Round 3 in Piraeus marks the start of a tough road stretch for Dubai, three time zones away from home
Entering the unknown: Dubai ready to ‘pioneer’ travel
Članak
3 Min čitanja
Dubai Basketball’s debut EuroLeague season started with a bang. In the opening week, the team notched a landmark victory over Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in Round 1 in front of a sold-out crowd at Coca-Cola Arena, its first-ever win in the competition.
But just three days later, Dubai hit its first roadblock after losing on the road at AS Monaco in Round 2. That game in Monaco also marked the beginning of a brutal stretch of travel the team will face this season.
“This is something we knew was going to happen,” head coach Jurica Golemac said last week as the season was about to tip off. “We’re not emphasizing it, we’re not going to talk about how hard it is.”
Well, if Coach Golemac won’t, let me break it down.
After logging a seven-hour round trip to Monaco, Dubai now heads to Greece to face Olympiacos in Piraeus on Friday for Round 3. But there’s no rest after that — the UAE-based team immediately travels west to Serbia for an Adriatic League matchup against Borac Cacak on Sunday.
Next stop? Istanbul. There, Dubai will face Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul on Tuesday in the first leg of the EuroLeague’s second double-round week. Then it’s back home to host FC Barcelona in Round 5, with tipoff scheduled just 44 hours after the previous game ends. The team will finally enjoy a few days in Dubai as it hosts U-BT Cluj Napoca in the Adriatic League, but the brief pause won’t last long.
Because after that, Dubai faces a brutal stretch.
Coach Golemac and his players will fly another seven hours to face LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in EuroLeague Round 6, then heads east to Slovenia to play Krka in the Adriatic League. From there, it’s off to Spain for EuroLeague games against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Valencia Basket — part of another double-round week.
Finally, the team returns home on a 10-hour flight, totaling roughly 25 hours in the air over just eight days in late October.
“We did some studies on this — we’re going to be the pioneers,” Golemac said. “Nobody’s done this before. We couldn’t ask anyone how to manage it, because the closest thing is the NBA, where East and West Coast teams might take three or four big trips a season.”
So, what is Dubai doing to prepare its players and staff for such a demanding schedule?
“The trips are going to be long. We’re going to do everything we can so the team doesn’t feel it as much,” Golemac explained. “That’s why we have a big roster. We’re thinking a lot about preparation, recovery, supplements, and how we’re going to fly.”
“For sure, we’ll end up helping the next team that tries to do this,” he added.
Dubai’s October gauntlet could pay off later in the season. But for now, the EuroLeague debutant is entering the unknown.