On Friday I had the privilege of attending as a guest to witness, from the Palco Blaugrana, the match between Barça and Olympiacos. It was a pleasure to meet legends in the category of EPI, Norris, Solozábal, Flores and Ansa, with which we remember so many good times during many trips following Spain and Europe to Barça de Basketball. These were times when players and journalists shared plane, coach, train, hotel and restaurants, with total respect for both parties. There was such complicity that I became a fatigue partner, something unthinkable today, given the little identification that is established by the fleeting passage of the players by the teams. The duel between Barça, reduced by the casualties of Laprovittola and Vesely, and Olympiacos, leader of the competition, responded to expectations. A great game, which was resolved in the last second with a French Fournier basket.
In the same week, the Oaka of Athens dressed its best galas for the Panathinaikos-Fenerbahçe shock dispute, the current champion against one of the main favorites. Pure adrenaline in a deafening environment, for 40 minutes of high voltage, which was resolved with a single point (91-90) victory in favor of the premises. Under the presidency of an old known as El Serbio Leave Bodiroga, the Euroleague has won exponentially with the entry of new franchises that have given greater competition.
More and more authorized voices are, such as Aíto García Renes, who question the hegemony of the NBA, which argues its European namesake In the tactical aspect. The NBA is subjected to the tyranny of its franchise players, licensed to launch every ball that reaches its hands, while in the Euroleague it is played much more coral and with more developed tactical systems. In the old continent, progress has been made in the intensity of the game, which is less and less to envy to the one in the NBA.
But the battle horse between the two leagues is in its expansion strategies. While Adam Silver, the renovated NBA commissioner, dust off the old project to create a European conference with the support of some franchises protected by football clubs such as Real Madrid, PSG and City, the Euroleague sets its attention in the power of the petrodollars of the Emirates with the agreement by which the Final Four This year would have as a scenario the Arena Arena Etihad, while the opening of a new franchise in Dubai continues to be negotiated. Barça remains faithful to Euroleague.
#dilemma #NBA #Euroleague #Lluís #Canut
