By Kostas Giataganas / info@eurohoops.net
If there is something that makes the Final Four in Belgrade intriguing, that’s the common denominator of the coaches of the four finalists that will compete for the European throne. That is none other than Zeljko Obradovic, who has the peculiarity of facing a former assistant (Dimitris Itoudis) and two former players, now all rivals on the benches (Sarunas Jasikevicius, Pablo Laso).
Saras, with this season’s miracle-working Zalgiris team, will go up against ZOC’s Fenerbahce in the semifinal in Belgrade (18/5), in a game with a lot at stake, but also several… subplots revolving around the relationship of the two coaches.
Obradovic and Jasikevicius are not just two people who found themselves on the same team at some point in their careers. They are two great figures who have made history throughout their career and, of course, their shared journey when they were both in Panathinaikos.
Just a few years ago the two men were fighting on the same team, as coach and player, and now they remain perfectly competitive in other basketball homes and, for Saras, in a different capacity, that of head coach.
Eurohoops chronicles their shared journey as fellow travelers in the Olympic Sports Center Athens and the destiny that now pits one against the other, to compete for the ticket to the EuroLeague final, with Saras, the student, wanting to show the teacher that he can use everything he taught him in order to beat him.