Guy Pnini

Guy Pnini
Player information
birthday	4th September 1983
place of birth	Tel Aviv, Israel
size	201 cm
position	Small forward
Club information
society	Maccabi Tel Aviv
league	Ligat ha'Al
Jersey number	10
Clubs as active
2001–2006 Bnei Hascharon 2006–2008 Hapoel Jerusalem 2008 FMP Železnik 2009 Keravnos Strovolou Since 2009 Maccabi Tel Aviv 00000 00000 0
National team
Since 02007	Israel

Guy Pnini ( Hebrew גיא פניני; * September 4, 1983 in Tel Aviv ) is an Israeli basketball player . After Pnini had won two national cup competitions with Hapoel Jerusalem, the national player won further championships and cup competitions with Maccabi from his hometown, for which he was already active in his youth. In addition, they won the ABA League in 2012 in international club competitions and finally with the ULEB Euroleague 2013/14, the highest-ranking European club competition in connection with the national double as a Triple Crown .

Career

Pnini moved in 2001 from the youth teams of Maccabi in his hometown to the men's team of Maccabi from Ra'anana in the highest Israeli league Ligat ha'Al . He also stayed in the team when they merged with the former league rivals Bnei Herzlia to Bnei hascharon a year later and moved to Herzlia . Just one year later he was the team captain of his team, which at the end of the 2003/04 season reached third place in the Israeli championship. In the following international club competition FIBA Europe League 2004/05 , however, they were eliminated after the preliminary round. In the national cup competition they lost the final against Maccabi Tel Aviv with 89: 108, but missed the final four for the title in ninth place in the championship . After another ninth place in the 2005/06 season Pnini left the club and moved to league competitor, runner-up and runner-up cup winner Hapoel in Jerusalem.

With Hapoel, Pnini won the final game in the national cup competition against his former team Bnei hascharon in 2007, but lost the championship final against series champion Maccabi Tel Aviv by two points. In the second highest European club competition ULEB Cup 2006/07 , Hapoel lost the quarter-finals against the Serbian club FMP Železnik. A year later one was already in the round of the best 32 teams in this competition. In the 2007/08 season they were able to defend the title in the national cup competition with four points against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the cup final, but missed qualifying for the championship final four in fifth place, in which Maccabi won the title for the first time in 15 years Hapoel Holon lost. For the 2008/09 season, Pnini left his home country and played in Serbia for FMP Železnik from Belgrade, who had stood for the first time in a final squad of the Israeli national team at the 2007 European Championship finals and had reached ninth place there . In the supranational ABA league , the two-time title winner FMP did not get beyond a midfield position and was eliminated after the preliminary round in the Eurocup 2008/09 . Already at the turn of the year Pnini left the club and moved to the Republic of Cyprus in early 2009 to national champion Keravnos Strovolou from Nicosia , for whom he only completed one championship game. At the European Championship finals , Pnini remained with the Israeli national team without a win and was eliminated after the preliminary round.

After Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem had already found themselves in a legal dispute a year earlier because of Pnini's planned move to the series champions, Pnini finally moved to Maccabi's squad for the 2009/10 season, for which he had already played in his youth. Maccabi was able to win the national cup competition for the first time in four years in the final against Pnini's former team Bnei HaScharon, but in the highest European club competition ULEB Euroleague 2009/10 they failed somewhat surprisingly in the quarter-final play-offs at KK Partizan Belgrade and had to defend their title in the Israeli championship to give up the title again when they lost the final against Hapoel Gilboa Galil . Coach Pini Gershon , who once dethroned Maccabi himself with Hapoel Galil in 1993 and later won the ULEB Euroleague twice with Maccabi , gave up his post and his former assistant coach David Blatt returned to Maccabi as a coach. In national competitions they lost only one game in the 2010/11 season, defended the title in the cup competition and outclassed defending champion Gilboa Galil in the new edition of the championship final with 91:64. As a visiting team in the ABA league you could win this competition in 2012. The only final game they lost was in the ULEB Euroleague 2010/11 against Panathinaikos Athens . At the 2011 European Championship finals , Pnini and the Israeli national team lost the first three group games against Germany , among others , so that the two victories at the end of the preliminary round were no longer enough to reach the intermediate round. In the following ULEB Euroleague 2011/12 Maccabi lost - this time already in the quarter-final play-offs - against defending champion Panathinaikos. In the national competitions you could defend the double after only two defeats in the entire season .

For the 2012/13 season Pnini was also named captain of Maccabi, but in December 2012 he attracted international attention when he in the local derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv the Swedish opponent Jonathan Skjöldebrand insulted in a bad way. Maccabi then deposed Pnini as captain and suspended him alongside a fine for a few games. In the quarter-final play-offs of the ULEB Euroleague 2012/13 they lost straight to the eventual finalists Real Madrid . At the following European Championship finals in 2013 , Pnini was again represented in the final squad despite the incidents in December 2012. The Israeli national team retired early after defeats against Germany, among others, at the end of the preliminary round and only one victory. After winning the title for the fifth time in a row in the national cup competition, the ULEB Euroleague 2013/14 surprisingly made it into the final. There they beat the favorite Real Madrid team with 98:86 after extra time. At the end of the season, they won the title back in the final of the national championship against defending champion Maccabi Haifa and won a triple crown .

Web links

Commons : Guy Pnini  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Pnini, GUY - Statistics on the websites of the ULEB ( English )
• Guy PNINI (ISR) - Overview of participation in FIBA tournaments (English)
• ABA-Liga: Guy Pnini - player profile on the websites of the ABA-Liga (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Amy Samin: Maccabi Acquitted in the Pnini Affair. Maccabi Tel Aviv , October 7, 2008, accessed on May 20, 2014 (English, media information). 
2. ↑ Barry Petchesky: Israeli Basketball Star Suspended For Calling Opponent A Nazi. Deadspin.com, December 4, 2012, accessed May 20, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Amy Samin: Guy Pnini Suspended Until Further Notice. Maccabi Tel Aviv , December 3, 2012, accessed on May 20, 2014 (English, media information). 
4. ^ Igor Petrinović: Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv is the new king of Europe! ULEB , May 18, 2014, accessed on May 20, 2014 (English, match report).