Hello, Eurocup fans! I am Mindaugas Katelynas of Lietuvos Rytas, one of the four teams still standing in the Eurocup! The season has been pretty good so far and making it to the Finals is something that we expected to do. I didn't come here to be here to be a leader; I knew I would have a role and what I would have to do. We have a versatile team with a lot of experience, people that have played in some of the best leagues in Europe, plus young talent, too. Everybody has his own part and I am really satisfied with mine. Nobody complains and we all follow our coach's orders. Everything is going according to plan so far!

The most critical game we played until now was against Benetton Basket in Treviso. We needed to win to advance, and I think it is important to have players on the team who understand the importance of these games and how crucial it is to be focused. That's what we did; we all knew than we would go home if we lost and we responded very well in that game. We were down by 15 points in the first half, but came back. Everything was about the energy and the focus. It kind of reminded me of last season's Eurocup semifinals between Cajasol and Benetton. My team, Cajasol, won because of its great energy. I hope we can maintain the same energy in the Eurocup Finals.

Like I just said, I played the Eurocup Finals with Cajasol last season. I am very happy to reach the Eurocup Finals two years in a row, just that this time I don't want to be second, third or fourth. We did a great job and achieved a lot by making it to the title game, but still, nobody remembers... more

Hello everybody! Finally we have reached the Eurocup Finals. Things have been good for us at Spartak St. Petersburg recently. Our coach, Jure Zdovc, was named as the Eurocup Coach of the Year and Patrick Beverley is the 2011-12 Eurocup MVP. But first, let’s look at what got us here.

In the quarterfinals we faced CEZ Nymburk. Back in January we played them in the VTB United League on the road at their small gym. This time we played in Pardubice, in the big hockey arena. There were a lot of people, and it is always nice when there are a lot of fans at the game - even if all of them are against you. In the first game we started to play with confidence. My fellow Eurocup blogger Pavel Pumprla from Nymburk played very well, but unfortunately he was injured. Luck was with us and we built a double-figure advantage. But in the end, Nymburk showed its unpredictability, began to make some crazy shoots and our 14-point lead was reduced to 4. The most important thing, however, was that we won the game. And maybe the difference of 4 points going into the second game was even better for us than 10. We played the second game at home with total concentration: a four-point advantage is almost nothing; it is possible to win back 4 points in 10 seconds.

We began the... more

Hello, Eurocup fans! This is A.J. Ogilvy of Valencia Basket, getting ready for the Eurocup Finals! I am very excited about it! This is my second Eurocup season and having the chance to play in the finals so soon is very exciting. The road to the finals was not easy – we had a lot of injuries – but we made it. It was tough to beat Buducnost in the quarterfinals; they are a tough team. They got on a bit of a roll in Game 1, when we had built a good lead. We couldn't stop them and they made some tough shots down the stretch and got the better of it. We played a lot better in Game 2, a lot closer to the potential that we have, with our great fans supporting us all the way. We had a lot of room for improvement after Game 1 and during that week, we focused on the little things in which we could get better. We made sure we would play our best basketball in Game 2, as we wouldn't have another opportunity to go through. In the end, we showed we were the better team and advanced to the finals!

The atmosphere on the team is great. We are on a good winning streak, winning five of our last six games in the Spanish League. We are playing well as a team and everybody is contributing, which makes it easier for all of us to do well. Everybody is ready for the finals. Serhiy Lishchuk, who missed some time due to an injury, has been practicing for a while and hasn't had any problems recently. I am sure he will be ready to face Lietuvos Rytas in the semifinals.

I have followed L. Rytas a little bit during the season, especially earlier on when Brad Newley, who is now playing for us, was with them. I am good... more