101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
repeated the feat in a 63-62 win against Crvena Zvezda.
He scored 10 points but his title collection was already
impressive. I saw on TV the two games that the USSR
played against Yugoslavia in the 1969 EuroBasket, with
a Yugoslavia win in the group phase (the first one in an
official game against the USSR) and a USSR win in the
final, but I admit that I do not remember Belov. He didn’t
shine in the World Championship of Ljubljana in 1970
(6 points) but in the Essen EuroBasket (8.5) he was already
one of the pillars of the Soviet team. Then came
Munich and his life would change.
At the World Championships in San Juan in 1974,
he won another gold medal, achieving the triple crown:
Olympics, World Championships and EuroBasket. Aleksandr
Salnikov was the best scorer in the USSR with
17.6 points, especially thanks to his 38 points against
the Americans and 32 against the Cubans. Belov’s average
was 14.6 points.
I saw Belov live for the first time in 1975 at the Belgrade
EuroBasket. He was not in his best shape, but
his talent and potential were unquestionable. In the
title game, his fight with Cosic and Vinko Jelovac, the
Yugoslav centers that were way bigger than him, was
impressive. That same year, he was drafted in the NBA
by Utah with pick number 161 in the 10th round. The following
year, at the Montreal Olympics, he played again
at an elevated level, with 15.7 points, 5.2 boards and
4.7 assists, but he suffered one of the few disappointments
in his career: the USSR ended up third, but he
still won one more medal. He also had a triple-double in
that tournament against Canada (100-72) as he scored
23 points, pulled 14 rebounds and dished 10 assists.
Only he and LeBron James, who would match the feat
many years later, hold the distinction of recording triple-doubles
in the Olympics.
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