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.
They won everything together
Their paths were destined to cross in 2007. Obradovic had led Panathinaikos to the first Triple Crown in their history, after a dominating season at home and abroad. But, because the motto of the Giannakopoulos family was “strength to strength,” the only choice was to select the best, with Saras signing an unbelievably rich contract and becoming a citizen of Athens on a galaxy of stars like Diamantidis, Alvertis, Batiste, Tsartsaris, Chatzivrettas and many others, under the instructions of ZOC.
“The reason I came to Panathinaikos was Obradovic and that decision was the best I could have made,” Saras had said about his signing with Panathinaikos and what led him there on his way back from the NBA, after flirting strongly with Olympiacos…
Jasikevicius’s three-year stint (his first) with the Greens was accompanied by many titles (three Championships, two Cups, one EuroLeague), with the 2008/2009 season being the most special, as it had a Championship, a Cup, and the European title!
This title that was won in 2009 in the Final Four in Berlin, where the best played against the best and where Saras made the difference, especially in the unforgettable semifinal against Olympiacos that was decided at the very end, in Panathinaikos’s favor. These games always intrigued the mind of the charismatic Lithuanian, who showed how many great things he was capable of on the court as a player and everything he promised to do as a coach and which we now see for ourselves.
His relationship with Obradovic had its ups and downs, with summers being something more than heated in regards to whether he was going to stay or not, however what remained the same for both of them was the common desire to win, the overpowering competitiveness and the constant mutual respect that characterizes them from then to this day.