February 10, 2012
PHASE PAGES: Top 16, 2002-03
EB Top 16FC Barcelona, CSKA Moscow, Benetton Treviso and surprisingly enough, Montepaschi Siena - that had entered this phase as the best sixth-ranked regular season team - advanced to the 2003 Final Four by winning their respective Top 16 games. CSKA reached its first Euroleague Final Four since 1996 with a historical 66-54 home win against Efes Pilsen in Game 5. Montepaschi reached its first Final Four by winning its opening four Top 16 games. Barcelona was the first team to qualify and made it to its eighth Final Four - its first since 2000 - looking for its first title in its own city at Palau Sant Jordi. Barcelona edged Union Olimpija 79-75 to advance to the big event. Benetton is the only team that returns to the Final Four from last season, as it was the only undefeated team in the entire Top 16. Nikola Vujcic of Maccabi Elite was the Top 16 best scorer (21 ppg.), Mirsad Turkcan of Montepaschi its best rebounder (11.8 rpg.) while Riccardo Pittis of Benetton led this phase in assists (4.7 apg.).

REGULAR SEASON
TOP 16
FINAL FOUR
Antonis Fotsis - Panathinaikos
 TOP 16 GAME 1
All top-seeded team registered respective wins to open the Top 16 in style. Panathinaikos thrashed Unicaja 76-95 in Malaga behind 22 points each from J.R. Holden and Victor Alexander. Panathinaikos beat Skipper 81-67, Benetton defeated Tau Ceramica 81-68 while Barcelona beat Adecco Asvel 85-77 with 23 points from Dejan Bodiroga.
Trajan Langdon - Benetton Basket
 TOP 16 GAME 2
With six teams still undefeated, the Top 16 kept providing thrillers and upsets. Efes Pilsen edged Unicaja 74-75 which 25 points from Kaspars Kambala. Olimpija downed Barcelona 72-69 with 14 points each from Goran Jurak and Vlado Ilievski. Montepaschi edged Panathinaikos 82-76, as Alphonso Ford and Mindaugas Zukauskas each got 20 points.
Sarunas Jasikevicius - FC Barcelona
 TOP 16 GAME 3
Efes Pilsen, Montepaschi and Benetton were the only teams undefeated at the Top 16's halfway mark. Efes beat CSKA Moscow 71-69 behind 23 points from Marcus Brown. Montepaschi downed Skipper 70-85 with 20 points from Michalis Kakiouzis. Benetton downed Maccabi 93-80 while Barcelona rallied to edge Olympiacos 80-77 and improve to 2-1.
Robert Fultz - Skipper Bologna
 TOP 16 GAME 4
Montepaschi kept shocking everyone by downing Ulker 80-92 to be one win away from sealing its Final Four ticket. Alphonso Ford led the way with 19 points. CSKA beat Unicaja 89-70 to climb atop the Group E standings, Benetton beat Tau 75-84 to improve to 4-0 while Olympiacos leads Group G by downing Olimpija 73-61 with 23 points from Maurice Evans.
Nenad Markovic - Olympiacos
 TOP 16 GAME 5
CSKA Moscow, Montepaschi Siena and Benetton Treviso advanced to the 2003 Final Four. CSKA downed Efes Pilsen 66-54 behind 18 points from Victor Alexander. Montepaschi reached its first-ever Final Four despite a 64-68 home loss against Skipper Bologna. Meanwhile, Benetton edged Maccabi 83-84 with a buzzer-beating midcourt bomb from Tyus Edney.
Aleksey Savrasenko - CSKA Moscow
 TOP 16 GAME 6
FC Barcelona became the last team to make it to the Final Four with a dramatic 79-75 home victory over visiting Union Olimpija. Rodrigo De la Fuente's 2 insurance free throws with 8 seconds left ended a late 2-11 Olimpija run to try to steal the victory and the Final Four berth. Dejan Bodiroga paced the winners with 21 points.
STANDINGS
GROUP D
cska moscow
 *CSKA Moscow
5-1
+100
efes pilsen
 Efes Pilsen
4-2
-6
cibona
 Cibona
2-4
-52
Unicaja
 Unicaja
1-5
-42
GROUP E
Montepaschi Siena
 *Montepaschi Siena
4-2
+26
Fortitudo Bologna
 Skipper Bologna
3-3
+2
panathinaikos
 Panathinaikos
3-3
-24
Ulker
 Ulker
2-4
-4
GROUP F
Benetton Treviso
 *Benetton Treviso
6-0
+70
Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv
 Maccabi Elite
4-2
+60
Tau Ceramica
 Tau Ceramica
2-4
-14
Virtus Bologna
 Virtus Bologna
0-6
-116
GROUP G
FC Barcelona
 *FC Barcelona
5-1
+24
olympiacos
 Olympiacos
3-3
+8
Union Olimpija
 Union Olimpija
3-3
+7
Adecco Asvel
 Adecco Asvel
1-5
-39
*Qualified to Final Four

STATISTICAL LEADERS

POINTS
Vujcic
 N. Vujcic 21.0
M. Brown 19.4
D. Bodiroga 19.0
V. Alexander 18.2
A. Ford 17.8
REBOUNDS
Turkcan
 M. Turkcan 11.8
K. Kambala 10.0
D. Koturovic 8.4
V. Evtimov 8.3
V. Alexander 8.2
ASSISTS
Riccardo Pittis
 R. Pittis 4.6
V. Stefanov 4.3
S. Smith 4.3
T. Papaloukas 4.1
M. Booker 4.0
STEALS
Alper Yilmaz
 A. Yilmaz 2.8
G. Basile 2.1
R. Pittis 2.1
R. de la Fuente 2.0
N. Prkacin 2.0
BLOCKS
Dejan Koturovic
 D. Koturovic 1.8
P. Femerling 1.5
V. Khryapa 1.5
E. Kovacic 1.1
C. Kornegay 1.1
FREE THROWS
Sacha Giffa
 S. Giffa 100%
T. Acik 100%
S. Jasikevicius 96.4%
G. Basile 94.7%
M. Bulleri 94.1%
2P SHOTS
Marconato
 D. Marconato 82.1%
K. Tsartsaris 80.9%
D. Frigout 79.3%
R. Pittis 73.9%
S. Panov 72.7%
3P SHOTS
Laurent Foirest
 L. Foirest 66.6%
T. Langdon 63.1%
V. Praskevicius 60.0%
N. Hatzivrettas 57.6%
D. Vukcevic 55.5%
Monday, May 25, 2009
Euroleague.net
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