1987–88 First Federal Basketball League

The 1987–88 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 44th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in SFR Yugoslavia.

1987–88 Yugoslav First Basketball League
League	Yugoslav First Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
Regular season
Season champions	Jugoplastika
Playoffs
Finals champions	Jugoplastika
Runners-up	Partizan
Yugoslav First Basketball League seasons
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

Teams

SR Croatia Cibona Jugoplastika Šibenka Zadar

SR Serbia Borac Čačak Crvena Zvezda IMT Partizan

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosna

SR Macedonia MZT Skopje

SR Montenegro Budućnost

SR Slovenia Smelt Olimpija

Regular season

Classification

	Regular season ranking 1987–88	G	V	P	PF	PS	Pt
1.	Jugoplastika	22	21	1	2025	1764	43
2.	Cibona	22	17	5	2235	2007	39
3.	Partizan	22	15	7	2066	1973	37
4.	Smelt Olimpija	22	14	8	2018	1943	36
5.	Zadar	22	10	12	2050	1974	32
6.	Crvena Zvezda	22	10	12	1937	1997	32
7.	IMT	22	9	13	2042	2106	31
8.	Šibenka	22	9	13	1976	2020	31
9.	Bosna	22	8	14	1992	2028	30
10.	Borac Čačak	22	7	15	1839	2002	29
11.	MZT Skopje	22	6	16	1858	2046	28
12.	Budućnost	22	6	16	1915	2093	28

Results

Home \ Away	JUG	CIB	PAR	OLI	ZAD	CZV	IMT	ŠIB	BOS	BOR	MZT	BUD
Jugoplastika	—	96–83	90–85	99–73	82–73	86–77	119–85	86–76	98–90	111–73	95–74	97–81
Cibona	86–87	—	99–90	110–90	84–72	98–88	100–86	111–91	102–96	124–89	117–104	106–96
Partizan	79–87	90–88	—	93–98	84–78	85–95	110–96	90–83	115–110	98–99	96–82	103–94
Olimpija	82–83	84–78	87–92	—	99–86	99–77	99–96	95–89	99–79	109–96	94–74	96–78
Zadar	76–84	91–92	83–86	109–107	—	102–86	100–88	100–79	87–94	88–87	109–63	122–94
Crvena Zvezda	86–90	101–104	85–106	101–88	93–89	—	83–85	96–79	97–90	95–89	96–86	99–92
IMT	81–95	97–96	85–95	96–98	121–112	85–87	—	94–82	86–93	83–79	95–92	100–109
Šibenka	90–71	90–96	87–76	78–89	107–103	104–85	98–125	—	111–93	82–83	107–99	108–91
Bosna	88–96	86–103	107–121	73–92	83–84	90–84	93–97	82–77	—	105–78	95–77	83–78
Borac Čačak	76–85	100–128	81–89	91–85	78–81	87–74	86–84	74–75	91–82	—	87–79	63–76
MZT Skopje	83–91	86–104	80–95	92–80	94–90	76–77	76–73	92–97	69–98	88–74	—	111–97
Budućnost	67–97	97–126	79–87	73–75	89–114	87–75	102–104	89–86	86–83	81–78	79–81	—

Source: Pearlbasket
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Playoff

Only the top four placed league table teams qualified for the playoffs quarterfinal automatically.

Teams placed fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth were joined by the top two Second League teams for an 8-team play-in round. The winner of each best-of-three series advanced to the playoffs quarterfinal round.

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
	1	Jugoplastika	2
	8	Šibenka	0
						1	Jugoplastika	2
						4	Smelt Olimpija	0
	4	Smelt Olimpija	2
	5	Zadar	1
											1	Jugoplastika	2
											3	Partizan	1
	2	Cibona	2
	7	IMT	0
						2	Cibona	1
						3	Partizan	2
	3	Partizan	2
	6	Crvena Zvezda	0

PLAY-IN QUALIFYING ROUND

---

Zadar-Vojvodina 101–84, 78–81, 95–81

Crvena Zvezda-Prvi Partizan 98–91, 94–83

IMT Beograd-Borac 121–86, 112–113, 107–87

Šibenka-Bosna 103–102, 98–109, 108–93

QUARTERFINALS

---

Jugoplastika-Šibenka 107–80, 107–96

Olimpija Ljubljana-Zadar 77–76, 77–82, 82–76

Cibona-IMT Beograd 127–103, 89–86

Partizan-Crvena Zvezda 105–96, 101–90

SEMIFINALS

---

Jugoplastika-Olimpija Ljubljana 103–81, 86–83

Cibona-Partizan 102–91, 90–103, 77–83

FINALS

---

Jugoplastika-Partizan 101–79, 80–86, 88–67

Finals

Top-seeded Jugoplastika reached the playoff finals dominantly, rampaging though the league with a 21–1 regular season record followed by two confident playoff sweeps.

On the other hand, despite being the defending champions, third seed KK Partizan returned to the playoff finals somewhat unexpectedly, having to overcome second seed KK Cibona's home-court advantage in their semifinal series by improbably defeating the Zagreb team away in deciding game three, 77–83, with Cibona's superstar Dražen Petrović held to only 13 points while Partizan's best player, young center Vlade Divac, scored 23 points.^[1]

Game 1: Jugoplastika vs. Partizan 101–79

Twenty-year-old Divac would also become the main story of the finals' opening game despite being absent from it due to picking up a knee injury under never fully explained circumstances. It would later come out that his injury likely occurred jumping out of a hotel window while leaving, without permission, the pre-finals team quarantine to meet with his girlfriend.^[1] As a result of missing their best player, Partizan struggled mightily in game one away in Split, getting blown out by 22 points, 101–79, with Jugoplastika's young center Dino Rađa scoring 23 points, Željko Poljak adding 16, and young Toni Kukoč scoring 15.^[1] On the other hand, hapless Partizan's best contribution was from their young point guard Saša Đorđević who scored 22 points.^[1]

Game 2: Partizan vs. Jugoplastika 86–80

Seeing that without Divac's inside presence they stand no chance versus Jugoplastika, Partizan hustled their injured young center back on the court. Playing on one leg with a heavily bandaged knee, Divac still led the game two scoring with 18 points as Partizan pulled out an 86–80 victory at home.^[1] It was only Jugoplastika's second loss of the entire season.

Game 3: Jugoplastika vs. Partizan 88–67

Still-injured Divac appeared in the deciding game three back in Split but was no match for the rampant home team looking for their first league title since 1977. The fact that Partizan played with virtually no inside presence under the basket was heavily exploited by Jugoplastika's center line of Rađa and Goran Sobin [it], as their backup center Sobin posted his season-high 28 points.^[1] Jugoplastika won the game easily, claiming the league title.

The winning roster of Jugoplastika:^[2]

•   Zoran Sretenović
•   Velimir Perasović
•   Vladan Alanović
•   Toni Kukoč
•   Goran Sobin [it]
•   Željko Poljak
•   Ivica Burić
•   Žan Tabak
•   Duško Ivanović
•   Dino Rađa
•   Petar Vučica
•   Paško Tomić
•   Teo Čizmić
•   Leon Stipaničev
•   Alen Koludrović

Coach:   Božidar Maljković

Scoring leaders

1. Dražen Petrović (Cibona) – ___ points (38.0ppg)
2. Milan Mlađan [it] (IMT) – __ points (30.1 ppg)^[3][4]

Qualification in 1988–89 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup

• Jugoplastika (champions)

FIBA Cup Winners' Cup

• Cibona (Cup winners)

FIBA Korać Cup

• Partizan (3rd)
• Smelt Olimpija (4th)
• Zadar (5th)
• Crvena Zvezda (6th)

Basketball Cup

Preliminary round

Key to colors

Top placed team in each group advanced to semifinals

Aranđelovac tournament Team Pld W L PD Pts 1 Partizan 3 2 1 +12 4 2 MZT Skopje 3 2 1 +1 4 3 Smelt Olimpija 3 2 1 -13 4 4 Prvi partizan 3 0 3 0

Bar tournament Team Pld W L PD Pts 1 Rabotnički 3 3 0 6 2 Crvena zvezda 3 1 2 +14 2 3 Šibenka 3 1 2 +1 2 4 Mornar Bar 3 1 2 -15 2

Kutina tournament Team Pld W L Pts 1 Cibona 3 3 0 6 2 Bosna 3 2 1 4 3 IMT 3 1 2 2 4 Trepča 3 0 3 0

Novi Sad tournament Team Pld W L Pts 1 Jugoplastika 3 3 0 6 2 Zadar 3 2 1 4 3 Vojvodina 2 0 2 0 4 Sloboda Dita Tuzla 2 0 2 0

Bracket

	Semifinals				Finals
	Jugoplastika	75
	Partizan	73
					Jugoplastika	80
					Cibona	82
	Cibona
	Rabotnički

References

1. Bjelobaba, Darko (7 January 2016). "Sezona 1987–88: Pojava nove košarkaške dinastije". Koš magazin. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
2. . nsl.kosarka.co.yu. Archived from the original on 2 July 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
3. reference
4. Martinović, Dragan (22 January 2017). "DRAŽEN PETROVIĆ ILI RADIVOJ KORAĆ?". Koš magazin. Retrieved 12 February 2017.