The East finals started in the NBA with defending champions Miami Heat beating in overtime the Pacers thanks to a buzzer beater of Lebron James who also had a triple double with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. For the losing team, French center Ian Mahimni played for 12 minutes and had 3 rebounds.

Three games 7 were played in the first round of Legabasket’s play offs and only Roma defended its home court. The experience of Cantu prevailed over Sassari and Siena got the big road win against EA7 Milano thanks to the incredible game of Daniel Hackett (25 p., 6 as.). Milano, a team build in order to win titles, had one more unglorious exit from a competition. In the semifinals, Siena will play against Varese and Roma against Cantu.

The play offs semifinals started in German BBL with a bang. The guests won both games, Ulm after overtime and Bayern Munich with a 13 points difference over defending champions Brose Baskets. Tyrese Rice (photo) with 25 points was the leader of the winners who are now challenging the title of the team from Bamgerg.

The play offs started in Greece with Olympiacos and Panathinaikos getting easy wins, Panionios surviving after overtime and AGOR beating PAOK in Thesaloniki. However the point from Wednesday is the fact that just about 1.000 fans were present in OAKA and also 1.000 in SEF. “Where are all those people who did everything they could in order to get inside the gym for the games against Barcelona”, was the outbreak of Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos.

Mike Batiste couldn’t be himself in Fenerhahce/ Ulker and after a disappointing season he is ready to turn the page. That will happen on the courts. Despite being born in 1977 the American forward – who is still loved by Panathinaikos fans – is not thinking at all about retirement according to sources close to him and in a way that seems logical. He is one of the most successful American players in the modern history of Euroleague and this season can’t be the fitting end to his illustrious career.

Batiste is a free agent as he had signed a one year deal with Fenerbahce. He had a bad season, but was used mainly as a power forward and not as a center, the position he used to play in Panathinaikos, despite starting his career as a forward before adjusting himself to the needs of coach Obradovic’s plans.

The hottest name during last summer in the coaches market was Simone Pianigiani. He left Siena, where his spent his whole coaching lifetime and chose to continue his career in Istanbul and Fenerbahce. The cooperation didn’t had the results every expected and the Italian coach resigned on 25th of February for personal reasons. Eurohoops talked with him after the Final Four in London and focused first of all on his Turkish experience.

- Was the pressure in Fenerbahce so huge?

“My stay in Fenerbahce was comfortable. There is pressure everywhere for the coaches but in Istanbul it was normal. More or less Fenerbahce has 20 millions fans but Siena is a small city of 50.000 people and 5.000-6.000 of them were in the court. So, 10% or more of the population was there and the pressure is the same. It’s normal. But all this is less pressure than the one I put on myself”.

- Do you think that maybe the money and the huge budget of the team increased the expectations?

“When I left the team (because of my personal reason) we were in the first position in the league against teams like Efes, Galatasaray, Besiktas etc, we won the Turkish cup and only in the Euroleague we weren’t successful. But the rules are different because you must build a team with two Turkish players always in the team. Of course, I’m not happy with our results in the Euroleague, but we were in the beginning and the team was new. So, I think Fenerbahce has everything in order to have a great season in Europe. It’s a great club with great fans and they need only time. It’s normal”.

- So what’s your advice to Fenerbahce; patience?

“They need time, like everything needs time. They have everything. My experience with Fenerbahce was very good”.

- This season the Top 16 had a different format. Do you think that helped the teams and the players or made their work harder?

“It’s beautiful situation for everybody. You can see many top games between top teams. Of course it changed our habits because it’s long and tough season. Many players have games also in the summer with their national teams. But we have to handle it because we can’t change it. In the past it was easier for some teams to make a blitz and qualify in the final four. But now if you don’t have long roster and quality players it’s more difficult”.

- During the final four you talked in the Euroleague’s basketball clinic about pick ‘n roll offence, which was your trademark during your years in Siena. Do you think that “pick ‘n roll” is still in fashion or something else is coming over?

“Of course, pick ‘n roll offence will be also in the future a good situation to build an advantage to push the defense in some choice and then start to create. Although every time you find a solution in the spacing, with the motion and the time to be effective, after some years somebody will find something else to put you in trouble. And you should do one more step. This is the history of basketball, the beautiful side of the sport. Because this pushes us, the coaches, to think that we don’t know enough but keep on studying and thinking about basketball solutions”.

- As an expert who follows Euroleague, do you think that the two teams in the final, Olympiacos and Real Madrid push big heavy centers out of basketball having centers like Kyle Hines and Marcus Slaughter?

“Maybe this kind of big guys, who are very quick and mobile and can play in more switching situations also in the defense, is a solution. This is maybe the next type of play because it increases your solutions and you can play faster. But in top level you must keep reading the opponents and don’t increase the number of turnovers”.

- You are also the coach of the Italian national team in its come back in great competitions. What do you expect from your players in Eurobasket?

“We lost Galinari, who is a great player. But we have players who have desire and are growing up in the Italian league. There is a good atmosphere in the team and the federation but we don’t have so many players with Euroleague experience. This is something that we can’t predict how can affect us. But we play with enthusiasm and it’s the right moment for us to work. That’s what we can promise”.

It was a close call, but San Antonio Spurs got the overtime win over Memphis and the 2-0 lead in the West finals of the NBA. Tony Parker had a great game with 15 points and also 18 assist while Boris Diaw added 4 points and 2 rebounds. For the Grizzlies Marc Gasol was once more a force in the paint with 12 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks.

NBA Playoffs 2012-2013 – West Finals Game 2

Fenerbahce burned tones of money last summer, investing in the project of coach Simone Pianigiani and bringing established players from Euroleague in Istanbul. The plan failed, the team reached just the Top16 and on Wednesday night its season in TBL ended in the first round of the play offs.

It’s time for a reboot, but with coach Dusan Ivkovic on the bench. Fener has offered him the keys of the team and at this point it seems to be a matter of time for the final deal to be sealed. After leaving Olympiacos last summer, Duda said that he probably will not return to the bench of a club, but after a year off the court, this changed.

And as always Ivkovic has a plan, that seems to include his latest favorite “son”, Milos Teodosic. Despite the rumors, it’s not an easy task to get him, since he has a contract with CSKA Moscow. However, if the Russian powerhouse decides to release him – something the GM Andrei Vatutin denied recently – then Ivkovic can be once again his mentor and the coach that will finally help him reach his full potential.

There is also one more face familiar to Ivkovic that may also end up in Istanbul. After a great season in Gaziantep, Joey Dorsey is a free agent and can fill the void in Fener’s paint, specially in defense.

The semifinals of the Turkish TBL are almost set, however defending champions Besiktas and Fenerbahce/ Ulker are out. Banvit prevailed (2-0) over the shadow of last season’s Besiktas and Karsiyaka put the final nail (2-0) in the coffin of Fener’s disastrous season by breaking the home court advantage. The best team of the season so far, Galatasaray dispatched easily (2-0) Tofas and Anadolu Efes tied its series at 1-1, the only couple that will need a Game 3. Galatasaray will face Karsiyaka in the semifinals.

TBL Play-Offs 2012-2013 – PO Game 2

Unicaja missed the Liga Endesa’s playoffs for the second season in row and Jasmin Repesa contract wasn’t renewed only 48 hours after the new blow in team’s image. The Croatian coach led Malaga to the verge of the playoffs in Euroleague but the failure to be among the best eight teams in the Spanish league forced him to the exit door and probably to the bench of his country’s national team.

After Monday’s afternoon meeting, Unicaja’s board decided to fire Repesa and search for his successor. The first names that are in their list are Joan Plaza of Zalgiris Kaunas (photo), former coach of Caja Laboral Dusko Ivanovic and Bilbao’s boss Fotis Katsikaris. The negotiations haven’t started yet, but Malaga will probably hire its new coach soon.

After all the club still has an A license in Euroleague, will be part of the top competition of Europe also next season and that makes it a really attractive destination.