By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The main topic of discussion for Lenovo Tenerife and Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem will be clinching a berth in the championship game of the 2023 Basketball Champions League Final Four. Not all to it, but head coaches Txus Vidorreta and Aleksandar Dzikic will be giving instructions hoping to maximize advantages on both ends of the court.
The defending champions and the Jerusalem outfit will face each other in Malaga on Friday. Hosting Unicaja and Telekom Baskets Bonn shape the other matchup on the Semifinals schedule. Winners going to the first-place game and losers to the third-place game will then conclude the season-ending tournament on Sunday.
Two players to face each other in the semis, Giorgi Shermadini and Levi Randolph are on the brink of scoring milestones. Certainly a huge part of the plan for Tenerife and Hapoel Jerusalem, they will naturally focus on getting the job done on the team level. An additional bonus attached to a potential win and a consolation on the opposite end in nearly unique achievements.
Georgia scoring machine
Hoping to stay with his current club for the remainder of his career, the experienced Georgian center is looking to contribute to back-to-back Champions League titles, therefore drawing a place on the list of players connected to multiple Tenerife championships.
Shermadini, 34, needs nine points to become the second player in BCL history with more than 900 points to his name. With 891 points, every single one with Tenerife, he only trails Vojtech Hruban on the all-time scoring list.
Coming in hot
Randolph, 30, will enter the Final Four on a hot streak and with a total of 797 points. He is destined to become the third player to reach the 800-point mark. And in the process will also break the current tie with longtime JDA Dijon floor general David Holston.
The Alabama product played for Sidigas Avellino, Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari, SIG Strasbourg, and Filou Oostende over three earlier campaigns in FIBA’s top-tier European club continental competition, before moving his talents to the Israeli club. Pouring 53 points through Games 2 and 3 of the eventful Quarterfinals best-of-three series opposite AEK fueled his best two-game combo ever in the league.
Tim Abromaitis to place fifth
Apart from the milestones, the list with the top scorers features yet another Final Four participant, Tenerife’s Tim Abromaitis. Similar to Randolph, one point would separate him from Miro Bilan to lone possession of the fifth spot.
Abromaitis, 30, was a member of the championship squad of the inaugural season back in 2016-17. Spending the 2021-22 season at Unicaja, his only Champions League experience outside the team based in the Canary Islands, he returned to familiar territory this season on a mission to become a two-time champion.