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.
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
TeamWLPtsPF:PADiff 1Partizan 233491966:1771195 2Cibona 197452088:1945143 3Hemofarm STADA 197452082:198795 4Crvena zvezda 197452010:191397 5Zadar 179432139:1935204 6Budućnost m:tel 1511412017:197245 7Bosna ASA BHT 1115372025:2062-37 8FMP Železnik 1016362071:2094-23 9Union Olimpija 1016361981:1999-18 10Split CO 1016361899:2014-115 11Krka 917351897:2041-144 12Helios 818341897:2010-113 13Zagreb CO 818341983:2100-117 14Vojvodina Srbijagas 422301967:2179-212
Qualified for Final four Did not qualify for next season
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."Torcida" napala Zvezdine košarkaše;B92, 20 January 2009 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.Video of the attack The attack did not appear to be organized.Napad nije organizovan;Večernje novosti, 21 January 2009
No serious injuries were reported except for Red Star's American shooting guard Andre Owens who got a laceration on his knee„Torcida“ napala košarkaše Zvezde;Blic, 21 January 2009 as he jumped over the check-in counter to avoid the charging hooligans.;mondo.rs, 21 January 2009
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.Split: Napadnuti Zvezdini košarkaši;B92, 21 January 2009 Club president Dino Rađa also publicly apologized.;mondo.rs, 21 January 2009
Stats Leaders
Points RankNameTeamPointsGamesPPG1. Dragan LabovićFMP Železnik 4672617,962. Eddie ShannonSplit4062615,623. Nicholas JacobsonHelios 3902515,604. Richard ShieldsKrka3882515,525. Ante TomićZagreb 3712415,46
Rebounds RankNameTeamReboundsGamesRPG1. Ante TomićZagreb206248,582. Todor GečevskiZadar204267,853. Novica VeličkovićPartizan180266,924. Dejan IvanovZadar151226,865. Predrag SamardžiskiFMP Železnik178266,85
Assists RankNameTeamAssistsGamesAPG1. Rok StipčevićZadar 117264,502. Dušan DjordjevićBosna116264,463. Eddie ShannonSplit111264,274. Jure MočnikHelios98263,775. Filip ČovićFMP Železnik73213,48
Ranking MVP RankNameTeamEfficiencyGamesAverage1. Ante TomićZagreb5382422,422. Dragan LabovićFMP5082619,543. Todor GečevskiZadar4842618,624. Novica VeličkovićPartizan4572617,585. Eddie ShannonSplit4392616,88
MVP Round by Round {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;" |- ! align="center"|Round ! align="center"|Player ! align="center"|Team ! align="center"|Efficiency |- |1||align="left"| Ante Tomić||Zagreb||36 |- |2||align="left"| Vladan Vukosavljević||Hemofarm||39 |- |3||align="left"| Miroslav Raduljica ||FMP||37 |- |4||align="left"| Dejan Borovnjak ||Vojvodina||29 |- |5||align="left"| Vladimir Golubović||Olimpija||35 |- |6||align="left"| Ante Tomić ||Zagreb||35 |- |7||align="left"| Ante Tomić ||Zagreb||32 |- |8||align="left"| Dejan Borovnjak||Vojvodina||34 |- |9||align="left"| Antonio Grant||Split||31 |- |10||align="left"| Ante Tomić ||Zagreb||32 |- |11||align="left"| Richard Shields||Krka || 32 |- |12||align="left"| Marko Kešelj||Crvena zvezda || 33 |- |13||align="left"| Dragan Labović||FMP || 32 |- |14||align="left"| Novica Veličković||Partizan || 40 |- |15||align="left"| Rok Stipčević||Zadar || 35 |- |16||align="left"| Dragan Labović ||FMP || 30 |- |17||align="left"| Alan Anderson||Cibona || 38 |- |18||align="left"| Nicholas Jacobson||Helios || 37 |- |19||align="left"| Lorinza Harrington||Olimpija || 34 |- |20||align="left"| Eddie Shannon||Split || 34 |- |21||align="left"| Ante Tomić ||Zagreb || 32 |- |22||align="left"| Stefan Marković||Hemofarm || 33 |- |23||align="left"| Charron Fisher||Vojvodina || 31 |- |24||align="left"| Charron Fisher ||Vojvodina || 37 |- |25||align="left"| Jovo Stanojević||Vojvodina || 36 |- |26||align="left"| Dragan Labović ||FMP || 26 |- |27||align="left"| Alan Anderson ||Cibona || 27 |- |28||align="left"| Novica Veličković ||Partizan || 22
Final four Matches played in, Belgrade, Serbia
Semifinals
Partizan vs. Crvena zvezda
Cibona vs. Hemofarm STADA
Final
References