NEBL Commissioner's Address to NEBL Final Four 2001.
NEBL Commissioner's Address
Perm. April 21-22, 2001
Dear basketball fans,
On behalf of all the NEBL members it is a great pleasure to welcome you to the NEBL Final Four'2001 Tournament in Perm.
16 teams from 12 countries started the second NEBL Championship early in October'2000. The Regular Season was full of exciting games, unpredictable results, high-class performances and entertaining basketball.
The Regular Season has also proved that the expansion to new countries made the League more competitive and more balanced. The newcomers of the NEBL were eager to throw a challenge to the NEBL veterans by raising the level of competition to the new heights. The battle for the Play-offs spots was so intense that it continued to the very last day of the Season.
Only four strongest clubs came all the way to the last and the most interesting stage - the NEBL Final Four'2001. Now all the four contenders are ready to step up on the court and there are no doubts it will be two the most exciting days in the second NEBL Championship.
Zalgiris Kaunas and the defending NEBL Champion CSKA Moscow - two of the most known teams in Europe for the decades bring their victorious history to Perm and want to extend the winning traditions.
But they have two best Regular Season teams standing on their way. Ural Great has the crowd of several thousand supporters behind their backs and hope their time of big victories has come. While young and already experienced Lietuvos Rytas, the last season runners-up feel they are ready to take one step further this year.
For two days the stars like Andrei Kirilenko, Mikhail Mikhailov, Ramunas Siskauskas and Grigoriy Khizhnyak will take the center stage in the Molot Sport Hall to showcase their talents, leadership and fair play spirit for the basketball fans not only in Perm, but also for millions TV viewers in many European countries.
Best regards, Sarunas Marciulionis
NEBL Commissioner
