Euro Champions vs NBA Champions.

[spacejammer]

Just seen an article where the head coach of this years Euroleague Panithanikos says he wishes to challenge this years NBA champions Boston Celtics to determine which team should be crowned champions of the world.

To me this seems like it would be a waste of time as I'm about 80% sure an NBA team (if taking the game seriously) would steam roll a team from any other league.

Although seeing some of the comments from people on social media I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone else thinks.
I mean both teams have the lucky clover symbols in their logo but if they face off then both them can't exactly win.

Can't say I know much about Panithanikos basketball other then they play in Greece and the Euroleague.
But I added a poll to this thread as well.

www.footboom1.com/en/news/basketball/2017918-panathinaikos-boss-challenges-celtics-prove-you-re-world-champions-by-taking-us-on

[ScottishBasketballFan]

Euro teams can beat NBA ones even with all the superstars

[SamH]

They might be able to beat the Wizards, but he's dreaming if he thinks they can beat Boston, and certainly not if it was a 7 game series. Fanciful stuff.

[spacejammer]

To be honest even if Panithanikos beat Boston then would it really mean they could call themselves world champions?
What about the best teams on Africa, Australia and Asia etc...?

Unless you were to bring back the club world cup event they used to do, then technically they could win and still wouldn't be able to call themselves world champions.

Although given the hectic schedules in both the NBA and Europe I doubt either teams would really be that euthastic about having to play the Club world cup as well during the season.
They moan about it enough when football does it so I imagine it would be the same in basketball as well.

[notoriousbigz]

Alba Berlin beat the 2014 San Antonio Spurs (they were at full strength too but full effort may be a stretch).

[SamH]

I'm guessing that was a pre season game though? Pop would have been far more concerned with lineups, running plays, seeing what works etc. than winning. Coaches don't give a damn about pre season results and Pop more than most. Now if it was for a championship or award of some kind...

Just the idea 12 guys playing in Europeare better than a top nba team in a meaningful game or series...let me guess, those 12 lads could all play in the nba but have chosen not to.😂

[dandayr]

FIBA officials, FIBA rules - bring it on

[SamH]

But who says it would have to be played under FIBA rules? Maybe in a 7 game series it's played under the home team's rules so it's a mixture. I still think the Celtics would win by 20-30 every game.

[cosbyrider]

Still think Celtics would beat them but it would be very close

[Stephen Abootman]

Wouldn't mind seeing it happen but I doubt it would be particularly close. And if winning what is quite obviously the best league in the world doesn't make Boston the reigning 'world champions' beating Panathinaikos wouldn't suddenly entitle them to that label. Last time I checked North America and Europe weren't the only continents on the planet. 

Can't help feel that there's a degree of hypocrisy in all this. I'd argue that Panathinaikos advertising themselves as '7 time European Champions' (based on their 7 Euroleague titles) is at the very least as controversial as a Championship winning NBA team calling themselves 'world champions'. I reckon a series between Panathinaikos and Malaga (last season's Champions League winners) would probably be quite a bit more competitive than a series between Panathinaikos and Boston.

This whole debate is all a bit pedantic really isn't it. If the Celtics want to consider themselves the reigning world champions I'm not too fussed personally. And I'm certainly not going to demand that they go on some global tour playing teams from all over the planet just to prove the blindingly obvious. 

[SamH]

It does irritate me though. Noah Lyles iirritates too but he was right to call this nonsense out. Especially as they actually have a world championship tournament, and USA enters it! But I would agree if you win the chip in the best league there is, you are the rightful 'best club' in the world.

It's laughble that people think sone European team could beat the nba champions. If those players were good enough they'd be in the nba themselves. There might be a couple of fringe players who would be bench players at best if they did get a deal.

Don't be fooled by the occasional Dream team loss at the Olympics or world's. The nba champion is a cohesive unit that's played around 100 games together building their chemistry and understanding of one another, if not 100s of games over several years. They'll have 1,2 if not 3 of the top 15 players in the world on their roster. There's simply no way.

[tallerman]

Played in Greece under fiba rules then euroleague may have a chance, any other circumstances and celtics win easily

[cosbyrider]

Nov 4, 2024 23:45:01 GMT Stephen Abootman said:

Wouldn't mind seeing it happen but I doubt it would be particularly close. And if winning what is quite obviously the best league in the world doesn't make Boston the reigning 'world champions' beating Panathinaikos wouldn't suddenly entitle them to that label. Last time I checked North America and Europe weren't the only continents on the planet. 

Can't help feel that there's a degree of hypocrisy in all this. I'd argue that Panathinaikos advertising themselves as '7 time European Champions' (based on their 7 Euroleague titles) is at the very least as controversial as a Championship winning NBA team calling themselves 'world champions'. I reckon a series between Panathinaikos and Malaga (last season's Champions League winners) would probably be quite a bit more competitive than a series between Panathinaikos and Boston.

This whole debate is all a bit pedantic really isn't it. If the Celtics want to consider themselves the reigning world champions I'm not too fussed personally. And I'm certainly not going to demand that they go on some global tour playing teams from all over the planet just to prove the blindingly obvious. 

You’ve made some good points here - worth mentioning i don’t think Pana would have been Euro champs this summer if the semi finals were played in a best of 3/5 format

[hayesboy]

If you look at the last world cup and the recent Olympics its clear to see the impact FIBA rules has on NBA players from American and Canada.
I've always found it interesting that foreign born NBA players, even those that have only or largely played professionally in the NBA, find it so much easier to adapt to the FIBA rules than the American/Canadian players.

I personally find high level FIBA basketball far easier to watch than the NBA until the playoffs. Once the playoffs start and NBA teams actually focus in, play defence, shorten rotations and actually have time to prepare....that is when it demonstrates its superiority still.

So I would say FIBA rules/refs/ball the Greek Teams would lose a 7 game series 4-2.
NBA rules 4-0.

The ability to play zone really changes the game.

[SamH]

Ah, zone - am I imagining things or did they used to play it in the NBA too? I seem to vaguely recall a time maybe in the late 90s or early 00s when it was banned? But why was that - because they wanted to increase scoring presumably. So you would think NBA players, although not used to playing zone, would soon be able to pick it up and adapt and it would actually make things easier for them defensively. It typically does tend to be more effective if played properly.

[tallerman]

They removed it so you couldn't double team Jordan didn't they

[SamH]

I don't think so, it was after his time I think? Anyway you can still double team playing man to man.

I think they changed a hand checking rule that Jordan benefitted from.

[hayesboy]

I don’t even know where to start with those last 3 posts!

[tallerman]

I'm sure I watched a video not long back talking about how you couldn't leave your player to double another in the open court during the 90s

[SamH]

I think I am getting mixed up - zone defence WAS banned but brought back around the late 90s, not the other way round. But they rarely use it I'd say, I don't often see it being used at least. I don't know about the rules of double teaming - there used to be something called illegal defence which was rarely called, not sure if that's even a thing now or not.