101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
was dominated by Korac’s OKK Belgrade and Daneu’s
Olimpija. Between 1957 and 1964 they won four titles
each. In 1965, the title went to Zadar for the first time.
Djerdja was back from the military service and the team
had the likes of the Marcelic brothers, Bruno and Mile,
Duro Stipcevic, Milan Komazec (Arian’s father), Miljenko
Valcic, Jure Kosta, Marko Ostarcevic (known in Spain as
the husband of artist Norma Duval) and a young boy
named Kresimir Cosic. He was less than 17 years old, but
his enormous talent could be seen from afar. He was thin,
no muscles, but with great intelligence and talent. Zadar
finished first, with an 18-4 record, two losses fewer than
Olimpija. The best scorer was Korac with 695 points
(34.8). Djerdja was sixth in total points (478) but since he
had played 19 games, his average was 25.2, second best
in the leage. The most important thing, however, was the
birth of a great duo formed by Djerdja and Cosic. Djerdja
was 11 years older, but the following 10 years they were
an unbelievable duo that could win titles by themselves.
It was the perfect combination of point guard and center.
But Cosic was no ordinary center. He was way ahead of
his time. He was Arvydas Sabonis 20 years earlier and
with 10 centimeters less. He was the first center to play
far from the basket, had great court vision and was a
generous passer, but also a great rebounder with big
hands. Djerdja was the opposite: small but with excellent
technique. He hardly ever turned the ball over and scored
many points. If I had to compare him to a current player, I
would say he was the Tony Parker of his time.
Djerdja was a World Cup 1963 runner-up with Yugoslavia
in Rio de Janeiro (8.8 points) and took part in the
1964 Olympics in Tokyo (9.9 points), the 1965 EuroBasket
in Moscow (silver, 10.3 points) and the 1967 World Cup
in Montevideo, where he paired up with the young Cosic.
They won the silver medal, but together they brought happiness
to Zadar fans. They were Yugoslav League champs
in 1967 (Cosic 21.2, Djerdja 17.3), 1968 (Cosic 21.3, Djerdja
17.4), 1974 (Cosic 23.1, Djerdja 18.9) and 1975 with a 25-1
record (Cosic 24.1, Djerdja 14.3 at 38 years old). In 1970
they won the Yugoslav Cup against Jugoplastika by the
score of 64-60 playing in Split. Djerdja scored 23 points,
including the last 6 after a 57-57 tie, and Cosic added 19. I
guess it was in those days that the famous sentence was
born: “God created man and Zadar created basketball.”
Rivalry with Real Madrid
Zadar never won the EuroLeague of the time because
it was unlucky enough to have faced the great Real Madrid
teams of Pedro Ferrandiz a number of times. Zadar
reached the semifinals several times, but Real Madrid
was a better team. Madrid eliminated Zadar in 1967,
1968, 1969 and 1975, in two unforgettable games. The
first game, played in Madrid on March 20, the hosts
won 109-82 with a great Walter Szczerbiak, who scored
45 points, while Cosic stayed at 17 and Djerdja 8. Seven
days later in Zadar, in front of 6,000 fans who created
a great atmosphere, Zadar thought that it could come
back from minus 21. To do that it didn’t hesitate to do
anything it could, including manipulating the clock. The
second hand ran so slowly that one second on the clock
lasted for two real seconds. Real Madrid had already
experienced a similar trick against OKK Belgrade on
March 21, 1965, when the game lasted for 113 minutes.
Zadar’s clock was even slower: the game finished after
131 minutes. Ferrandiz’s complaints were useless in
front of the indifference of referees Topuzoglu of Turkey
and Anheuser from Germany and the commissioner,
Lambeaux of Belgium. At the break, Zadar was winning
by three (68-65!) but in the end, quality prevailed
over lack of sportsmanship and Real Madrid took the
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