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  1. #1
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!



    On this day 48 years ago in Sibenik, the legendary Drazen "The basketball Mozart" Petrovic was born.... In just 29 years he spent on this earth, he managed to leave a mark in letters to the European and international basketball....

    Drazen Petrovic was by far the most talented/skilled european player ever, had he managed to stay in the NBA (or preferably came earlier to the NBA) you would see why this guy was great... you saw only half of it his last year in the NBA, he finally got his starting job & minutes and was ready to nail the gaspedal next year... but then came the accident... Many people remember him as simply a dead on shooter pure SG, but he was actually a combo-guard SG/PG that could dishout up to ~30 assists (his career high in Cibona was 27 assists), his court vision and passing ability was remarkable, as you can see in 1992 Olympic team for example, he played Point-Guard.... think of a Manu Ginobili with greater scoring & shooting ability........ or think of Pete Maravich with greater efficiency/accuracy... or think of Jerry West.......... or think of a smaller version of Larry Bird... he was more like that rather than Chris Mullin, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen and such, but he did have their type of role in the NBA...

    Here i will be paying some homage with some facts, videos etc. feel free to add in if you so wish...

    [LIST][*]6
    Last edited by pauk; 10-22-2012 at 11:14 AM.

  2. #2
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Last edited by pauk; 10-22-2012 at 12:02 PM.

  3. #3
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Last edited by pauk; 10-22-2012 at 12:12 PM.

  4. #4
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Point is.... he could score with the best of them (even compared to any of those guys in the NBA at his era), i think he would have growed into a 30-5-5 type of player in the NBA (with his usual shooting accuracy 50-40-90)

  5. #5
    I Feel Devotion Euroleague's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Not to get picky, but that 112 point game was against the youth squad players of a Yugo League team. So it really should not count, even though people always want to claim it should.

  6. #6
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Some fun facts you may have not known:

    *Drazen was 14 when he played for the first pro team in Europe, they became later that year one of the top 2 best teams in Yugoslavia. The first game he got to start he was 15 and immediately that game he scored 49 points.

    *Drazen believed he was maybe the biggest basketball addict ever, he said he used to play almost the entire days, even in rain, snow etc. mostly shooting jumpshots.

    *Could have gone to the NBA much earlier, 5 NBA teams showed interest in 1987-88 but he didnt want to take that path.

    *Drazen played his last basketball game versus Slovenia in Wroclow, Poland on June 6, 1993. A day after, when the National team was returning home, he was supposed to fly with them but his girlfriend (Klara) was gona drive home to Croatia in her VW Golf, Drazen finally took the offer and told the team: "I will see you in the morning" (he was always the first on the court). The young lady that drove Drazen, at high speed, lost control of the vehicle in the middle of the storm and crashed into a truck.... There was 2 women in the car, they were only left with injuries, but Drazen died (he was sleeping on the passengers seat and had no seatbelt)

  7. #7
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Quote Originally Posted by Euroleague
    Not to get picky, but that 112 point game was against the youth squad players of a Yugo League team. So it really should not count, even though people always want to claim it should.
    It was against SMELT Olimpija (Slovenian pro team), it was a Yugoslavian Cup (top teams in Yugo, Yugoslavia by the way had the best basketball in Europe especially in that era) it was not a "youth squad" team.....

    It was more "countable" than Wilt Chamberlains 100 pts against that competition he had, i can tell you that... he was on absolute fire with his jumpshot and kept "chucking" like a mofo, i dont think anybody would have stopped him from taking ~60 shots....

    The following game after that he dropped 62 points on much less shots... ironically he had many 62 point games, in European Championship games, European League games, World Cup games....
    Last edited by pauk; 10-22-2012 at 01:06 PM.

  8. #8
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    * Most points in history of Spain Finals: 42 vs. Barcelona /88-89(Game 4.)
    * Most 3-points made in history of Spain Finals: 8 vs. Barcelona /88-89
    * Most 3-pointers: 9 vs. Limoges (France) on January 22, 1986. (Game 2.)
    * Most points in European League: 62 vs. Snaidro Caserte 88/89, 62 vs. Katkan (Finland), Korac Kup-October 21. 1987

  9. #9
    2010-2020 AirTupac's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Love this guy. My dad knew him and his brother personally. His brother is currently the coach of the Bosnian basketball team.

  10. #10
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Quote Originally Posted by AirTupac
    Love this guy. My dad knew him and his brother personally. His brother is currently the coach of the Bosnian basketball team.
    wow, nice! Where are you from?

  11. #11
    2010-2020 AirTupac's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Quote Originally Posted by pauk
    wow, nice! Where are you from?
    Originally from Bosnia.

  12. #12
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Quote Originally Posted by AirTupac
    Originally from Bosnia.
    Pa sto ne kazes nista! Haha... Odakle si iz Bosne?

  13. #13
    I Feel Devotion Euroleague's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Quote Originally Posted by pauk
    It was against SMELT Olimpija (Slovenian pro team), it was a Yugoslavian Cup (top teams in Yugo, Yugoslavia by the way had the best basketball in Europe especially in that era) it was not a "youth squad" team.....

    It was more "countable" than Wilt Chamberlains 100 pts against that competition he had, i can tell you that... he was on absolute fire with his jumpshot and kept "chucking" like a mofo, i dont think anybody would have stopped him from taking ~60 shots....

    The following game after that he dropped 62 points on much less shots... ironically he had many 62 point games, in European Championship games, European League games, World Cup games....
    In that 112 point game, the team's senior players were not playing.

  14. #14
    NBA Legend pauk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    Quote Originally Posted by Euroleague
    In that 112 point game, the team's senior players were not playing.
    Any source to all this?

  15. #15
    NBA rookie of the year Psileas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drazen Petrovic appreciation thread!

    I've also heard that the 112-pointer was not achieved against senior players. I mean, the final score was 158-77. There's something completely fishy in this, don't you think? I would understand if we were talking about a 158-154 game.

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