Post by Derek on Mar 17, 2015 9:29:27 GMT -6
Belgrade, Serbia – Today we’ll take a look at the Eurasian Conference Finals matchup between the London Towers and Belgrade KK Partizan. This is a chalk matchup of the top two teams in the conference who have met three times previously this season. The series was won by Belgrade two games to one but London has the decisive advantage in the history of the series. Each game this season was won by the home team and none of them were close games. Belgrade won by 30 points early in the season and 42 points late while London won by 17 in the middle of the year. Both of these squads have been phenomenal at home and we expect that to hold serve in a long, grinding series.
The biggest advantage London holds is its’ ability to not only get to the line but convert once there and that’s not good for a Belgrade squad that fouled the second most among teams in the ABCA. For some reason, teams shoot one of the highest percentages against them at the line as well. While turnovers are normally a big weakness for Belgrade, London turns it over quite often as well so this should even out. Michael Jordan has had his ups and downs against KK Partizan but we expect a big series from him. Belgrade has been known to let stars get theirs and worry about keeping the role players at bay. In London’s one win this year over them, Eddie Johnson shook loose to change that. In past playoffs, London holds a 12 wins to nine lead in head to head matchups.
However, this will be the first meeting for the two teams in the playoffs since the 2021 playoffs. That year ended afour year run of facing each other at some point in the playoffs. In 2018, London beat Belgrade 4-2 in the second round. In 2019, London beat Belgrade 4-1 in the second round as well. In 2020, London beat Belgrade 4-2 in the conference finals. Finally, in 2021 Belgrade was able to get over the hump and sweep London in 4 games in the second round. Each time, the winner of the series was to go on and play in the finals as will be the case here.
The biggest advantage London holds is its’ ability to not only get to the line but convert once there and that’s not good for a Belgrade squad that fouled the second most among teams in the ABCA. For some reason, teams shoot one of the highest percentages against them at the line as well. While turnovers are normally a big weakness for Belgrade, London turns it over quite often as well so this should even out. Michael Jordan has had his ups and downs against KK Partizan but we expect a big series from him. Belgrade has been known to let stars get theirs and worry about keeping the role players at bay. In London’s one win this year over them, Eddie Johnson shook loose to change that. In past playoffs, London holds a 12 wins to nine lead in head to head matchups.
However, this will be the first meeting for the two teams in the playoffs since the 2021 playoffs. That year ended afour year run of facing each other at some point in the playoffs. In 2018, London beat Belgrade 4-2 in the second round. In 2019, London beat Belgrade 4-1 in the second round as well. In 2020, London beat Belgrade 4-2 in the conference finals. Finally, in 2021 Belgrade was able to get over the hump and sweep London in 4 games in the second round. Each time, the winner of the series was to go on and play in the finals as will be the case here.
