When I saw Ty Lawson knocking down three-pointers at the beginning Game 6 against the Los Angeles Lakers, it was difficult to believe it was the same Lawson who spent the first 95 days of his season in Europe playing for eventual Lithuanian champions Zalgiris Kaunas.

The same thoughts have surely been coming to Zalgiris’ and European basketball fans’ heads all season long as Lawson had a terrific year and established himself as an NBA star. Why didn’t Lawson meet expectations and was strictly a role player in Europe before having such a big impact in the NBA?

Back in July of last year, I wrote about the five reasons why Euroleague teams shouldn’t sign NBA stars and all five points could be easily applied to Lawson in retrospect.

Lawson simply wasn’t able to translate his game in Europe. Lawson, who is known for his quickness, driblle penetration and ability in transition, had to fit Ilias Zouros’ slow-paced positional, defensive game, which would be a nightmare for an player like Lawson. As a result, Lawson scored 52 points, dished out 11 assists and made six steals in 149 minutes (seven games) of Euroleague action.

In contrast, in his first 165 minutes (five games) in the NBA this season, Lawson’s numbers were more impressive - 93 points, 28 assists and 14 steals. Definitely, no defensive three-second violation had also prevented Lawson from driving to the basket, but as he is ranked highest (31st) in scoring among all NBA players, who played in the Euroleague during the lockout. It is clear that Zalgiris was not able to use all Lawson’s offensive potential.

Two weeks ago, after losing Game 2, Lawson seemed to be frustrated as he tried “to please everybody" and added that he "probably had 10 different people coming to him saying, 'Do this, do that' instead of just trusting his skills and playing himself". ‘Trust your skills and play yourself’ approach would have definitely helped him in Lithuania as well.

On the other hand, Lawson never was as aggressive in Europe as he is in the NBA and that was the feeling since his first Euroleague game against CSKA Moscow. For example, despite Lawson was only taking one three-point shot only every 19 minutes in Europe (compared to one every 11 minutes in the NBA this season), which is 1.2 attempt per game comparing to 3.1 in the NBA. He also didn’t dish out a single assists in the first two games in Euroleague.

Moreover, people who surrounded Lawson on the team always noticed that he had never been very motivated in Kaunas. RealGM was the first media outlet to conduct a one-on-one interview with Lawson, where the Nuggets’ point guard seemed to be excited about playing in Lithuania, but later on after getting familiar with European basketball, the excitement disappeared. Coaches getting fired after just one Euroleague game, two-a-days, unusual player rotations, lazy practices and playing for a losing team didn’t motivate Lawson to excel in Europe.

However, Lawson remained a professional off the court as well during his time in Zalgiris and usually tried to avoid expressing what he really thought with only a few exceptions. Once, Lawson shared his opinion about practices with Zalgiris on Twitter, where he wrote, “I coulda sat home and played NBA 2k12 and got the same thing accomplished that we did in practice smh.”

After returning to the United States, Lawson also revealed to the media that he didn’t understand European rotation system, where “you play four minutes, then you get subbed for 10, and later you have to get back on the court”.

The example of Lawson’s adventures in Europe just proves how unpredictable and different European basketball is in comparison to the NBA. But the positives outweighed the negatives for Lawson in Europe.

Back in September, Lawson told RealGM “probably the biggest difference I’m having is two-a-days. In Denver, we didn’t do that at all. This is getting me in shape".

Lawson was right - a tough schedule and the experience he gained in Europe helped him to get into shape for the NBA season - the best in his career. Lawson had excellent numbers, averaging 16.4 points, 6.6 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game in the regular season.

The top-8 teams from Spain, Greece, Israel, Italy and Russia are ready to begin the last stage to reach the 2012 Euroleague Final Four. In the best-of-five series, only four clubs will earn tickets to Istanbul where the new Euroleague champion will be crowned on May 13th.

CSKA vs. Bizkaia Bilbao Basket

Bizkaia Bilbao Basket has been a true Cinderella team in Euroleague this season. In its debut year, the Spanish club managed to make it to the Top 16 and shake things up even there. Beating Real, Montepaschi and Unicaja in last three Top 16 games would be impossible for most of the teams, but not Bizkaia Bilbao Basket.

After making the impossible possible, Bilbao, which is one of just three Euroleague newcomers in eight seasons to reach the playoffs, faced the biggest challenge in team’s history - to beat the best team in the Euroleague, CSKA Moscow.

The end may finally be here for Bilbao.

CSKA is the best offensive team in the league, leading in scoring (86.2 PPG), three-point shooting (41.1%) and two-point shooting (57.8%). CSKA’s players also dish out almost 20 assists per game (best result in the league) and obviously have no problems with sharing the ball. Moreover, having the main MVP candidate Andrei Kirilenko and second best big man in the league, Nenad Krstic, on your squad definitely helps and makes them a true favourite to win the series.

RealGM prediction: CSKA wins 3-0

Montepaschi vs. Olympiakos

After last season’s fiasco, Olympiakos got a chance for a sweet revenge. For those who don’t remember, Olympiakos, which had a homecourt advantage, humiliated Montepaschi by a final score of 89-41 in the first playoffs match. They later collapsed and lost three games in a row and finished its Euroleague season at the Top-8 stage.

However, it is more than obvious that Olympiakos’ currently situation is not that good as it was in previous seasons. Lower budget, no homecourt advantage and being in a rebuilding year puts Olympiakos in an underdog position, but it doesn’t nessecerally mean the winner is already known.

The key elements of this series should be the two best Euroleague scorers, Bo McCalebb of Montepaschi and Vasilis Spanoulis of Olympiakos. McCalebb has scored in double figures in 14 straight Euroleague games and was the Top 16 leader in scoring (16.8 PPG).

Spanoulis leads the league in scoring among the players still active in the competition with 18.1 points per game.

Nevertheless, the deeper bench should lead Montepaschi to a fifth Final Four appearance in 10 years and gives the Italian champions another shot to win the title.

RealGM prediction: Montepaschi wins 3-1

Barcelona Regal vs. Unics

Huge investments paid off this season for another Euroleague debutant in Unics Kazan. Evgeny Pashutin’s system fit perfectly for the Russians, who managed to win against Euroleague's greatest by slowing the pace of the game down and play solid defense.

However, Barcelona Regal, which has the best defence in the Euroleague this season and is on pace to set a record by allowing only 61.4 points per game, already demonstrated twice how to handle a team like Unics.

Unics has been struggling on offense as they are ranked only 19th in terms of scoring (70.9 PPG), but it is worth to notice that Kazan was held to a season-low 50 points in its regular season visit to Barcelona. And this is the same place where they are playing on March 20th and 22nd. During the regular season match against Barcelona Regal at home, Unics scored only 65 points and allowed its opponents to score 93.

Unics has everything it takes to be a legend killer, but it seems Barcelona Regal learned its lesson from the last season when they didn’t reach the Final Four that was hosted in their hometown, and are simply too strong for the Russians.

RealGM prediction: Barcelona Regal wins 3-1

Panathinaikos vs. Maccabi

Panathinaikos Athens and Maccabi Tel Aviv, two teams that reached the 2011 Final Four, can't both make it this season. 

The most successful European basketball club of the past decade, defending champion Panathinaikos, has won three Euroleague titles over the five years, while Maccabi advanced to the Euroleague final seven times in 12 years. Moreover, the fact that these teams have been crowned European champion in eight of the last 12 seasons speaks for itself and also illustrates how big this series are.

As is usual for European powerhouses, all Panathinaikos-Maccabi games are hardly predictable. They met 25 times in over last 20 years and the Greens won 14 games, while the Yellows have won 11.

As it is incredibly hard to take a favorite in this series, Panathinaikos will have a small advantage as their defense is stronger (i.e., Panathinaikos leads the Euroleague in steals with 8.4 PG), their players are more experienced and Maccabi’s troubles with shooting from three-point line could be the Greens’ key to success.

RealGM prediction: Panathinaikos wins 3-2

Over the past few years, St. Mary's alum Earl Rowland’s career has been on the impressive rise. Rowland, a 28-year-old guard, made a huge leap from playing in the Latvian league to competing in the Euroleague and Spanish championship.

Rowland, who was averaging 7.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists this season in the Euroleague, sat down with RealGM to talk about his Euroleague debut and European career, his teammate Joel Freeland and opponent Bo McCalebb, the Euroleague quarterfinals and much more.

RealGM: First of all, what happened to Unicaja this season?

Rowland: Honestly, we were playing well early on in the season. But then we started getting injuries, and then we started losing. When you are playing at this level competition, people smell blood. When you start losing, they are going to step on your throat. Then we lost confidence as a team because we were losing so many games in a row. We lost close games and we could not get over the hump. And now we are back in the same position and we are just trying to find a way out of it.

RealGM: How would you evaluate your Euroleague debut season?

Rowland: Well, it did not go the way I expected, but I did expect it to be tough and that is exactly what it was. Especially when you are doing it along with the ACB (Liga Endesa), there is kind of no games off. There is a whole bunch of travel and your legs feel tired. And me personally, I had so many injuries and I was just trying to find my way out of it. I did not have a year I that I would expect I would have, but going through it, I experienced things I could learn from.

RealGM: Your individual season was a roller-coaster with many ups and downs. Do you think injuries were the main reason for it?

Rowland: I am the kind of player where I use my explosiveness a lot. That is one of my things, my trademarks. My athleticism, getting to the paint, pressure defense, and I really did not have it for the most of the season and it just started to come back now. Also, it is a different league, ACB is different than Euroleague too, therefore I have to play defense differently. You cannot use your hands or arms at all, or you can use your chest and in another game you can. I think I was hesitant sometimes, but as I said, this is an experience you have to go through.

RealGM: You mentioned that playing in the ACB and Euroleague at the same time is a pretty difficult thing to do. But is it fair to say that there is nothing better in Europe than playing in the ACB, which is probably the second best domestic league in the world, and Euroleague?

Rowland: For sure, I think it is my fourth or fifth season in Europe and I knew this during my entire time in Europe. My goal was to get on a high level, ACB and Euroleague team, which I have done. I realize that you cannot get any better. If you are competitive and you want to play at the highest level, this is it.

RealGM: Let’s talk about your teammate Joel Freeland, who might soon be leaving Malaga and moving to the NBA. From your perspective, should he leave Europe for the NBA or not?

Rowland: I think Joel has a lot of potential, he is young, still has a lot of upside and he is an NBA athlete. He brings a lot of different things. He can shoot, has some post moves, and he works hard. I think mentally he is not satisfied just getting recognition now in the Euroleague or ACB, or around Europe. He wants more than that. With the combination of things he has, I think he could be a starting four in the NBA. I think he has what it takes.

It is tough because there is a business side of it and I know that he is going to get offers in Europe that are going to be hard to turn down for something that is unnecessarily guaranteed in the NBA. Even if he goes to Portland, there is LaMarcus Aldridge and a lot of bigs, who are there and established. All it would take is a year or two him not getting playing time and he may miss out the opportunities. But at the same time, there is so much potential in the NBA, if he gets playing time, catches and finishes, he's on the highlights sometimes and he gets a long-time contract and recognition he wants. It is a tough decision he will have to make. It depends on what his dream is and what security he wants. It is definitely a decision you cannot make in one night.

RealGM: The other player I want to talk about is Bo McCalebb. Do you think he is currently the best point guard in the Europe?

Rowland: Yes, I think he earned this title. I played against him three or four times in Italy before as well. For one, his teams have been wining. With Partizan, they went to the Final Four in Euroleague with Montepaschi last year, they did the same thing. He led the Republic of Macedonia team to the Final Four in EuroBasket, which nobody expected him to do. I do not see anybody doing what he is doing. I guess people can say Milos Teodosic is better, but it depends on what you like because they are two different kind of players. But I think McCalebb earned that title and you should give it to him.

If I were a GM, would I trade Milos Teodosic for McCalebb? Me personally, I like McCalebb because I think he is so good defensively; he can do a lot of different things. But Teodosic, how he makes reads, how he moves on the court, he knows what he is doing. You really cannot teach that either. I like both of those players but I have seen McCalebb a little bit more and I know he is tough.

RealGM: What would you rank first in the Euroleague MVP Race, McCalebb or Andrei Kirilenko?

Rowland: I think CSKA is doing better this year and they are more dominant. One thing about Kirilenko is that I think when we played against him, he got around a 31 Euroleague index rating and he took only three shots. That says it all in how he dominates the game in so many different areas that no matter what the team needs, he can provide that. Especially in Europe, there are not any players like that out there. I would give it to Kirilenko just because how dominating he is. As for Bo, he just gets it done no matter what people say.

RealGM: Let’s move on to the Euroleague quarterfinals. Who are your favorites to make it to the Final Four?

Rowland: Talking about CSKA-Gescrap BB, that is a good thing about basketball, anything can happen. All it takes is some guy to get hot like [Alex] Mumbru, or some other of their shooters. CSKA could be struggling and they could win. But I think CSKA has too much inside, they are balanced everywhere, I do not think it is going to be tough for them to manage this situation. I don’t think Bilbao is going to get a win, but is going to be tougher than people think.

Montepaschi-Olympiakos, I would take Siena. Even when Bo doesn’t dominate, how they are coached, how they are organized, they are still going to kill you no matter what you take away. If you take away a penetration from Bo, you have [Ksystof[ Lavrinovic, you have all these guys, who can not only shoot and score, but they also make the right plays. It is going to be tough to beat them because they play so well together.

FC Barcelona Regal-Unics, I have got Barcelona. Unics has been surprising, but I think Barcelona still has another gear they haven’t kicked it into. [Juan Carlos] Navarro is just that wildcard.

Panathinaikos-Maccabi... I have not seen Maccabi play that much this season. It is hard to go against Panathinaikos because of its history. They are defending champions; they have [Dimitris] Diamantidis, who knows how to get it done. It is a tough one but I would say Panathinaikos.

RealGM: You probably heard about the Jeremy Pargo case, when he left Maccabi for a chance to play in the NBA for the Memphis Grizzlies. If you were in his shoes, would you have done the same thing?

Rowland: It depends. If that was guaranteed and if I would have a chance… Maybe they can only guarantee my contract but they could not guarantee minutes, but I would have a chance to earn some. If I would have a chance to be a backup point guard, then that would be fine. Because we grew up with this dream (of playing in the NBA) and I think I would have to take that opportunity. But then you have to balance out like contracts, especially when you get older and responsibilities come. In his situation, I would definitely do the same. He became established here, they went to the Final Four last year, he knows that if he doesn’t do well this year, everybody in Europe still knows what he is capable to do at European level. If the rest of the season does not go well, Maccabi or some other team like Panathinaikos will say let’s get Jeremy Pargo. You want to chase your dream and what is why you worked so hard and if you get the opportunity, it is definitely hard to turn it down.

RealGM: Taking you back to EuroBasket 2011, do you still catch yourself thinking about your performance with the Bulgarian national team?

Rowland: Sometimes, especially when I had my struggles this year, I was like, I expected myself to play so much better and I know I can do it. Everything was going so well, I had strong Italian seasons and for the last few seasons, I was doing better and better. Then I had EuroBasket and I expected to hit the ground running in Malaga and keep moving forward. Sometimes I just look at myself in the mirror and ask what happened but that is part of me. I know I have it in me. I know the player is still here.

They showed me love in Bulgaria. The organization still keeps in touch with me. A lot of people from the country, they show support. Fans are writing me messages; they seem to follow what I am doing. They write that they still want me to play. I have got nothing but warm reception from Bulgaria and I appreciate it.