Balkan teams dominate #3x3WT Lausanne on Day 1

Belgrade (SRB), Kranj (SLO) and Zagreb (CRO) won their pools with a clean record on the first day of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Lausanne Masters.

The final of the Madrid Masters last year saw two Balkan teams (Ljubljana (SLO) and Split (CRO)) go toe-to-toe and it looked like history repeating on 30 August in the packed venue located right in the heart of Lausanne, the Olympic capital.

Belgrade showed an impressive ability to score, tallying a tournament-high 61 points in three games. Dragan 'Gaga' Bjelica tested a few ankles on his blazing fast crossovers and the red-haired shooter Ivan Popovic showed he had ice in his veins as he nailed the corner-two for the win in overtime against Nice.

Kranj was the only team with three players scoring at least 15 points on Day 1, with the experienced Dario Krejic (34) leading the way but especially excelling in defense leading all teams in points conceded with just 34 points.

Zagreb had to beat the other Slovenian team (Brezovica) in Pool C and benefited a lot from Igor 'Musa' Musulin's speed and Zeljko Palabra and his deterring biceps.

'Abrapalabra' scored 26 points on Friday, a tally which only Dutch veteran (35) Chip Jones could top (28 points). The The Hague star was on fire in the unexpected upset of Málaga, a quarter-finalist of last year's Madrid Masters.

Big men Jone Lopes Pedro (Aachen, 2.08m) and Blaz Cresnar (Brezovica, 2.16m) seemed to touch the roof of the lovely tent which was covering the court on their countless dunks but nobody seemed to go as high and throw it down as strong as Maciej Paprocki at the SIL dunk contest qualifier. The Gdansk native electrified the crowd in Prague by jumping over his girlfriend.This time he dunked over two men standing on his first attempt.

The'Lucky Jeans' hip-hop dancers and a troop of cheerleaders from the Canary Islands also starred on Friday. attracting a massive crowd, who even started a wave during the last game of the night.

Quarter-finals bracket:

Belgrade (SRB) - Málaga (ESP) at 17:00CET

The Hague (NED ) - Brezovica (SLO) at 17:30CET

Kranj (SLO) - Aachen (GER) at 18:00CET

Zagreb (CRO) - Düsseldorf at 18:30CET