2017 3x3 World Tour Prague Masters Report
The capital of the Czech Republic played host to an exciting and unpredictable tournament which serves as a terrific advert for 3x3 basketball, as the World Tour moves to its first stop in Europe.
Picture: FIBA.com
The pool stage seemed easy for Novi Sad AlWadha, who first saw out a high-scoring opener against Zagreb, then going on a rampage against Humpolec later on in the day, 22-12.
In the Pool A game sans-Novi Sad, Zagreb took a five-point lead over Humpolec thanks to composed and accurate shooting from Nikola Baran and Dario Papak's ability to attack the basket. Humpolec then slowly clawed their way back into contention, eventually taking control of the game. A final layup in traffic from Ondrej Dygryn sealed the Czech side's place on the second day of competition.
In Pool B, excellent moves from home side Ostrava saw them go on a big scoring run over Ljubljana. Jan Stehlik put the Czech side within two points of victory with 3:30 to go, after which Ljubljana woke up. Their high-pressure defence and composure at close-range saw them get to within one, but when the clock ran out it was Ostrava who celebrated.
Ostrava looked to take that momentum into their next game against Vitez. Both teams were evenly matched, and for a long time the scores were tied, but decisive two-point shot from Zeljko Palavra won it for Vitez. In the final game of Pool B, Ljubljana's big men and long-range shooters helped them stamp their authority over Vitez, who, despite their best efforts, could not overtake authoritative Ljubljana, who won 21-18.
Each team in this pool finished with one win and one loss, but Ljubljana and Vitez would advance on points scored.
Saskatoon demonstrated better teamwork than any other team in Prague, and their deadly two-point shooting easily saw out sloppy play from Kolobrzeg. In the second game for the Polish team, Kolobrzeg stepped up their defence against Belgrade, resulting in a much tighter contest. After a long scoring drought, the baskets started to come quickly with 2:30 left in the game. On-target outside shooting from Ivan Popovic and good moves from Dragan Bjelica in the paint at this decisive period of play saw Belgrade take the win 21-16.
In the game for Pool C supremacy, Belgrade, to begin with, looked the better team as they took on Saskatoon. The Canadian team looked nervous at the rim and their shots failed to drop, which Belgrade took advantage of. An unpredictable game with plenty of action, Belgrade had a slender lead going into the final minute, but Steve Sir would be the hero for Saskatoon: a two-pointer, a a layup and a foul shot, all within the final 45 seconds to ensure Saskatoon would enter day two the victors of Pool C.
Pool D opened with a somewhat stilted game between Zemun and Athens, and despite some amusing and unorthodox defence from Athens, it would be Zemun all the way, winning here 19-14. Athens were better in their second game against Krakow, their big men Thanasis Cahnias-Pantazis and Petros Melissaratos showing some good early moves. Michael Hicks of Krakow, though, was incredible: fired up, he kept finding the basket from outside the arc, and from close range whilst being boxed out by opponents. He played a big part in Krakow's 21-11 elimination of Athens
Coming down to the final game of the day, it was Zemun against Krakow for the top spot in Pool D. Both teams played well defensively, but being a high-stakes game seemed to effect both teams, who couldn't get shots to fall for them. It wasn't until the final three minutes when the points started to drop.
Bogdan Dragovic made it a three-point game with ten seconds left, and with so little time left it seemed all over for Krakow. Michael Hicks, however, drew a foul from outside the arc, made the subsequent free-throws, and with the final play of the game made a mid-range jumper to, against the odds, send the game to overtime. Krakow had kept themselves alive, and in overtime Hicks found Pawel Pawlowski for the layup to bring them within one of victory. However, no sooner had they taken the lead, Dragovic once again made another long-range shot for the win for Zemun.
Despite taking last night's game to OT, Krakow could not carry their momentum into day two, where they were overpowered by Novi Sad AlWahda in the quarter finals, 21-14.
The biggest surprise came in the Saskatoon-Vitez game: Saskatoon were on form and were in the lead for the first half of the game, but Zeljko Palavra and Marijo Blaskan combined to put the Bosnian team into the lead late in the game. With a minute to go, Steve Sir's two-pointer was blocked by Ranko Krizanovic, who handed it off to Palavra for the easy layup, which, to the surprise of many, would send Saskatoon home and the Bosnians to the semi finals.
Belgrade were not afraid to get into the physical, high-traffic areas on the court, a big reason for their slender lead over Ljubljana early in their quarter final. The Slovenians had to fight to get back into the game, as Belgrade would not let up and worked really hard on defence. Ultimately, smart plays and drawing fouls saw Ljubljana victorious.
In the last quarter final, good close-range defence and offence from Nikola Vukovic helped Zemun to see off Humpolec, who stayed in it to the end but were really no match for the imposing Serbian side.
The surprise package of the Prague Masters, Vitez now faced Novi Sad in the semi finals. Despite coming back from a four-point deficit to tie the game mid-way through, ultimately they weren't fast enough to break through Novi Sad's defence or contain their offence and were easily seen off by the number one side.
The Ljubljana-Zemun semi-final was terrific: both teams dispalying excellent skills, all players were composed and confident. Lazar Rasic and Bogdram Dragovic combined well to put Zemun in front for much of the game, and they held back Ljubljana every time they looked to be building. Zemun fought hard and gave it everything they had, but Blaz "Birdman" Cresnar and Ales Kunc stole it for Ljubljana with some late under-the-rim points.
Having been very impressive both here and in Utsunomiya, if Zemun continue their form they will see greater things happen for them as the tour goes on.
The final was the match-up 3x3 fans have been waiting for since last October - Novi Sad vs Ljubljana, the kings against the pretenders to the crown. Novi Sad's Dejan Majstorovic got the scoring underway early, and after one minute they had a 5-1 lead.
After a weekend of coming from behind to make it to the final, it seemed that Ljubljana's good fortune had run out. Against Novi Sad they looked uncoordinated and, at times, flimsy. Jasmin Hercegovac was left to pick up the slack for his team.
Quick-moving, quick-thinking Novi Sad made short work of their opponent's defence, and With Ljubljana resorting to desperation two-pointers and intentional fouls, it just became a question of when, and not if, for the Serbians - the winning basket made by Dusan Bulut with three minutes to go.
On top form all the way and having played the best basketball out of all the teams in Prague, Novi Sad were deserving winners of the third stop on the World Tour.
Prague also saw the best dunk contest so far of the 2017 World Tour, with Gediminas Zitlinka, Joel Henry and Dmitry Krivenko putting on some spectacular high-flying moves:
On an emotional weekend for him, Michael 'Money in the Bank' Hicks earned admirations and adulations as one of the stand-out individual performers of the 2017 Prague Masters. Check out some of his best moves here:
And there were some dramatic moments on show in the top five moves of the tournament:
After yet another breathless stop tournament, the 3x3 World Tour will resume on the 25th of August in Lausanne, Switzerland. Until then, head to the Lausanne Masters official website for news and updates.
