas, LTU – Opel Skyliners, 

23.09.

Places 3-4
Final 1-2

A small tournament is arranged in Finland with a couple of intresting teams. Möttölä will make his firsta appearance in Pesaro in this tournament alongside Teemu and I expect them to play in the Finals...most likely against Zalgirnis.

Shouls be intresting games and at least an intresting final. I'll give you some report after the tournament. I know ItalianBBalllover must be at least a bit intrested


----------



## italianBBlover (Mar 5, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Scipio</b>
> I know ItalianBBalllover must be at least a bit intrested


:yes: :grinning:


----------



## el_Diablo (May 15, 2003)

does anyone know if sabas is going to play tomorrow (actually today)?

I'll be going.


----------



## Crazy Fan From Idaho (Dec 31, 2002)

Lucky you, if he is.


----------



## el_Diablo (May 15, 2003)

well, he wasn't. didn't even make the trip, which is no wonder since he wasn't able to play. it was said that his knees were causing him problems, and he regretted that he couldn't make the trip and play.



today's results:

honka espoo - scavolini pesaro 67-82 (30-45)

honka
hightower 20/1
nikitin 13/2
hickey 8/11
ulander 8/7

scavolini
smith 19/4
frosini 12/7
ress 11/8
möttölä 11/6

zalgiris kaunas - frankfurt skyliners 68-87 (36-46)

zalgiris
beard 22/8
bagatskis 13/3

skyliners
williams 21/9
ellis 21/3
matinen 17/3

tomorrow's program:

EET 1800 3rd place honka-zalgiris
EET 2000 final scavolini-skyliners

not much to say about today's games, but I'll start with the first one. scavolini's charles smith was pretty good from the 3pt land, and djordjevic had a couple of fantastic passes, from which their bigger players had easy time scoring... 

scavolini didn't play as well as I expected, though their win was never in danger, they were a lot better than honka. which is no wonder, I'm not expecting honka to be very good this year in finnish league if they play with that roster. scavolini probably didn't play with that high intensity, had they pressed full court all the time honka would have had BIG problems.

scavolini's ball movement was fantastic at times, and it resulted in easy baskets. they did have problems with honka's full court press at one point in the second half, but after honka had cut the deficit to 9 points after couple of steals smith hit two threes in a row and that was the game.


in the second game the germans upset zalgiris. frankfurt's defense really caused problems to lithuanians, who played a while without their starting pg ginevicius, who had a cut in his head in the second quarter. I believe it was ellis's elbow that hit him.

andriskevicius didn't play that much, sireika put him in the second half of the third quarter. they didn't run any plays for him, but he seemed really mobile for a guy his size. thin like a stick though, a bit like pau gasol physically. but I have no idea of his offensive game, since he didn't get a chance to show it.


----------



## Crazy Fan From Idaho (Dec 31, 2002)

Bummer about Sabonis. 

Thanks for the report.


----------



## italianBBlover (Mar 5, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>el_Diablo</b>
> ress 11/8


Great Tomas :yes: 

He's from my province :grinning:


----------



## el_Diablo (May 15, 2003)

today's results:

final: scavolini-skyliners 90-58 (45-30)

scavolini
smith 27/3
möttölä 12/4
rannikko 12 (four threes...)
milic 10/2

frankfurt
williams 19/14
ellis 11/3
badiane 7/13

3rd place: zalgiris-honka 91-69 (42-30)

zalgiris
serapinas 19/3
ginevicius 18/6
timinskas 16/6
beard 14/4

honka
nikitin 18
hickey 13/7
hightower 9/4
ulander 8/6

sorry, no recaps today, I didn't see the games, as we had our own game today... maybe scipio was present, or watched it on television...


----------



## Scipio (Feb 18, 2004)

Yup...i watched the games on telly so here's my take on the whole tournament. It's short because I don't have the time.

Scavolini was clearly the best team of the tournament. As finish I was quite happy to see our boys perform well. Möttölä has found a place in the team right away and played well...nothing spectacular but did OK. Rannikko had a strong second game and shot his way out of the slump he's had in national team and in the first game. Djorcevic is still smart as hell wit the ball. I really enjoy watching his game. Rarely does something stupid and is very confident. Smith...the MVP of this tournament, was solid. Hit open shots defended actively. Beally was the best player of the best team.

On the other hand there's something in MIlic that I don't like. He looks like he's overweight, doesn't play hard enough. Like the attitude is just not there.

I watched an NBA game before the final and the difference was immense. The way Scavolini passed the ball and let everyone involved is beutiful eventhough Frankfurt didn't play it's best game.

On other teams..Frankfurt is a team playing real hard defence. There really wasn't anyone who jumped over the others. Same thing about Zalgiris. Of course I was inrested to see Martyn but he didn't saw much action. Solid footwork, aggressive in rebounder, should bulk up to succeed in NBA. I liked his effort on defence. Just solid playing from an 18 year old in mans tournament.

Overall the tournament didn't have close games. I was a bit disappointed on Zalgiris because I was really looking for a tight final. But this was arranged by fins and we wanted teams with finish players and the Giant from our neighbour. I guess this was a good tournament to practice teamplay for season but it still left me a bit disappointed. But I'm happy that we saw a couple of top teams from Europe.


----------



## el_Diablo (May 15, 2003)

by the way, scavolini's "bee"-mascot was really funny...


----------

