2018–19 Slovenian Basketball League

The 2018–19 Slovenian Basketball League, also known as Liga Nova KBM due to sponsorship reasons,^[1] is the 28th season of the Premier A Slovenian Basketball League. Olimpija are the defending champions.

Liga Nova KBM1
Season	2018–19
Duration	11 October 2018 - 24 May 2019
Games played	154
Teams	10
TV partner(s)	Šport TV
Regular season
Relegated	Ilirija
Finals
Champions	Sixt Primorska
Runners-up	Petrol Olimpija
Semifinalists	Krka Helios Suns
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

Format

Regular season

In the first phase, ten teams competed in a home-and-away round-robin series (18 games total). All teams advanced from the regular season to one of two postseason stages, depending on their league position.

Second phase

The top six teams from the regular season advanced to the championship phase. These teams started the second phase from scratch, with no results carrying over from the regular season. Each team played a total of 10 games in this phase; as in the regular season, a home-and-away round-robin was used.

The bottom four teams entered a home-and-away round-robin mini-league where two best teams qualify to quarterfinals. Each teams plays 9 games in this phase.

Playoffs

Eight teams joined the playoffs.

Teams

Venues and locations

Helios

Hopsi

Ilirija

Krka

Primorska

Rogaška

Šenčur

Šentjur

Olimpija

Zlatorog

Location of teams in the 2018–19 Slovenian Basketball League

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
Helios Suns	Domžale	Komunalni center Hall	2,500
Hopsi	Polzela	ŠD Polzela	1,800
Krka	Novo Mesto	ŠD Leona Štuklja	2,500
Ilirija	Ljubljana	Tivoli Hall	4,000
Petrol Olimpija	Ljubljana	Arena Stožice	12,500
Rogaška	Rogaška Slatina	ŠD Rogaška Slatina	800
Šenčur	Šenčur	ŠD Šenčur	800
Sixt Primorska	Koper	Arena Bonifika	5,000
Šentjur	Šentjur	Dvorana OŠ Hruševec	700
Zlatorog Laško	Laško	Tri Lilije Hall	2,500

	Teams that play in the 2018–19 Adriatic League
	Teams that play in the 2018–19 Adriatic League Second Division
	Teams that play in the 2018-19 Alpe Adria Cup

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Helios Suns	David Kubala	Dejan Jakara	Jure Močnik	Spalding	Helios
Hopsi Polzela	Matej Jelen	Boštjan Kuhar	Uroš Godler	Macron	—
Ilirija	Edvard Reven	Saša Dončić	Tevž Ružič	Spalding	—
Krka	Andraž Šuštarič	Simon Petrov	Jure Balažič	Žolna Šport	Krka
Petrol Olimpija	Tomaž Berločnik	Jure Zdovc	Mirza Begić	Peak	Petrol
Rogaška	Kristijan Novak	Damjan Novaković	Miha Vašl	Nike	—
Sixt Primorska	Bojan Čad	Jurica Golemac	Alen Hodžić	Nike	Sixt
Šenčur	Janko Sekne	Konstantin Subotić	Smiljan Pavič	Macron	Gorenjska gradbena družba
Šentjur	Dušan Debenak	Jakša Vulić	Tomaž Jereb	Luanvi	—
Zlatorog Laško	Tanja Seme	Chris Thomas	Nejc Barič	Spalding	Pivovarna Laško

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Zlatorog Laško	Aleš Pipan	End of contact	–	Pre-season	Chris Thomas	27 July 2018[2]
Helios Suns	Jovan Beader	Sacked	12 November 2018	9th (1–4)	Dejan Jakara	12 November 2018[3]
Petrol Olimpija	Zoran Martič	Mutual consent	18 November 2018	1st (4–2)	Saša Nikitović	19 November 2018[4]
Šenčur	Rade Mijanović	Sacked	30 December 2018[5]	9th (4–6)	Konstantin Subotić	1 January 2019[6]
Petrol Olimpija	Saša Nikitović	Mutual consent	19 February 2019	4th (10–8)	Jure Zdovc	19 February 2019[7]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sixt Primorska	18	13	5	1525	1330	+195	31	Qualification to championship group
2	Krka	18	12	6	1466	1374	+92	30
3	Rogaška	18	11	7	1454	1468	−14	29
4	Petrol Olimpija	18	10	8	1422	1426	−4	28
5	Hopsi Polzela	18	10	8	1465	1390	+75	28
6	Helios Suns	18	9	9	1342	1342	0	27
7	Zlatorog Laško	18	9	9	1392	1433	−41	27	Qualification to relegation group
8	Šentjur	18	8	10	1397	1427	−30	26
9	Šenčur	18	7	11	1416	1445	−29	25
10	Ilirija	18	1	17	1381	1625	−244	19

Source: KZS.si

Results

Home \ Away	HEL	POL	ILI	KRK	UOL	ROG	SEN	TAJ	PRI	ZLA
Helios Suns	—	76–77	78–60	65–77	72–60	75–82	59–64	59–71	84–77	87–65
Hopsi Polzela	68–52	—	85–74	84–67	76–78	90–100	99–76	74–60	83–93	72–77
Ilirija	76–85	73–104	—	83–85	74–104	74–75	62–81	78–82	80–87	69–80
Krka	66–65	84–58	97–91	—	91–69	81–60	77–85	86–65	90–100	79–68
Petrol Olimpija	68–76	98–95	86–65	76–92	—	99–81	82–70	76–72	81–61	72–83
Rogaška	78–91	69–85	106–99	80–76	87–66	—	85–81	88–74	70–64	75–77
Šenčur	90–101	80–85	81–85	90–86	85–62	79–81	—	78–66	77–89	83–80
Šentjur	75–81	84–64	100–98	86–73	89–98	77–80	85–72	—	88–94	77–71
Sixt Primorska	97–50	92–65	117–67	64–66	80–63	87–79	75–66	92–76	—	84–53
Zlatorog Laško	91–86	57–101	92–73	85–93	77–84	93–78	86–78	65–70	92–72	—

Source: KZS.si
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Championship group

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sixt Primorska	10	10	0	818	650	+168	20	Qualification to playoffs
2	Petrol Olimpija	10	7	3	726	677	+49	17
3	Hopsi Polzela	10	5	5	727	763	−36	15
4	Krka	10	4	6	766	751	+15	14
5	Rogaška	10	3	7	740	833	−93	13
6	Helios Suns	10	1	9	691	794	−103	11

Source: KZS.si

Results

Home \ Away	HEL	POL	KRK	UOL	ROG	PRI
Helios Suns	—	84–75	76–84	63–69	80–82	67–68
Hopsi Polzela	83–61	—	82–81	65–59	81–76	63–81
Krka	86–58	81–61	—	65–70	99–69	62–85
Petrol Olimpija	74–66	93–72	79–60	—	66–58	72–85
Rogaška	90–83	69–85	90–80	70–75	—	67–95
Sixt Primorska	83–53	78–60	81–68	73–69	89–69	—

Source: KZS.si
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Relegation group

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Šenčur	15	10	5	1213	1141	+72	25	Qualification to playoffs
2	Zlatorog Laško	15	9	6	1199	1119	+80	24
3	Šentjur	15	8	7	1133	1180	−47	23
4	Ilirija	15	3	12	1149	1254	−105	18	Relegation

Source: KZS.si

Results

Home \ Away	ILI	SEN	TAJ	ZLA	ILI	SEN	TAJ	ZLA
Ilirija	—	79–71	64–60	86–89	—	—	—	82–93
Šenčur	84–75	—	92–82	74–69	94–81	—	—	—
Šentjur	71–67	71–69	—	78–81	90–77	85–96	—	—
Zlatorog Laško	86–73	71–81	76–57	—	—	64–79	96–59	—

Updated to match(es) played on 23 April 2019. Source: KZS.si
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Playoffs

Seeded teams played at home games 1, 3 and, in the finals, 5.

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Sixt Primorska	2
	Zlatorog Laško	0
					Sixt Primorska	2
					Krka	0
	Krka	2
	Rogaška	0
									Sixt Primorska	3
									Petrol Olimpija	0
	Petrol Olimpija	2
	Šenčur	1
					Petrol Olimpija	2
					Helios Suns	0
	Hopsi Polzela	0
	Helios Suns	2

Quarter–finals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
Sixt Primorska	2–0	Zlatorog Laško	98–74	89–68	–
Petrol Olimpija	2–1	Šenčur	79–77	70–73	85–73
Hopsi Polzela	0–2	Helios Suns	82–95	78–80	–
Krka	2–0	Rogaška	77–73	80–74	–

Semi-finals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
Sixt Primorska	2–0	Krka	85–74	88–76	–
Petrol Olimpija	2–0	Helios Suns	74–60	68–49	–

Finals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
Sixt Primorska	3–0	Petrol Olimpija	79–61	76–75	68–63	–	–

Awards

Regular Season MVP

• Davor Konjević (Šentjur)

Season MVP

• Marjan Čakarun (Sixt Primorska)

Finals MVP

• Marjan Čakarun (Sixt Primorska)

All-League Team

• Jan Špan (Petrol Olimpija)
• Blaž Mahkovic (Helios Suns)
• Donovon Jack (Hopsi Polzela)
• Marko Jagodić-Kuridža (Sixt Primorska)
• Marjan Čakarun (Sixt Primorska)

Regular Season Team

• Nejc Barič (Zlatorog)
• Blaž Mahkovic (Helios Suns)
• Marko Jagodić-Kuridža (Sixt Primorska)
• Davor Konjević (Šentjur)
• Ramo Rizvić (Šenčur)

^[8]

Weekly MVP

Regular season Week MVP[9] Club Efficiency 1 Luka Lapornik Krka 33 2 Emir Ahmedović Šentjur 24 3 Blaž Mahkovic Krka 34 4 Davor Konjević Šentjur 28 5 Davor Konjević (2) Šentjur 32 6 Marko Simonović Petrol Olimpija 35 7 Davor Konjević (3) Šentjur 47 8 Marjan Čakarun Sixt Primorska 32 9 Žan Mark Šiško Sixt Primorska 29 10 Žan Mark Šiško (2) Sixt Primorska 34 11 Marko Jagodić-Kuridža Sixt Primorska 31 12 Cleveland Thomas Zlatorog 28 13 Ramo Rizvić Šenčur 30 14 Domen Lorbek Petrol Olimpija 27 15 Matur Maker Zlatorog 34 16 Davor Konjević (4) Šentjur 32 17 Žan Mark Šiško (3) Sixt Primorska 27 18 Davor Konjević (5) Šentjur 34

Second round Week MVP[10] Club Efficiency 1 Smiljan Pavič Šenčur 26 2 Marjan Čakarun Sixt Primorska 26 3 Marko Jagodić-Kuridža Sixt Primorska 23 4 Ivan Marinković Sixt Primorska 20 5 L. D. Williams Ilirja 49 6 c Nejc Barič Zlatorog 26 Rashun Davis Rogaška 26 7 Marjan Čakarun (2) Sixt Primorska 35 8 Cleveland Thomas Zlatorog 30 9 Matur Maker Zlatorog 40 10c Simo Atanacković Hopsi Polzela 25 Donovon Jack Hopsi Polzela 25 Note ^c – Co-MVP's were announced.

Statistical leaders

Performance Index Rating Pos Player Club PIR 1 Davor Konjević Šentjur 22.37 2 Matur Maker Zlatorog 18 3 L. D. Williams Ilirja 16.86

Points Pos Player Club PPG 1 Davor Konjević Šentjur 19.96 2 L. D. Williams Ilirja 18.43 3 Blaž Mahkovic Helios Suns 16.54

Rebounds Pos Player Club RPG 1 Matur Maker Zlatorog 9.59 2 Davor Konjević Šentjur 7.96 3 Dino Murić Šenčur 6.90

Assists Pos Player Club APG 1 Žan Mark Šiško Sixt Primorska 6.83 2 Joshua Heath Ilirija 6.00 3 Casey Benson Hopsi Polzela 5.72

Clubs in European competitions

Team	Competition	Progress
Petrol Olimpija	Champions League	Regular season