1987–88 First Federal Basketball League

The 1987–88 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 44th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in SFR Yugoslavia.

1987–88 Yugoslav First Basketball League
LeagueYugoslav First Basketball League
SportBasketball
Regular season
Season championsSocialist Republic of Croatia Jugoplastika
Playoffs
Finals championsSocialist Republic of Croatia Jugoplastika
  Runners-upPartizan
Yugoslav First Basketball League seasons

Teams

SR Croatia

SR Serbia

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina

SR Macedonia

SR Montenegro

SR Slovenia

Regular season

Classification

Regular season ranking 1987–88GVPPFPSPt
1.Jugoplastika222112025176443
2.Cibona221752235200739
3.Partizan221572066197337
4.Smelt Olimpija221482018194336
5.Zadar2210122050197432
6.Crvena Zvezda2210121937199732
7.IMT229132042210631
8.Šibenka229131976202031
9.Bosna228141992202830
10.Borac Čačak227151839200229
11.MZT Skopje226161858204628
12.Budućnost226161915209328

Results

Home \ AwayJUGCIBPAROLIZADCZVIMTŠIBBOSBORMZTBUD
Jugoplastika96–8390–8599–7382–7386–77119–8586–7698–90111–7395–7497–81
Cibona86–8799–90110–9084–7298–88100–86111–91102–96124–89117–104106–96
Partizan79–8790–8893–9884–7885–95110–9690–83115–11098–9996–82103–94
Olimpija82–8384–7887–9299–8699–7799–9695–8999–79109–9694–7496–78
Zadar76–8491–9283–86109–107102–86100–88100–7987–9488–87109–63122–94
Crvena Zvezda86–90101–10485–106101–8893–8983–8596–7997–9095–8996–8699–92
IMT81–9597–9685–9596–98121–11285–8794–8286–9383–7995–92100–109
Šibenka90–7190–9687–7678–89107–103104–8598–125111–9382–83107–99108–91
Bosna88–9686–103107–12173–9283–8490–8493–9782–77105–7895–7783–78
Borac Čačak76–85100–12881–8991–8578–8187–7486–8474–7591–8287–7963–76
MZT Skopje83–9186–10480–9592–8094–9076–7776–7392–9769–9888–74111–97
Budućnost67–9797–12679–8773–7589–11487–75102–10489–8686–8381–7879–81
Source: Pearlbasket
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Playoff

Only the top four placed league table teams qualified for the playoffs quarterfinal automatically.

Teams placed fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth were joined by the top two Second League teams for an 8-team play-in round. The winner of each best-of-three series advanced to the playoffs quarterfinal round.

QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
         
1Jugoplastika2
8Šibenka0
1Jugoplastika2
4Smelt Olimpija0
4Smelt Olimpija2
5Zadar1
1Jugoplastika2
3Partizan1
2Cibona2
7IMT0
2Cibona1
3Partizan2
3Partizan2
6Crvena Zvezda0
PLAY-IN QUALIFYING ROUND

Zadar-Vojvodina 101–84, 78–81, 95–81

Crvena Zvezda-Prvi Partizan 98–91, 94–83

IMT Beograd-Borac 121–86, 112–113, 107–87

Šibenka-Bosna 103–102, 98–109, 108–93

QUARTERFINALS


Jugoplastika-Šibenka 107–80, 107–96

Olimpija Ljubljana-Zadar 77–76, 77–82, 82–76

Cibona-IMT Beograd 127–103, 89–86

Partizan-Crvena Zvezda 105–96, 101–90

SEMIFINALS


Jugoplastika-Olimpija Ljubljana 103–81, 86–83

Cibona-Partizan 102–91, 90–103, 77–83

FINALS


Jugoplastika-Partizan 101–79, 80–86, 88–67

Finals

Top-seeded Jugoplastika reached the playoff finals dominantly, rampaging though the league with a 21–1 regular season record followed by two confident playoff sweeps.

On the other hand, despite being the defending champions, third seed KK Partizan returned to the playoff finals somewhat unexpectedly, having to overcome second seed KK Cibona's home-court advantage in their semifinal series by improbably defeating the Zagreb team away in deciding game three, 77–83, with Cibona's superstar Dražen Petrović held to only 13 points while Partizan's best player, young center Vlade Divac, scored 23 points.[1]

Game 1: Jugoplastika vs. Partizan 101–79

Twenty-year-old Divac would also become the main story of the finals' opening game despite being absent from it due to picking up a knee injury under never fully explained circumstances. It would later come out that his injury likely occurred jumping out of a hotel window while leaving, without permission, the pre-finals team quarantine to meet with his girlfriend.[1] As a result of missing their best player, Partizan struggled mightily in game one away in Split, getting blown out by 22 points, 101–79, with Jugoplastika's young center Dino Rađa scoring 23 points, Željko Poljak adding 16, and young Toni Kukoč scoring 15.[1] On the other hand, hapless Partizan's best contribution was from their young point guard Saša Đorđević who scored 22 points.[1]

Game 2: Partizan vs. Jugoplastika 86–80

Seeing that without Divac's inside presence they stand no chance versus Jugoplastika, Partizan hustled their injured young center back on the court. Playing on one leg with a heavily bandaged knee, Divac still led the game two scoring with 18 points as Partizan pulled out an 86–80 victory at home.[1] It was only Jugoplastika's second loss of the entire season.

Game 3: Jugoplastika vs. Partizan 88–67

Still-injured Divac appeared in the deciding game three back in Split but was no match for the rampant home team looking for their first league title since 1977. The fact that Partizan played with virtually no inside presence under the basket was heavily exploited by Jugoplastika's center line of Rađa and Goran Sobin [it], as their backup center Sobin posted his season-high 28 points.[1] Jugoplastika won the game easily, claiming the league title.

The winning roster of Jugoplastika:[2]

Coach: Božidar Maljković

Scoring leaders

  1. Dražen Petrović (Cibona) – ___ points (38.0ppg)
  2. Milan Mlađan [it] (IMT) – __ points (30.1 ppg)[3][4]

Qualification in 1988–89 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup

FIBA Cup Winners' Cup

FIBA Korać Cup

Basketball Cup

Preliminary round

Key to colors
    Top placed team in each group advanced to semifinals

Aranđelovac tournament

TeamPldWLPDPts
1Partizan321+124
2MZT Skopje321+14
3Smelt Olimpija321-134
4Prvi partizan3030

Bar tournament

TeamPldWLPDPts
1Rabotnički3306
2Crvena zvezda312+142
3Šibenka312+12
4Mornar Bar312-152

Kutina tournament

TeamPldWLPts
1Cibona3306
2Bosna3214
3IMT3122
4Trepča3030

Novi Sad tournament

TeamPldWLPts
1Jugoplastika3306
2Zadar3214
3Vojvodina2020
4Sloboda Dita Tuzla2020

Bracket

 
SemifinalsFinals
 
      
 
 
 
 
Jugoplastika75
 
 
 
Partizan73
 
Jugoplastika80
 
 
 
Cibona82
 
Cibona
 
 
Rabotnički
 

References