The match of the day, for the Greeks, was held at OAKA. But earth, for better or worse, does not move around us. There is life elsewhere too. A few minutes after the entertaining match in Marousi – with Panathinaikos stopping to shoot 3-pointers without mercy (13 in the whole match) and taking whatever they got from Ataman's defense, meaning layups, slam dunks, mid-range shots and taking the win – there was another match that turned basketball decades back.
At a point when a game with suspense, upsets, was in the hands of the players, suddenly became a toy in the hands of the referees.
Bertomeu was definitely not watching, because he was in Athens, but how does he feel after this monstrosity in the Canary Islands? Gran Canaria – Milan went to overtime after a surprising comeback by the home team, that was completed with Ericsson's 3-pointer. The arena was on fire, Milan were on the brink, but three referees were there to determine the winner. A disgrace for the sport, a match that was advertising the Euroleague. Not disparaging the Euroleague, advertising it. Because, unfortunately, there are so many incidents, that obviously the Euroleague applaud and considers wonderful, so they don't stop them. As they consider them a promo for the tournament, why ruin it?
How many human mistakes can somebody take, Mr. Bertomeu, in this credible tournament? During overtime, the three referees were unbelievable. They discovered fouls, they changed possession, for some unspecified (or maybe not?) reason they had decided to humiliate themselves live, throughout Europe. You see, it was the last match of the day and it was on tv, without any other match on.
There is no need to see the entire overtime. What happened in the last 70 seconds is enough… And as we were watching it live, we saw it on replay and cut everything needed to show people what happened. Because it's different if you see it with your own eyes! So, watch Milano's three last attacks.
Listen to the comments of Euroleague TV journalist/commentator.
A true disgrace for the sport, which confirms that in the Euroleague survival and happiness come through the laws and rules that were… globally established by Greek football for the last two decades.
Well known Javor, Mantyla and Clemens completed their mission. What do the Euroleague and the officiating director Richard Stokes have to say, watching these horrible scenes? Do they feel proud for their product? Do they believe that it was just human mistakes? Do they possibly even agree as Milano are powerful and rich? Who cares about Gran Canaria...
Wait a second, because this situation is not funny. We are talking about a real outrage. In a tournament that has already showed some things about the refereeing situation. With teams that are favored on a regular basis in an undisguised way, changing the rules of the game. Is that what the Euroleague want? Enough is enough… The best teams and the best players of Europe play and demand to be officiated by referees of their level. Not necessarily the best. They should at least be honest. If we wanted the other ones, we could bring the guys from Super League, that are now watching football just on TV...
