By Dennis Rzesnik
Real Madrid- Snaidero Caserta, 102-102/ 117-113 OT
Saporta Cup Final March 14, 1989
Peace and Friendship Stadium, Athens, Greece
It was in Spring 1989, one of these nights to remember of a time that seems so far away today. The shorts still deserved their name back then and Drazen Petrovic was 24 years old, played for Real Madrid in his last season in Europe and was, together with Sabonis, regarded the best basketball player on the old continent.
Real found its way to the final by beating Petrovic’s former club, Cibona Zagreb, in Semifinals.
The club from Madrid faced italian team Snaidero Caserta, that finished on 6th place in national league. The team was led by „Mao Santa“, the Holy Hand, Oscar Schmidt who was already 31 years old at that time. The brazilian legend was supported by 22 year old PG Nando Gentile who led italian Youth National Team to a third place in legendary Bormio World Youth Championships two years before.
So, these protagonists got ready, in the heat of Athens, to play a game that no one who saw it will forget.
Both teams started strong, nailing three pointers as they wanted to. American Johnny Rogers, who will win an Euroleague Title thirteen years later with Panathinaikos, scored the first basket of the game, followed by a layup of Oscar Schmidt and a three pointer by Real’s Biriukov. Gentile added a far three pointer for the italians but Johnny Rogers was really hot in the first minutes, scoring a two point shot followed by a triple (watch video). When Fernando Martin hit a three pointer, followed by one from Rogers Madrid was perfect from beyond the arc, they’ve hit all of their first six three pointers. What a start! It seemed like no one could miss a shot this night. Caserta did the right thing, they didn’t try to hit the same amount of three pointers but brought the ball under the basket for easy points by Oscar Schmidt. After D’Agnello hit a shot from downtown the score was 21:17.
Johnny Rogers, still perfect from the field made the next jumper from the left baseline and after a Turnover by Bulgarian giant Glouchkov Petrovic nailed another three to reach a score of 26:17. Caserta again was successfull under the basket with Oscar. Johnny Rogers continued his streak, hitting the next shot from downtown but Gentile had the right answer by, you can guess, a three pointer.
As much as Real was successfull in their offense their defense was unable to contain Snaidero’s Schmidt. When the score was 35:34 Oscar had already scored 16 points.
In the following minutes Drazen went hot, hitting 3/3 three pointers and penetrating good to the basket or drawing fouls, at halftime 27 points were noted for him on the boxscore (watch video). Nevertheless, Snaidero always had a good answer for Real, Glouchkov under the basket, D’Agnello from mid-range or Schmidt and Gentile from outside, the balanced scoring kept the game close, so it was an open game at halftime 60:57.
When the second half started Real tried to reach a more balanced scoring by passing the ball to Fernando Martin in the lowpost, athough the Center had not his best day till now. Caserta was able to egalize the score 64:64 for the first time when Schmidt hit a three pointer. Real’s Biriukov was on fire now, he made three shots in a row but Gentile, Oscar and Glouchkov scored also to have a score of 75:70. The game lost a bit of its dynamic in the following minutes as a lot of fouls were called on both sides, lots of free throws, you could smell the Crunch Time was coming.
Both teams tried to make plays for their Go-to-Guys, Oscar and Drazen, and both did not disappoint their coaches. A three pointer by the Brazilian diminishes the lead to just one point, 98:97. Real was under pressure in the next posession and shotclock was running down but suddenly Johnny Rogers showed he’s still in the game and hit a two-point shot from the baseline with only three seconds left on the shotclock to give Madrid a 100:97 lead. D’Agnello and Petrovic then both scored for their teams by free-throw and with just a minute to go Real was up by three, 102:99.
So it had to be a three-pointer for Caserta to reach Overtime. Who other than great Oscar Schmidt could have made it, he hit the important shot from eight meters (watch video). In the following posession Petrovic caused a turnover and suddenly Caserta had the chance to win the game but the referees did not call the foul Nando Gentile wanted with his last shot. At the end of regular time Petrovic had scored 52 points and Schmidt 41.
When the game went into overtime Fernando Martin, who was hardly recognized on court till then scored four points in a row which meant a 111: 105 lead for Madrid. But one man sowed he did not want to lose, Gentile hit a crazy three pointer from mid-court. When Real was in attack Petrovic got the ball and made a bankshot to give the spanish team a five point advantage. But it was again Gentile and it was again a swished shot from mid-court that shortened the lead to two points (watch video). Unbelievable shots by Gentile! But the croatian Guard showed why he was regarded as the best in Eurpe and took over the game, first he scored with a spin move and then he nailed a jumper in the zone to win the Cup for Real. The final score was 117:113.
So ended one of he most rememorable games in the history of basketball, the night when Oscar Schmidt and Drazen Petrovic clashed. But it wasn’t only the two, it was Nando Gentile with his crazy three pointers or Johnny Rogers with his high-percenage shooting. It was Biriukov and D’Agnello who gave important contributions to ther teams. It was the great clutch plays, the high-percentage three pointers and all that in such an important game.
Statistics:
Real Madrid: D Petrovic (62 Pts), J. Biriukov (20), F.Martin (11), J.Rogers (14), A.Martin (2) Llorente, Romay (4), Cargol (4); Coach Manuel „Lolo“ Sainz
Snaidero Caserta: F.Gentile (34),V.Esposito (2), Dell’ Agnello (18), O. Schmidt (44), Glouchkov (13), Vitiello, Rizzo, Polesello, Boselli (2), Tuffano; Coach Franco Marcelletti
To watch the videos you will need DIVX Codec 5.2. You can download the codec here: http://www.divx.com/divx/download/
All videos are 5-10 MB.
30.4.2005
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