Can Antwerp Giants surprise Iberostar Tenerife in home semifinal?
Can Antwerp Giants surprise Iberostar Tenerife in home semifinal?
In the Final Four of 2018-2019 Champions League, we have a clash between two different teams: a young and restless team in Antwerp and an experienced and powerful team in Tenerife. It will be an interesting match especially due to the fact that Antwerp has home court advantage for this Final Four and they will fight for their chance in their first European Final Four participation. Let`s see some interesting facts and statistics about both teams.
Antwerp Giants
– What`s the most interesting fact about Antwerp is the fact that they have a very young core of players; the oldest is Dennis Donkor, a 27 years old Belgium guard and the average of the squad is 24 years old. This core of players includes seven young American guns with an offensive mindset.
– The home court advantage will play a huge role in this match against Tenerife. In Group C of the regular season, they managed to beat Hapoel Jerusalem with 101-89. After that game, everybody started to keep an eye on this Belgium team and their energetic players. Also in the Play-Offs the beat last year`s third-place UCAM Murcia after a good win at home, 75-67.
– In the Quarter-Finals they beat Nizhny Novgorod in an easy way, winning both legs 83-68 in Russia and 66-61 in Belgium.
– Speaking about their roster, the main weapon for Antwerp is 24 years old American point guard, Paris Lee. In Play-Offs he made some very good matches, especially at home against Murcia, where he scored 21 points and then away, in Novgorod where he scored 24 points. Both games provided crucial for team advance in the Final Four. Players worth mentioned are also Jae`Sean Tate, a versatile guard with a quick shot release and explosive on the offensive end and Ismael Bako, a very good center especially in pick and roll situation and also he leads BCL in dunks.
Iberostar Tenerife
- Tenerife is the first team ever to win this competition, back in 2017 when they also hosted to Final Four and managed to win their first major final against Banvit, 63-59.
- They have a very good, big and experienced roster and the core of their 2017 success. Players like Javier Beiran, Rodrigo San Miguel, Ferran Bassas, Nicholas Richotti, Mamadou Niang, Davin White, and Tim Abromaitis all came here to regain their crown won in 2017.
- In the Play-offs the managed to eliminate Promitheas when they overcome a 12 point deficit on home soil and Hapoel Jerusalem, when they also had to overcome a two-point deficit.
- Looking at their roster, we see that Tenerife have an experienced roster with an average age of 29 years old. The main weapon for them is the 29 years old American power forward Tim Abromaitis. He was the Quarter Finals MVP with 18.5 points and 7 rebounds. He is a big man with very good defensive skills but also with some big 3-point shots that makes him very important on offense. Other important players are Colton Iverson, a 212 cm center and Nicolas Brussino, the former Dallas Mavericks player. Both have a very good season with some good numbers.
In conclusion, we have here a very interesting clash. It may sound a little bit weird, but I think Antwerp have their chance here. They have the home court advantage, a very good and talented squad. We will see if they can manage to play their best game in front of 18.000 fans in Sportpalais.
Photo credit: championsleague.basketball
Bogdan Vasile Tirc, info@brainbasketball.net
