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Rehearsals: The exciting comeback parade that preceded Pao Gasol - Walla! sport

2021-02-26T10:01:18.225Z


Sharp spoiled Arvidas Savonis the perfect finish. Printzis broke Andrei Kirilenko's heart. Katsch prevented Doron Jamchi from a historic trophy. And Dino Mengin testifies that "the ideas ran faster than the legs" and retired. Will the Barcelona star's legend have a happier ending?


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Wickside: A weekly column by Ahrela Weisberg

Rehearsals: The exciting comeback parade that preceded Pau Gasol

Sharp spoiled Arvidas Savonis the perfect finish.

Printzis broke Andrei Kirilenko's heart.

Katsch prevented Doron Jamchi from a historic trophy.

And Dino Mengin testifies that "the ideas ran faster than the legs" and retired.

Will the Barcelona star's legend have a happier ending?

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  • Pau Gasol

  • Dinu tunes

  • Doron Jamchi

  • Arvidas Savonis

Ahrela Weisberg

Friday, February 26, 2021, 12:00 p.m.

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Maybe an audience will come until he can play?

Pau Gasol in Barcelona (Photo: Official website, Barcelona Twitter account)

In a utopian world, Barcelona would move their game tonight (Friday, 22:00) against Villarban to the huge Palau San Jordi, filling it without any difficulty with 17,000 spectators in honor of the exciting return of Pau Gasol, after a 20-year journey overseas.



Dreams aside and reality aside: In the absence of a crowd in the Corona era, Barça will host the French in front of empty stands in the modest Palau Blaugrana.

At least Gasol will not miss the standing ovation he deserves;

His return became official this week only due to the deadline to register players in the Euroleague, and in Spain it is estimated that it will take at least another month before he can get on the floor.



In honor of the impressive move, we are back for five big and exciting comebacks in European basketball;

To be honest, few of them can compete in the Gasol Festival, and they usually ended with beautiful stories, but in tears.

Here is a parade of rehearsals, in chronological order.

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"I was no longer able to cope with the young people."

Tune in Milan (Photo: Official Website, La Gazzetta)

1993: Dino Mengin, Milan

Background:

Dino Mengin, the most decorated player in the history of European basketball (seven Champions Cups in his career), returned at the age of 43 to Olympia Milan, to end his career in a team where he has already performed for ten full years.



On the field:

Milan reached the semi-finals of the Korach Cup, and was left empty-handed in the local arena as well, finishing in the quarter-finals of the Cup and the quarter-finals of the playoffs.

Mengin is stuck on only 4.3 points per game in the European arena.



The tears:

"I signed a two-year contract, but at the end of the first season I decided to retire," reveals the legendary Walla!

sport.

"I realized the thoughts and ideas in my mind were running faster than my feet, and I was no longer able to physically deal with the young players. I also had good memories: the fans in every hall received me excitedly, and I closed the circle with coach Mike D'Antoni, who played with me before."

6 of 7 for three in the comeback game at the age of 38. Jamchi (Photo: Official Website, Action Images)

1999: Doron Jamchi, Maccabi Tel Aviv

Background:

When Pini Gershon and David Blatt built their first team together with Maccabi Tel Aviv, in the summer of 1999, they felt that a problem with shooting from the outside might arise.

Along with Ariel MacDonald, Doron Sheffer, Derrick Sharp and new acquisition Mark Brisker, they brought Doron Jamchi back to his 12th season with a fascinating move.



On the pitch:

Jamchi was 38 at the time, but his handle was still reset and oiled.

The previous season, his third away from Elijah, he was the last Israeli to win the title of king of baskets in the league (20.9 points), and in his renewed European debut he sniped 6 of 7 for three in an away game against Olympiacos.



The tears:

McDonald soon proved to be one of the greatest coordinators in the history of the club, the Yellows teamed up with a strong and cohesive team and returned to the Final Four after a nine year absence.

Number 12 is left aside.

He finished the season with a meager average of 4.7 points in the FIBA ​​Euroleague and 6.4 points in the National League. He had a chance to finally celebrate his first European title win, but his team lost in the final to Oded Katash and Panathinaikos. The painful Jamchi retired at the end of it Season after a glorious career.

17 years have passed, and no one has been able to recover his index.

Savonis vs. Vujicic in 2004 (Photo: AP)

2003: Arvidas Savonis, Zalgiris

Background:

His debut in the Zalgiris Kaunas uniform was made by Arvidas Savonis at the age of 17, and he last got off the floor at the age of 39. His comeback had two episodes: in the summer of 2001, after 12 years at Valladolid, Real Madrid and Portland, he signed with the team Due to injuries and rehabilitation;

He returned to the Blazers, completing his return to Kaunas only two years later.

And what a repetition this was.



On the field:

Just before the end of the fourth decade of his life, Sabas almost dragged Zalgiris to a sensational immigration to the Final Four in Tel Aviv.

He contributed a double-double of 16.7 points and 10.7 rebounds in the Euroleague;

17 years have passed since then, and no one has been able to recover his average index (26.3).



The tears:

In the closing round of the top 16, Zalgiris and Savonis were hosted by Maccabi Tel Aviv for the decisive game on the ticket to the semifinals.

The Lithuanian giant was unstoppable.

He bombed 29 points, including four threes, but came out with five fouls and saw off the bench Ness Zalgiris unfolding before his eyes.

Descending from the parquet, he had a long conversation with Sharonas Jasikevicius and left the hall with red, watery eyes.

This was his last appearance in a European factory.

Print Guise's guava broke his heart.

Kirilenko in the final in 2012 (Photo: Reuters)

2011: Andrei Kirilenko, CSKA

Background: In

the second player strike in the NBA, in 2011, Andrei Kirilenko was one of many who returned to Europe to pass the time and keep fit.

But unlike all the other stars, although he had ten successful years in the best league in the world, AK47 chose to stay and complete the season at CSKA Moscow.



On the pitch:

At 30, Kirilenko was big on European basketball. He set monstrous standards (29.5 until he was injured in the first round 24.2 throughout the entire season), and has already touched the dream. He was crowned Euroleague player of the season, and 11 years after losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Final Four of the Super League he returned to high status.



Tears:

CSKA escaped to 19 points advantage at the end of the third quarter against Olympiacos, but dropped them and lost 62:61 to the unforgettable Guava of Yorgos Printzis.

Heartbroken Kirilenko returned for another two-and-a-half years in the NBA, trying again to quarter the circle and retire with the European Cup in hand.

He returned to CSKA during the 2014/15 season, and this time fell with her already in the semifinals.

The comeback to Vitoria was exciting, but he won titles with Real Madrid.

Nochioni (Photo: GettyImages)

2012: Anders Noccioni, Basconia

Background:

Anders Noccioni is a man of comebacks.

During the 2011 lockout he returned home to Argentina, marching Penarol to win the local Final Eight tournament;

He finished the season at Basconia, the team where he broke out and starred until the beginning of his NBA career in 2004.



On the pitch:

"Chapo", who was 32 when he returned to Vitoria, stayed two and a half years.

His numbers were not bad (12 points per game in the Euroleague), but the team did not win the championship or the cup, did not reach the final and was absent as usual from the European Final Four.



The tears:

At the age of 35, Noccioni made a surprising move and moved to Real Madrid.

One of Basconia's biggest and clearest icons, he ended his career in the Blancos uniform, and even revealed that he was capable of winning titles: he took with her one Euroleague trophy (and was even selected as the Final MVP of the Final Four), two Spanish championships and three trophies.

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Source: walla

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