2008–09 ABA NLB League

The ABA NLB League 2008–09 season was the 8th season of the Liga ABA. This season saw a return to the competition system in use in 2003–04, when the Final Four Tournament was played at the end of the regular season.

2008–09 NLB League season
League	Liga ABA
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	Serbia (5 teams)  Croatia (4 teams)  Slovenia (3 teams)  Bosnia and Herzegovina (1 team)  Montenegro (1 team)
Regular season
Season champions	Partizan
Season MVP	Ante Tomić (Zagreb)
Top scorer	Dragan Labović (FMP Železnik) (17.96 ppg)
Final four
Champions	Partizan

A total of 14 teams from Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia participated in the NLB League season: Union Olimpija, Helios, Krka, Cibona, Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Bosna, Crvena zvezda, Partizan, FMP Železnik, Hemofarm, Vojvodina, Budućnost.

There were 26 round played in the regular part of the season. The best four teams later qualified for the Final Four Tournament, which was played in Belgrade between April 16 and April 18 (Partizan, Cibona, Hemofarm, Crvena zvezda).

Partizan became the 2009 League Champion.

Team information

Venues and locations

Country	Teams	Team	City	Venue (Capacity)
Serbia	5
		Partizan	Belgrade	Pionir Hall (8,150)
		Hemofarm STADA	Vršac	Millennium Center (5,000)
		Crvena zvezda	Belgrade	Pionir Hall (8,150)
		FMP Železnik	Belgrade	Železnik Hall (3,000)
		Vojvodina Srbijagas	Novi Sad	SPC Vojvodina (8000)
Croatia	4
		Cibona	Zagreb	Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall (5,400)
		Zadar	Zadar	Krešimir Ćosić Hall (9,200)
		Zagreb CO	Zagreb	Trnsko (2,000)
		Split CO	Split	Arena Gripe (6,000)
Slovenia	3
		Union Olimpija	Ljubljana	Hala Tivoli (6,000)
		Helios	Domžale	Dvorana Komunalnega centra (2,180)
		Krka	Novo Mesto	Leon Štukelj Hall (2,000)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1
		Bosna ASA BHT	Sarajevo	Dvorana Mirza Delibašić (6,500)
Montenegro	1
		Budućnost	Podgorica	Morača Sports Center (4,570)

Regular season

League table

Team W L Pts PF:PA Diff 1 Partizan 23 3 49 1966:1771 195 2 Cibona 19 7 45 2088:1945 143 3 Hemofarm STADA 19 7 45 2082:1987 95 4 Crvena zvezda 19 7 45 2010:1913 97 5 Zadar 17 9 43 2139:1935 204 6 Budućnost m:tel 15 11 41 2017:1972 45 7 Bosna ASA BHT 11 15 37 2025:2062 -37 8 FMP Železnik 10 16 36 2071:2094 -23 9 Union Olimpija 10 16 36 1981:1999 -18 10 Split CO 10 16 36 1899:2014 -115 11 Krka 9 17 35 1897:2041 -144 12 Helios 8 18 34 1897:2010 -113 13 Zagreb CO 8 18 34 1983:2100 -117 14 Vojvodina Srbijagas 4 22 30 1967:2179 -212

Qualified for Final four Did not qualify for next season Pld - Played; W - Won; L - Lost; PF - Points for; PA - Points against; Diff - Difference; Pts - Points.

Incident

On Tuesday, 20 January 2009 around 10:40pm at the Split Airport, Red Star Belgrade players were attacked by a group of 20 Croatian hooligans, members of Torcida Split hooligan firm, and supporters of KK Split.^[1] The attack occurred inside the airport building as the players and club staff were checking-in for the charter flight back to Belgrade after beating KK Split 62-67 earlier that night in Gripe Hall. The hooligans entered the airport building, stormed the main hall, and attacked the Red Star group with sticks, glass bottles, and rocks, before escaping out of the building using another entrance.^[2] The attack did not appear to be organized.^[3]

No serious injuries were reported except for Red Star's American shooting guard Andre Owens who got a laceration on his knee^[4] as he jumped over the check-in counter to avoid the charging hooligans.^[5]

In a press release prompted by the incident, KK Split's management distanced themselves form the behaviour of their fans, expressing regret over the incident.^[6] Club president Dino Rađa also publicly apologized.^[7]

Stats Leaders

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Points	Games	PPG
1.	Dragan Labović	FMP Železnik	467	26	17,96
2.	Eddie Shannon	Split	406	26	15,62
3.	Nicholas Jacobson	Helios	390	25	15,60
4.	Richard Shields	Krka	388	25	15,52
5.	Ante Tomić	Zagreb	371	24	15,46

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	Rebounds	Games	RPG
1.	Ante Tomić	Zagreb	206	24	8,58
2.	Todor Gečevski	Zadar	204	26	7,85
3.	Novica Veličković	Partizan	180	26	6,92
4.	Dejan Ivanov	Zadar	151	22	6,86
5.	Predrag Samardžiski	FMP Železnik	178	26	6,85

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	Assists	Games	APG
1.	Rok Stipčević	Zadar	117	26	4,50
2.	Dušan Djordjević	Bosna	116	26	4,46
3.	Eddie Shannon	Split	111	26	4,27
4.	Jure Močnik	Helios	98	26	3,77
5.	Filip Čović	FMP Železnik	73	21	3,48

Ranking MVP

Rank	Name	Team	Efficiency	Games	Average
1.	Ante Tomić	Zagreb	538	24	22,42
2.	Dragan Labović	FMP	508	26	19,54
3.	Todor Gečevski	Zadar	484	26	18,62
4.	Novica Veličković	Partizan	457	26	17,58
5.	Eddie Shannon	Split	439	26	16,88

MVP Round by Round

Round	Player	Team	Efficiency
1	Ante Tomić	Zagreb	36
2	Vladan Vukosavljević	Hemofarm	39
3	Miroslav Raduljica	FMP	37
4	Dejan Borovnjak	Vojvodina	29
5	Vladimir Golubović	Olimpija	35
6	Ante Tomić (2)	Zagreb	35
7	Ante Tomić (3)	Zagreb	32
8	Dejan Borovnjak(2)	Vojvodina	34
9	Antonio Grant	Split	31
10	Ante Tomić (4)	Zagreb	32
11	Richard Shields	Krka	32
12	Marko Kešelj	Crvena zvezda	33
13	Dragan Labović	FMP	32
14	Novica Veličković	Partizan	40
15	Rok Stipčević	Zadar	35
16	Dragan Labović (2)	FMP	30
17	Alan Anderson	Cibona	38
18	Nicholas Jacobson	Helios	37
19	Lorinza Harrington	Olimpija	34
20	Eddie Shannon	Split	34
21	Ante Tomić (5)	Zagreb	32
22	Stefan Marković	Hemofarm	33
23	Charron Fisher	Vojvodina	31
24	Charron Fisher (2)	Vojvodina	37
25	Jovo Stanojević	Vojvodina	36
26	Dragan Labović (3)	FMP	26
27	Alan Anderson (2)	Cibona	27
28	Novica Veličković (2)	Partizan	22

Source: NLB League^[usurped]

Final four

Matches played in, Belgrade, Serbia

	Semifinals April 16					Final April 18
	1	Partizan	64
	4	Crvena zvezda	58
						1	Partizan	63
						2	Cibona	49
	2	Cibona	77
	3	Hemofarm STADA	65

Semifinals

Partizan vs. Crvena zvezda

April 16 20:45 CET

Report[usurped]

Partizan	64–58	Crvena zvezda
Scoring by quarter: 13-11, 18-12, 15-15, 18-20
Pts: Tepić 14 Rebs: Veličković, Vesely, Vraneš 7 Asts: Tepić 4		Pts: Kikanović 15 Rebs: Roberts 8 Asts: Marković 4

Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 10,750 Referees: Muhvić (CRO), Jovčić (SRB), Herceg (CRO)

Cibona vs. Hemofarm STADA

April 16 18:15 CET

Report[usurped]

Cibona	77–65	Hemofarm STADA
Scoring by quarter: 24-11, 20-21, 21-17, 12-16
Pts: Anderson 24 Rebs: Homan 8 Asts: Anderson 4		Pts: Vukosavljević 18 Rebs: Božović 6 Asts: Pavković 4

Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Pukl (SLO), Boltauzer (SLO), Javor (SLO)

Final

April 18 20:45 CET

Report[usurped]

Partizan	63–49	Cibona
Scoring by quarter: 17-9, 21-18, 9-16, 16-6
Pts: Veličković, 17 Rebs: Veličković 8 Asts: Tepić 5		Pts: Anderson 22 Rebs: Calloway 7 Asts: Anderson 4

Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 13,328 Referees: Pukl (SLO), Šutulović (MNE), Kolar (SLO)

2008–09 ABA NLB League Champions
Partizan 3rd Title