101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
In 1973, he played his last final with CSKA, of course
against Varese, and lost in Liege 71-66 despite scoring
34 points.
Three seconds in Munich, 1972
Sergei Belov was a player ahead of his time. He was a
shooting guard, but also capable of playing point guard
or small forward. Just like Dragan Kicanovic, Mirza Delibasic,
Manuel Raga, Bob Morse, Walter Szczerbiak and
other shooters from the era, they had to play without
three-pointers, which were introduced by FIBA during
the 1984-85 season. He was unstoppable in one-onone
situations and after the dribble, you could count on
an assist or a precise shot, many times with only one
hand. He was also a great rebounder, but his best quality
was his cold blood, his 100 percent concentration
in crunch time. His teammates always looked for Belov
for the last play or the last shot. He was a leader who
transmitted security and confidence to the rest of the
players and true fear to some rivals. He was a player respected
by all, because of his qualities and his behavior.
He was a true officer and gentleman.
With the USSR he won 18 medals: Four Olympic
medals (gold in 1972, bronze in 1968, 1976 and 1980);
six in World Championships (two golds – 1967 and
1974 – three silvers and one bronze); eight at European
Championships (four golds, two silvers and two bronzes).
In total, he won seven gold medals, five silvers
and six bronzes in the most important international
competitions. His only Olympic gold was from Munich
against the USA in what was a famous final because of
the last three seconds were repeated under the orders
of William Jones, then the secretary general of FIBA. In
September 2007, Belov told me the story of the most
famous three seconds in basketball history:
“Jones’s decision was totally fair and correct to me.
See, when Doug Collins scored to put his team ahead,
50-49, there were three seconds left and the scoreboard
showed 19:57. Ivan Edeshko put the ball into play
and I was close to midcourt, the table was behind my
back. I got the ball and right away, the horn from the
table stopped the game. But it was not the end, there
was a mistake because the clock showed 19:59. There
was one second left, but we protested a lot because
it was clearly a mistake. The time had to start running
when I touched the ball and not when Edeshko threw
it in. After what to us seemed a never-ending moment,
Jones lifted his three fingers and said we had to repeat
them. The rest is well known. This time Edeshko
made a long pass to Sasha Belov, who faked between
two Americans, who in turn jumped at the same time
almost clashing one against the other, and he scored
the basket that was worth a gold medal.”
Disappointment at home, 1980
If his most glorious moment was that 1972 gold
at the Olympics in Munich, I am sure that his biggest
disappointment was the Olympic Games played in
Moscow in 1980. Playing at home, the USSR lost first to
Italy in the group stage and later against Yugoslavia after
overtime, and so missed the title game. Some days
later, he received an offer that was, in fact, an order:
“I got a call from the USSR Sports Minister, Sergei Pavlov,
and he literally said, ‘From this moment, you are the
USSR national team coach.’ And I rejected it on the spot.
The minister insisted and he repeated his offer constantly.
Gomelskiy found out about the issue and, through his
connections, he made it that the KGB wouldn’t allow me
to leave the country for several years... I was an officer in
the Soviet army and it was easy to do that. Those were
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