The 1987–88 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 44th season of the

Yugoslav First Basketball League The First Federal Basketball League () was the highest tier level men's professional club basketball competition in SFR Yugoslavia. Founded in 1945 and folded in 1992 (1991-92 Winer Broker YUBA League), it was run by the Basketball Federation o ...

, the highest professional basketball league in

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

Regular season

Classification

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.

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 Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s, before joining the Natio ...

held to only 13 points while Partizan's best player, young center

Vlade Divac Vlade Divac ( sr-Cyrl, Владе Дивац, ; born February 3, 1968) is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento Kings ...

, scored 23 points.

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. 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 Dino Rađa (Anglicized: Dino Radja, ; born April 24, 1967) is a Croatian former professional basketball player. He was a member of the Jugoplastika team of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which he helped to win two FIBA European Champions Cup ...

scoring 23 points,

Željko Poljak Željko Poljak (born 29 April 1959) is a Croatian basketball coach and former basketball player who competed for Yugoslavia at European Championships 1981 and 1983. He was born in Crikvenica Crikvenica () is a city in Croatia, located on the Adr ...

adding 16, and young

Toni Kukoč Toni Kukoč, nicknamed ''“The Waiter”'' (; born September 18, 1968) is a Croatian-American former professional basketball player who serves as Special Advisor to Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago Bulls. After a highly successful perio ...

scoring 15. On the other hand, hapless Partizan's best contribution was from their young point guard

Saša Đorđević Saša is a South Slavic given name. It is a diminutive of Aleksandar (see Sasha), but in the South Slavic countries it is often a formal name as well. It may refer to: * Saša Antunović (born 1974), Serbian footballer *Saša Bjelanović (born 197 ...

who scored 22 points.

Game 2: Partizan vs. Jugoplastika 86-80

Seeing that they have no chance without Divac's inside presence, 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. 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 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

. The fact that Partizan played with virtually no inside presence under the basket was heavily exploited by Jugoplastika's center line of Rađa and , as their backup center Sobin posted his season-high 28 points. Jugoplastika won the game easily, claiming the league title. The winning roster of Jugoplastika: *

Zoran Sretenović Zoran Sretenović ( sr-cyr, Зоран Сретеновић; 5 August 1964 – 28 April 2022) was a Serbian basketball coach and player. Playing career Sretenović played for several clubs in his country and abroad, most notably with Jugoplast ...

Velimir Perasović Velimir Perasović (; born 9 February 1965) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player. He is serving as the head coach for the Russian team UNICS Kazan of the VTB United League and the EuroLeague. Early life Perasović was bo ...

Vladan Alanović Vladan Alanović (born July 3, 1967) is a retired Croatian basketball player, who won the silver medal with the Croatian national basketball team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , ...

* *

* Ivica Burić *

Žan Tabak Žan Tabak (born 15 June 1970) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player who last served as the head coach for San Pablo Burgos of the Liga ACB. His basketball career, spanning twenty years, was marked by several notable achie ...

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* Petar Vučica * Paško Tomić *

Teo Čizmić Teo Čizmić (born 30 March 1971) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player, currently serving as the sport director at KK Split. Playing career Čizmić started playing professional basketball in 1988 with Split-based team ...

* Leon Stipaničev * Alen Koludrović Coach:

Božidar Maljković Božidar "Boža" Maljković ( sr-cyr, Божидар Божа Маљковић; born 20 April 1952) is a Serbian former professional basketball coach and current president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia. He is one of the most successful bask ...

Scoring leaders

(Cibona) - ___ points (38.0ppg) # (IMT) - __ points (30.1 ppg)

Qualification in 1988-89 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup * Jugoplastika (champions) FIBA Cup Winners' Cup *

Cibona Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and competes ...

(Cup winners)

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

(3rd) *

Smelt Olimpija Košarkarski klub Olimpija ( en, Olimpija Basketball Club) was a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They ...

(4th) *

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

(5th) *

Crvena Zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in B ...

(6th)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1987-88 Yugoslav First Basketball League Yugoslav First Basketball League seasons Yugoslav