Israel, Turkey, Switzerland leagues start
As the calendar months inch closer to the end of the year, the basketball calendar continues to get more crowded with more leagues starting their seasons. This past weekend, the Israel Winner League, the Turkish Basketball League and the Switzerland LNA opened play.
Israel Winner League
The Israel Winner League opened their 59th season with 11 teams trying to knock of 50-time league champions, Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Last season Maccabi won the regular season with a 23-2 record and an margin of victory of 321 points (12.84 points per game). Their nearest rival, Gilboa/Galia, finished league play at 16-9. They then blew through the quarter-finals (best of five series), semis and finals winning every game and doing so with an average margin of victory of 25.8 points. On their days off from Israel Winner League competition the Maccabi boys keep their skills sharp in another league, the Euroleague, where they fell one point short of the final four last season.
In the opening round of games some remarkable individual performances were turned in, namely Romel Beck’s (2.01m) 29 points for his squad, Bnei Herzella, against Hapooel Tel Aviv; Beck’s teammate Niv Berkowitz accounted for nine assists and 16 points in their first round game; Eli Holman of Hapoel Eilat (2.08m, college: Univ. Detroit) scored 21 points and dominated on the boards, coming in with 20 rebounds in Hapoel’s opener with Alizur Ashkelon.
The 12 teams will play 22 games during the regular season, ending on March 3rd.
Turkish Basketball League
The Turkish Basketball League also tipped off this weekend with a 16-team field, running in a full slate of games. Last season’s champion, Besiktas Milangaz, came out on top of the TBL for only the second time, their last championship was in 1977. Besiktas took 13-time TBL champs Anadolu Efes to a sixth game in their best of seven match-up.
Three squads in the TBL also play in Euroleague competition, Besiktas, Anadolu and Fenerbahce.
The TBL plays a 30 game season with the top eight teams moving on to the playoffs. The quarter-finals are a best of three series where the winner moves to a best of seven semi-final series. The finals are also played out to a best of seven series. Week one saw some interesting game with Besiktas narrowly escaping their first contest with Turk Telecom 61-60; 2011-12 regular season champs Galatasaray Medical Park won convincingly over Antalya BSB 93-57; TED Koijliler rejoined the TBL after being in the TB2 for the last three seasons and grabbed their first win over 2011-12 TBL quarter-finalist Tofas, 81-72. Mehmet Rain took the early lead in the scoring column with a 23-point performance against Royal Carpet Gaziantep BB. Fenerbahce Ulker’s Emir Preldzic and TED Ankara College’s Nedim Yucel sit on top of the rebounding leader board with 11.
Switzerland
The 10 team Swiss LNA got underway on Saturday, Oct. 13th with three games and the final two of the first round on Sunday. The league will feature an 18-game regular season with the top eight teams entering the best of three games quarterfinals. The semifinals are best of five, as are the finals.
In 2011-12, the Lugano Tigers won regular season with a record of 20-4 as well as the playoffs, beating the Geneve Lions 3-2 in a best of five series for the championship.
In the first week of the new season, last year’s second place finisher and semi-finalist Monthey fell hard to seventh place squad Boncourt in week one, 87-71. In other games the Geneva Lions got their first win of the season on the road over SAM Basket Massagno, 93-72; Benetton Fribourg Olympic picked up a home victory against Union Neuchatel Basket, 69-61, to tip off their 2012-13 campaign; defending champs the Lugano Tigers took care of hosts BBC Nyon, 85-66; SAV Vacallo Basket traveled to Starwings Basket Regio Basel and earned a victory, 69-60.