2004 D1 Standings Regular Season 1. Gala BC 24-0 2. Azeri 16-8 3. B.S.Sh. BC 16-8 4. Western Univ.   11-13 5. Khazar Univ. SC  9-15 6. Azal SC 6-18

Azerbaijan teams in Euro cups 2003-2004 FIBA Europe Cup: Gala Baku - took 2nd place (1-1) in Group A of North Conference

   ALL-STAR Game 2004
Azerbaijan Basketball Federation and Olimpic Comittee of Azerbaijan organised great show for basketball fans in Baku on 28^th of March. That was a second All-Star Game in Azerbaijani basketball history. As it was last year foreign players of local championship represented one team while Azerbaijani players formed the other one. Rimas Kurtinaytis and Elhan Aliyev, coaches of national team and “GALA” shared coaches’ responsibilities.
Both teams were playing on a very high level refusing to lose in matchup that was expected to be a show for spectators but the sellout crowd was just happy to be a part of such an intensive game.
Foreign players dominated in the opening minutes of the first quarter wich was highlighted by the Tomas Cherkunovas’ thunderous alley oop dunk from Robert Burries’s assist. Tahir Bahshiyev, leader of Azerbaijani team, inspired teamates with his confident play on both ends of the floor and brought his team back in the game. At the halftime local players were leading 48-46.
Slam-Dunk Contest, Three Point Shootout and Free Throw Competition were hold during the breaks between the quarters. Eugeniy Melnik of “GALA” won slam-dunk contest in a tight final matchup against Zaur Pashayev “GALA” for the second year in a row. Darius Lukminas won Three Point Shootout and Fuad Niftaliyev was the winner of Free Throw Competition.
Azerbaijan players started third quarter on a run. Roman Troshin “AZERI” and Mehran Gamid Zadeh “B.S.SH.” were doing great job defensively against Tomas Cherkunovas and Kevin Blount of “GALA” while Tahir Bahshiyev created shots for himself and his teamates offensively. Local players were heading into the fourth and desicieve quarter leading by 10 points and during the first 5 minutes foreigners could not come close. Robert Burries and Kevin Blount were fouled out and the victory for Azerbaijani players was very close. But with less than 5 minutes remaining in regulation Rimas Kurtinaytis switched his team into zone defence, Darius Lukminas hit couple of three pointers and with 9 seconds remaining foreign players of Azerbaijan basketball were trailing by two. Georgian player of “B.S.SH.” Georgiy Cheidzeh drove to the lane for an easy layup but Tahir Bahshiyev came up with a spectacular block-shot but unfortunately for his team Tomas Cherkunovas grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled with 0,7 seconds remaining. Lithuanian players calmly hit pair of free throws and desperation shot of Anar Sariyev from the backcourt rimmed out as the time expired.
Tahir Bahshiyev sprained his ankle while blocking last shot in regulation and could not help his team in overtime. Aleksandr Rindin and Zaur Pashaev tried to pick up the slack in the absense of their captain but young Azerbaijani players were too tired and more expereinced foreign players won the best ever seen game in Baku 106-101. Tahir Bahshiyev got MVP award for the game.
Second ALL-STAR Game in Azerbaijan had a great success and was a real event for basketball fans.

 Azerbaijan basketball is not so well known in the world, and even in Europe. Azerbaijan clubs do not play in European competitions, and the National Team is not playing very frequently either. However the league has some talented players, and only lack of proper training and competition do not allow them to develop.