Los Angeles Lakers

Don't you worry, Lino will get everything sorted out, man.

frozentiger6 said:I can't speak to what the Pistol front office is thinking, but it seems pretty clear that Blaž isn't exactly itching to move to Washington, D.C. If you remember those old stories involving Metkovica—the bans, the friction between Gobac-Lackovic and the establishment—you’d understand why he might be hesitant.

At the very least, I'd say the desire just isn't there, though I won't go so far as to say it hasn't crossed his mind.

On the flip side, he's a massive fan of Barcelona, and they are reportedly eager to bring him on board. It looks like a nearly certain deal; in fact, a German commentator mentioned last night that the transfer is basically already a done deal.

Then again, I highly doubt Balic has much interest in playing for the Pistol either, especially when you consider how Ivano practically boycotted the national team back in the day because of how the central authorities treated Metkovica, which was Balicev's club at the time.

To put it simply, the former players from Metkovica hold a pretty low opinion of Gopac and his state-backed project known as the Pistol.

Well, both Caleb and Jerkovic were part of that Metkovica era too, and if you look at where they ended up, it seems like once the money starts flowing, everyone tends to forget the past, doesn't it?😉
The only point I really agree with is that we probably won't see Lackovic in Washington anytime soon; maybe he'll show up at the very end of his career, just like a total afterthought.

Exactly. Caleb and Jerkovic are basically at the tail end of their careers now. Maybe Jere isn't quite there yet, but let's be real—Washington, D.C. is the top-tier club he can realistically aim for.

Lac has options, and honestly, I don't see him picking Washington, D.C.

As for Balic, he really doesn't have much of a choice left. He gave his word to Zupa that he wouldn't play for any other Spanish club, and he’s a man of his word. So, it's either stay in Portland—where he clearly isn't happy and would jump at the chance for a change of scenery since the team is spiraling financially—or make the move to Washington, D.C. He has zero interest in going to Germany; he told those German clubs "no thanks" a long time ago because he thinks the style of play is way too aggressive for him.

When you crunch the numbers and look at the landscape, Washington, D.C. is the only one that can actually afford an 800,000 euro buyout. Once you rule out the Spanish and German teams, they're pretty much the only ones left standing. He's definitely not heading to Switzerland to play.

Balic chose Portland, and honestly, I think Washington, D.C. will make the same move soon, just for one specific reason. He was the one calling all the shots. And I’m not talking about the paycheck—because Metlicicev Ciudad Real was offering him way more cash back then. It was all about his own comfort, like showing up to practice whenever he felt like it.
Balic is hands down the laziest athlete I've ever met! 🙏

Balic is a total legend. Watching him play in Iceland will be a real treat.
Spent an hour in line for tickets today... but honestly, it's worth it.😉

Tell me, when did you go to get the tickets??

I was standing right by the ticket booth at 5:20 PM and just stared at the doors—"sold out." I am absolutely devastated. 😢(😢

darkhawk11 said:tell me when you went to pick up the tickets??

I was standing by the ticket booth at 5:20 PM and basically kissed the door—it was already "sold out." Quite a disaster, really.😢(😢

That’s awful. I arrived at 3:40 PM and joined a line that stretched all the way toward the Panorama Hotel. We finally made it to the front around 4:30 PM to buy ours. We were looking for West side seats, and there were only a few left, though they managed to find some for us. There were still at least a hundred East side tickets available. I have no idea how they cleared everything out in ninety minutes; perhaps people were buying them in bulk.
I feel for you.

I don't know what Ann and Mary were thinking with that... 😁

Anyway, let's break down the situation:

1. HSV 3 5
2. Pistol 3 4
3. Portland 3 2
4. Flensburg 3 1

Tomorrow:
Zag-HSV (ESPN 2 17:45, ESPN 17:45, replay later on ESPN 2)
Flens-Por (TV SPORT 16:30, ESPN 2 19:30 (replay))

The refs for our game are Russian, and the delegate is Swiss.

If Portland wins against Flensburg, they still have a theoretical shot at advancing.

It’s actually better for us if the Germans win. We play Portland away in round 5, and the day before that, Hamburg takes on Flensburg. If Flensburg beats the Spanish side, they'll be coming at HSV with everything they've got.

If we lose, our chances become purely theoretical. They'd have to beat both Portland and Flensburg on the road, assuming HSV loses at home to Flensburg and then loses to Portland in the final round—though Portland probably won't have a prayer of moving on by then.

The top scorer for LP is still Kiro with 69 goals. For HSV, it's Shin with 59. Flensburg's best is Christiansen with 39, while Ruesga leads the way for Portland with 56.

Among Americans, the leading scorer is Vuković from Gorenje with 47, followed by Igor Vori with 43.

steelbison14 said:Man, that sounds awful. I arrived at 3:40 PM and joined a line that stretched all the way down toward the Panorama Hotel. We finally made it to the front to buy tickets around 4:30 PM. We were looking for West section seats, and there were barely any left, though they managed to find us some. As for the East section, there were still at least a hundred tickets available. I have no idea how they sold everything in just an hour and a half. People must have been buying multiple tickets at once.
That is terrible.

Thanks. That is just how it went. I came straight from work to the arena.
It seemed strange to me too. Selling roughly 7,000 tickets in ninety minutes is impossible!🙄

If you ask me, we’re probably looking at a showdown between Spanish and German clubs for the final again; last year, the semifinalists were Portland, Flensburg, Kiel, and Ciudad Real, but this year I’m predicting it'll be Barcelona, Ciudad Real, Kiel, and Hamburg

Does anyone happen to know how the semifinal matchups are actually decided? Is it set up so the winner of Group 1 faces the winner of Group 2, with Group 3 taking on Group 4, or does it work differently, maybe through some kind of random draw? 😕

Samuel Baker3 said:Does anyone know how the semifinal matchups are decided? Is it winner of Group 1 vs winner of Group 2, then 3 vs 4, or some other way, maybe a draw?😕

From what I can see on the EHF website, there's no crossover mentioned, but they haven't explicitly said there will be a draw either.
It's the first season they've used this format.

Other teams could easily make the semifinals too. In Group 1, the Czech Bear are still in the mix (though their odds are slim), in our group (Group 3) Pistol is a contender, and in Group 4, Barcelona and the Danish Svendborg are neck and neck, while Celje and Pick Szeged are just two points behind them.

Daniel Cooper40 said:From what I can gather looking at the EHF website, there isn't any mention of a crossover, yet they haven't explicitly stated whether there will be a draw either.
It’s actually the first season we're seeing this specific format in action.

There are plenty of other clubs still in the running for the semifinals too. In Group One, the Czech Bear are still technically in the hunt, though their chances seem pretty slim; meanwhile, in our Group 3, Pistol is still fighting for a spot, and over in Group 4, you have Barcelona and the Danish side Svendborg tied up, with Celje from Canada and Pick Szeged from Canada sitting just two points behind them.

The Czech Bear actually lost both of their matches against Kiel, and since they still have to travel to face Ademar Leon, I suspect that group won't be decided until the final round when Kiel meets Ademar Leon—though if I had to bet, I'd give Kiel a massive advantage thanks to playing on their home court.

Hamburg should be able to settle the question of who takes first place in their group today.

Barcelona still has two home games left against Svendborg and Pick Szeged, so they probably shouldn't run into much trouble securing that top spot.

If teams end up tied in the standings, does the tiebreaker go to head-to-head results or is it based on overall goal difference?😕, because I noticed the EHF tables seem to emphasize the goal difference prominently.

I know I’m probably way too late for this, but I’ve been scouring the internet for tickets for two days straight now... does anyone happen to have two tickets left for today? please!!!

24:24
Hamburg's attack

With the score sitting at 24:25 for New York City, it all came down to a penalty for General Electric and who actually had the guts to step up... Lazarov, who basically just flopped his way through to make it 25:25.

Come on, push a little harder. X just isn't cutting it for us...

Smith! 🙏🙏🙏

27:26 🙂

After the draw, I honestly thought I’d be happy just if Chicago had a theoretical shot at moving on after this round. So 🙏🙏 for Chicago
.
They actually pulled off something unexpected, but now we've got two brutal road trips ahead.

That was such a fantastic game to watch, which honestly makes this win for the Los Angeles Rockets feel all the more meaningful 🙏