Sample Chapter
Drazen Petrovic
(October 22nd, 1964 —June 7lh, 1993)
...and the days roll by, like a ball.
like luck, the nicest story of youth
is being told...
Weeks and months roll by, years roll by. And the ball rolls. On the streets
and in the courtyards, across seven continents. In the hands of young boys and
in the hands of legends. Planet BASKETBALL.
Four years have rolled by. From the moment when the ball had to stoprolling -
June 7, 1993. And everything stopped for us too. What didn't? How Croatian
basketball would shine now. With how many golds and silvers...? With how much
pride.
The year was 1964. A second son was born to the
Petrovic family on October 22nd. Drazen. Sibenik did not even have its own
basketball team yet.
...and the days roll by...
Sibenka Basketball Club was officially founded in 1973.
Drazen's five-year older brother, Aleksandar (called Aco) was already a real
player. Practicing seriously. Ball, bag and... Drazen. Aco's hang-on accessory
for every training session in Baldekin (an area in Šibenik). His younger brother
Drazen bounced balls off old hoops. "If I could only be like my older brother,
if I could only..." Aco was among the best, better than his fellow sibenik
players. He transferred to Cibona (Zagreb) in 1976.
There was no cure. Drazen was forever bitten by the basketball bug. And he began
to play for a real team, in a real uniform, with real hoops. At six in the
morning, before school. Against the chairs.
...like a ball, like luck...
1979. Split, Croatia. Drazen brought home his
first medal. A bronze from the Croatian Cadet Championship. A big medal for a
small team from Baldekin. And the first medal for "our boy". Like so many more
times to follow, he was the best player in the championship. That same year,
Sibenka became a first-league (professional) team.
1980. Drazen and the Sibenka cadets become the
national champions in Zadar.
The next gold was won in 1981 in Salonika,
Greece. Drazen won the Balkan Cadet Championship. He played in all the
categories. With the Sibenka junior team he brought home the silver from the
National Championship in Vogošće (Bosnia and Herzegovina). With the seniors, he
placed fourth in a fierce first-league competition. Even then, as a
seventeen-year-old he was declared the best sports player of Sibenik. Only a
year later, Drazen was playing for the senior national team. He presented his
club to the rest of Europe. Sibenka played the first of two consecutive Korać
Cup finals against Limoges (France). That same year, 1982,
he played in his first playoffs. Off in Zagreb, Cibona became the national
champion for the first time. The final National Championship title for Kresimir
cosic, and the first for Aco Petrovic.
...the nicest story of youth
is being told...
Si-Si-Sibenka! 1983 national champions. Drazen's
free throws. His fist and trophy held high in the air. A wild night in Šibenik.
And the shock of Sunday morning. The YBA (Yugoslavian Basketball Associa tion)
took away their title. That they could. But the joy of winning and the medals
they couldn't take away. Everything remained in Baldekin Drazen's speech in the
town square. "Let them take it, we're the
champions!"
Plitvice Lakes, 1984. Training of the National
Team. On the final day of the transfer deadline, Drazen signed on with Cibona.
All doors were open in Zagreb: the European Champions Cup... a generation on the
rise ... then-head coach of the National Team Mirko Novosel. The deciding
factor... his brother Aco.
In the following four years, Zagreb saw a basketball eruption. Drazen's
volcano. Up to thirty points on a good night, more than forty on average in a
single season. He sunk 112 shots in a game against the young Olym-pia team. A
show of attractions on the court of the Sports Center (Dom Sportova) in Zagreb.
Drazen and the players held the keys to the city. April 3rd,
1985. And once again, April 3rd, 1986. A
raid on Athens and Budapest. Drazen flew above Real Madrid and then over Sabonis
and Jalguiris. Above all of Europe. Thousands of fans waited his return from the
1985 European Champions Cup in Athens, and tens of thousands of fans lined the
street on his return from the 1986 European Champions Cup in Budapest. A path
strewn with flowers for the winners.
A new basketball center was built on the wings of the double European
Champions Cups. The future home of the Drazen Petrovic Basketball Center.
1986. The World Championship in Spain. The
National Team head coach was Kreaimir cosic. Drazen and Aco are a harmonized
tandem of guards. The Mambo Kings. The wound-up Spaniards disliked them to the
point of worship. Drazen met up with "terrier" Muggsy Bogues, the NBA's future
shortest assault weapon. And the Americans beckoned: Come, Petro... Third round,
60th pick overall for Portland. A nine point difference was not enough in the
final fifty seconds of the semi-finals against the Russians. A defeat in
overtime.
1987. Drazen and Cibona had a record 22-0 in the
championship series. The season before they had 21-1. But in both seasons they
remained without a National Championship title. The gold was, nonetheless, in
Zagreb. The European Cup Winners' Cup against Scavolini (Italy), and then the
University Games. Renaissance. Drazen held the torch at Maksimir Stadium. "I was
terribly nervous, I was watching that I didn't stumble..." He lit the flame
every night in Zagreb. Every time he went out onto the court.
1988. The crown of the royal Real Madrid awaited
Drazen. One season for all times. Spain paid its respects. As much as they had
passionately disliked him before, now they even more passionately adored him.
Our boy, El Nino. In Madrid he formed a sky team together with Fernando Martin.
Up above, among the stars. Both of their lives ended in tragic car accidents.
The finals of the '89 European Cup in Athens again. Shooting duels on an open
court. Drazen's 62 points against Snaidero and longtime Brazilian shooter, Oscar
Schmidt.
On the way to the trophy, Real played against Cibona in the semifinals. Aco
against Drazen, No. 5 against No. 5. In Zagreb, the applause
turned to a standing ovation. For Real player No. 5... In return for their
greeting, 27 points before half-time. Like he wanted. Aco later said of Drazen:
"He could have gone to 100."
But he didn't. It wouldn't be right. Not to his former team... Once he did
something similar in Baldekin while playing with Cibona. Cibona had a secure
first place, while Sibenka was fighting for a first-league rescue. With Drazen's
"help", Cibona faced its first loss in the championship.
...your goodness...
1989. A farewell to Europe. His final farewell
just happened to be in Zagreb, as if linked by destiny. Eurobasket '89 and
showtime for the end. The Sports Center (Dom Sportova) was filled to the
rafters. A new week of Drazen's magic. Before the flight to Oregon. "I'll
remember Portland by the rain..." Remember... it always rained in
Portland. Remember... Rick Adelman, Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter... Too few
minutes on the court..., not enough points... Only a lot of patience. And the
bench. The bench was hard, too hard. Even if he did play in the big NBA Finals
in 199O: Detroit vs. Portland. "I have the
best seat in the house. On the bench." It rained without stopping
those days... Too much.
January 23, 1991. Journey to the opposite coast,
to the East. The New Jersey Nets needed Drazen. At that moment they didn't
realize how much they needed him. They weren't aware of what they had gained in
the trade. But Drazen knew: a chance to play! Finally! A full NBA season, all
the 1991/92 games. And at every game: Petro,
Croatia. Even before the international recognition of Croatia. The long nights
spent on the phone with his close friend Celtic's player Stojko Vranković in
Boston: "... they're shelling Šibenik."
Protests with Stojko in front of the United Nations building in East River. "Recognize
Croatia!"
At the All-Star Game in Orlando he performed in the shoot-outs. In a season
he averaged more than 20 points!
The NBA management presented him with the "INTERNATIONAL" plaque complete
with the dedication: "DRAZEN PETROVIC AND BASKETBALL - CITIZENS OF THE WORLD."
Engraved: "EVEN THOUGH HE FLUENTLY SPEAKS SEVERAL LANGUAGES, PETROVIC PREFERS
TO EXPRESS HIMSELF ON THE BASKETBALL COURT."
And also: "PETROVIC BRINGS A NEW VISION OF INTERNATIONALISM AND A
REFRESHINGLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO THE GAME."
Drazen's response: "This game possesses an
orderliness that is easily carried over to any language."
Summer of '92. A Croatian dream and the US Dream
Team in Barcelona. Croatia played under its own flag for the first time. And the
first Croatian captain. Drazen. Pride and tears. A tide of emotions in the
locker room following the stressful thriller game against Russia in the
semifinals. All of our dreams in one: the Olympic Finals! "Guys,
there'll be a miracle. We don't have to get them, but we can deal with them.
They won't run us over." Drazen's faith. There was no going back,
not even in front of Jordan, Magic, Bird... He scored the most in the final, 24
points. Watched by 3 billion people.
A new NBA season, 1992/93. For eternal
remembrance. The leader of the Nets. And the symbol of the Croatian community in
America. The eleventh scorer in the league, 22.3 points per game. Alongside
Jordan, the deadliest guard of the NBA. In the Third All-NBA Team. The best
scorer of field goals. Drazen — The Dragon.
The Nets coach was Chuck Daly, a two-time champion with the Detroit Pistons,
and the coach of the original Dream Team in Barcelona '92. He didn't make a
mistake, he knew who he could give all the power to. On the other side of the
world, Drazen was declared the best European basketball player for the fourth
time.
Later, when it was all too late, Aco found a piece of paper. A list of offers
for the 1993/94 season, listed in order of Drazen's
preference: New York, Houston, Portland, Seattle, LA Clippers, New Jersey. Pat
Riley and the Knicks, Rudy Tomjanovich and the Rockets. They were the most
determined, angling for the Finals. In the end, they played them in 1994,
Houston vs. New York 4-3. And Drazen was missed by both. Especially by Riley and
the Knicks.
...a broken heart beats in us...
New action for 1993. The qualification games in
Poland, followed by the European Championship in Germany. Drazen trained
intensively from day one. A fighting spirit. On May 20, 1993,
he stood once more before the Zagreb fans at the farewell ceremony in
recognition of Andro Knego's (Cibonas legendary basketball playerr) long career.
And his own farewell with the public. This time forever...
Life passes by, Captain...
June 6, 1993. Playing against Slovenia in the
qualification games in Wroclaw. He led the Croatian National Team for the last
time. On June 7th Drazen left for Zagreb with the
rest of the team. He got out at Frankfurt, and went by car to Munich. To
Ingolstadt. Only his luggage landed in Zagreb.
...that which words fail...
Cibona's No. 10 jersey hangs in the rafters of the Drazen Petrovic Basketball
Center located on Drazen Petrovic Square in Zagreb. The Nets No. 3 jersey is on
display in Meadowlands. A stone memorial stands in the Olympic Park in Lausanne.
Honorary citizen of Šibenik. A memorial-plaque is on the wall of the garage near
the basketball hoop in Preradović Street in Šibenik. Drazen's first hoop. The
Drazen Petrovic TROPHY is given to the best players at McDonald's tournaments:
Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Michael Jordan...
vou left your goodness to everyone,
and to some new children the game
from Baldekin.
Mario Zorko
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