2003-04Regular SeasonRound 4
November 26, 2003 CET: 20:40
Local time: 20:40 ZAVOD TIVOLI

It took FC Barcelona six trips to Ljubljana to take its first win in Union Olimpija's home. With five players scoring in double digits, led by Dejan Bodiroga with 15 points, the Euroleague defending champs defeated the hosts by 63-69. For Barca, still unbeaten at 4-0, Rodrigo de la Fuente added 13 points, Patrick Femerling and Vlatko Ilievski, the latter coming back home to play the team he left last summer, added 12 apiece and Gregor Fucka nailed 11. Union Olimpija, whose second home loss in a row saw its record drop to 2-2, had three players score in double digits: Vladimer Boisa had 18, Marino Bazdaric added 14 and Marko Maravic posted 13.

The game was only balanced in the first 3 minutes, 4-4, and exactly 60 seconds after that, the guests turned the game inside out with a 4-13 run that forced Olimpija coach Saso Filipovski's first timeout. If Filipovski wasn't able to warn his players about the dangers of Barca during the week, needless to say that he could so little in 60 seconds. So the guests just kept rolling. With his second triple, De la Fuente put the guests up 6-18 in minute 7, and only thanks to some good outside shots did Olimpija cut the deficit a little, to 13-20, after 10 minutes.

The crowd that packed the Tivoli Arena roared when Bazdaric scored for 15-20 to open the second quarter, but the stands went silent again soon as Barca pulled away to 15-25. While Barcelona coach Svetislav Pesic utilized his rotations to rest his starters, Filipovski desperately searched a player on fire in his team as neither Bazdaric nor Vladimer Boisa nor Roberts Stelmahers could break the Catalan defense. In minute 15, after running out of players and with Dzenan Rahimic out due to injury, he chose Darrell Tucker, who until now had seen few minutes on court. Filipovski didn't have any answers, and the repertoire of the guests on offense made things easy for Barca. Olimpija missed 12 triples (2 of 14) and ended the first 20 minutes down 28-37.

If the nine-point deficit looked like a semi-open door for the hosts after resumption, Ilievski's triple shut it close in minute 24, 31-44. Even though the Slovenians kept up their fighting reputation and cut the deficit down to 5 points, 43-48, after 2 straight triples by Bazdaric, the win of Barcelona was never threatened. Fucka, Bodiroga and Ilievski were the guarantee for success. With 6 minutes to go, Barcelona had again an easy lead of 46-56. Again, Olimpija cut that to half, 51-56, and even came within 3 points, 60-63, with less than 3 minutes to play. Olimpija had two offensive plays in its hands to make it closer, but nothing came of either, and with 75 seconds left, Bodiroga and Fucka wouldn't let the win slip from the champs' hands.

Thursday, November 27, 2003
Ziga Bojc, Ljubljana
No results found.
Referees: RADONJIC, GORAN; COLUCCI, GENARO; ROTH, ANDREAS
Attendance: 3938
By Quarter1234
Union Olimpija13151322
FC Barcelona20171121
End of Quarter1234
Union Olimpija13284163
FC Barcelona20374869
Union Olimpija
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 MALI, GREGA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 BAZDARIC, MARINO 25:15 14 1/4 4/8   1 1 2 1 3 2     3 3 11
7 BOISA, VLADIMER 32:15 18 2/4 2/6 8/8 2 1 3 1 1       5 6 18
10 STELMAHERS, ROBERTS 28:30 2 1/4 0/2     2 2 2 1 2       4 4
13 MARAVIC, MARKO 33:30 13 4/7 1/2 2/3 2 5 7 1   1     3 3 15
14 SMIGIC, DANILO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 ZAGORAC, SASA 3:00                   1     1   -2
22 PETROV, SIMON 18:45 6 0/3 2/5   1   1 3 1       4   1
25 ANAGONYE, ALOYSIUS 20:15 2 1/4     2   2   2   1   3   1
30 PAVIC, SMILJAN 16:45 6 3/7 0/1   1 1 2       1 1 2   1
31 OZBOLT, SASO 17:15 2 1/1 0/1   1   1 2         1   3
34 TUCKER, DARRELL 4:30     0/2         1 1 1     2   -3
Team                   2 2          
Totals 200:00 63 13/34 9/27 10/11 10 10 20 11 11 9 2 1 24 16 49
        38.2% 33.3% 90.9%
Head coach: FILIPOVSKI, SASO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
FC Barcelona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 RODRIGUEZ, NACHO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6 ILIEVSKI, VLADO 31:15 12 1/2 2/3 4/4   4 4 6 3 4   1   5 23
7 FUCKA, GREGOR 29:00 11 4/7   3/3 2   2 1 1 4     4 4 8
8 FEMERLING, PATRICK 33:00 12 6/7     3 6 9 1   3 1   3 2 18
9 BRAVO, CESAR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 BODIROGA, DEJAN 32:00 15 3/7   9/12   4 4 3   2   1 1 7 18
11 NAVARRO, JUAN CARLOS 16:00 4 1/1 0/1 2/2   2 2     1     1 2 5
12 DUENAS, ROBERTO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 DE LA FUENTE, RODRIGO 34:15 13 3/6 2/4 1/1 1 5 6           1 2 15
17 VAREJAO, ANDERSON 13:45 2     2/2   1 1     2     2 1  
33 GASOL, MARC DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
44 GRIMAU, ROGER 10:45     0/2     1 1   1       4 1 -3
Team                   2 2          
Totals 200:00 69 18/30 4/10 21/24 6 23 29 11 7 18 1 2 16 24 84
        60% 40% 87.5%
Head coach: PESIC, SVETISLAV
This game has no play by play yet

Head Coaches

FILIPOVSKI, SASO
Union Olimpija
"We started with too much respect, that's why nobody dared shooting and when we did they were forced. Most of all in the first quarter when Barcelona made the difference, and it could be seen that my players are still young and don't have the chance to face such stars everyday. During the break I said that we had to play more relaxed, but tough and try to give more rhythm to the game. We came close, but we missed concentration and luck in the end. We had a couple good shots but we failed. Barca has a lot of experience and it's hard to beat them."

Players

PETROV, SIMON
Union Olimpija
"We showed that we can struggle against any team, we were even close to the champs, and if we had played better in the last minutes we'd have probably won. I'm sure we would have won if we had been more lucky. Without a doubt, Barca is one of the best teams in Europe and I wish them the best for the rest of the season."
MARAVIC, MARKO
Union Olimpija
"Against such a big team as Barca it's hard to do our thing, that's why I think tha Stelmahers should have the ball more in its hands because he's the one who can control it better. He is our first player and probably we missed his triples today. But we played as a team, and the loss is of everybody not only of one."
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