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

### 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. 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. The attack did not appear to be organized.
No serious injuries were reported except for Red Star's American shooting guard Andre Owens who got a laceration on his knee as he jumped over the check-in counter to avoid the charging hooligans.
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. Club president Dino Rađa also publicly apologized.

## 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

## Final four

Matches played in, Belgrade, Serbia
| Semifinals April 16 | Semifinals April 16 | Semifinals April 16 | Final April 18 | Final April 18 | Final April 18 |
| 1 | Partizan | 64 | | | |
| 4 | Crvena zvezda | 58 | | | |
| 4 | Crvena zvezda | 58 | 1 | Partizan | 63 |
| | | | 2 | Cibona | 49 |
| 2 | Cibona | 77 | 2 | Cibona | 49 |
| 3 | Hemofarm STADA | 65 | | | |

### Semifinals
#### Partizan vs. Crvena zvezda

* April 16 20:45 CET
* Report
| 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
| 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
| 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