Polish basketball has been waiting 18 years for a similar feat. A phenomenal performance by Marcel Ponitka
Orlen Basket League is in full swing. For now, Anwil Włocławek has no equal, but other clubs are not slowing down. In the match between Legia Warszawa and Enea Stelmet Zastal Zielona Góra, the fans saw a feat that no Pole in the top league had achieved for almost 20 years.
The Polish Basketball League often does not pamper fans when it comes to sports level. It is in vain to look for a Polish club in the EuroLeague, and teams in the Eurocup or FIBA Champions League perform poorly. Despite this, the Orlen Basket Liga is very popular in many centers in the country. At the beginning of the new year, fans in Zielona Góra witnessed the feats of a Polish player unseen for years.
Polish basketball player with the first triple-double in years
The clash between Zastal Zielona Góra and Legia Warszawa had a big favorite in the form of the team from the capital of the country, which once again intends to fight for the medal zone of the competition. They won the away game 92:71, but the match itself is not talked about as much as the individual achievement of a player from Wojciech Kamiński’s team, Marcel Ponitka.
The playmaker, who played for the national team, scored 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, which allowed him to achieve a triple-double. This is an unprecedented result for a Polish player in domestic competitions, as the last time a similar feat was seen in PLK almost 18 years ago. In April 2006, Paweł Wiekiera scored 10 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a match between Astoria Bydgoszcz and Noteć Inowrocław.
In the entire history of PLK, this is only the third Polish triple-double (a triple, double-digit goal) in history. Interestingly, in the current season, fans have already seen similar results, but performed by foreign basketball players. Tayler Persons from MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza recorded a triple-double three times (he is the only player in the history of the league who did it more than once). Moreover, Kadre Gray from Tauron GTK Gliwice achieved a similar feat once.
Marcel Ponitka’s form in the Orlen Basket League
In the current OBL season, Marcel Ponitka has statistics of 9.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Legia is third in the table, but has played one match more than most of its rivals.
