If Pamesa Valencia is perhaps the strongest ULEB Cup team, as many people believe, KK Zadar would have to be the most unpredictable. Zadar fell from first to fourth place in regular season Group D, then stopped higher-seeded Gravelines in the first elimination round, winning at home by 23 points and losing on the road by 14. It is quite easy to understand why Pamesa, the Spanish League leader, is a favorite. Pamesa is deep, experienced and powerful next to the basket with Fabricio Oberto (12.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg), Dejan Tomasevic (7.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 5.1 apg), Bernard Hopkins (12.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Federico Kammerichs (9.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg). That's precisely why Zadar can be expected to create problems with small lineups, fast tempos and the fastbreak outside shooting that is one of its main characteristics. Expect big man Michael Meeks (10.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg) to join guards Marko Popovic (19.9 ppg), Hrvoje Perincic (12.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and Branimir Longin (9.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg) in firing from the perimeter. That's probably the key to the series, how Zadar will shoot. The previous round showed how Pamesa can choose among various go-to guys. Alessandro Abbio nailed 22 in the first game at RheinEnergie Cologne, while the second game saw 6 players reach double digits, led by Hopkins with 21 points. The 20-year-old Popovic took the responsibility for his team in the final, crucial minutes in Gravelines, when Zadar was in danger of wasting its 23 points lead from the first game. Meeks played an important role then, too, as had newcomer Damir Tvrdic coming off the bench in the first game. Against Pamesa, Zadar has to be relaxed, to play with no pressure, especially before the home crowd, as it did against Gravelines. With Tvrdic, Zadar is more of a veteran team than many think, so the ability to match wits against Pamesa will be key, because on size alone - which is to say nothing of experience, talent and success - the Croatians will have a most formidable opponent to deal with.

(FROM WWW.ULEBCUP.COM)

Ma mislim da ce ih Zadar s***ti. Zadar moze do finala.

Mislim da je ovo prvi put od '91 da ce u samoj zavrsnici nekog europskog takmicenja biti jedan nas i jedan srpski klub (Zadar i FMP), sto samo pokazuje snagu GYL... )