Tel Aviv 2004: The yellow wave

May 18, 2013

The 2004 Final Four in Tel Aviv featured four teams with bright futures, three of which would go on to become regulars at the event for years to come. The games also gave the passionate Israeli fans a chance to showcase their loyalty to Maccabi Tel Aviv in an unforgettable atmosphere and one of the loudest Final Fours on record. The battles to reach the final were as intense as you will find on a basketball court as Skipper Bologna edged Italian league rival Montepaschi Siena in overtime and Maccabi held off CSKA Moscow.

The title game also delivered great excitement, but little drama. Skipper was a stacked but young team with a host of rising stars including Erazem Lorbek, Matjaz Smodis, Marco Belinelli, Stefano Mancinelli, Milos Vujanic, Tomas Van den Spiegel and Carlos Delfino, as well as the more-established Gianluca Basile. And together they had beaten Maccabi in Tel Aviv earlier that season. But on this night, there was no stopping the big yellow machine.

Nokia Arena was rocking long before tip-off and Maccabi took charge from the very start with a record-setting performance for the ages. Maccabi started strong with 31 first-quarter points and finished stronger with 38 in the fourth quarter en route to an awesome performance that set 10 title game records. Anthony Parker earned Final Four MVP honors, but was one of many players that shined for the Israeli champs, including Sarunas Jasikevicius, Nikola Vujcic, David Blu, Maceo Baston and Tal Burstein.

Team captain Gur Shelef invited Derrick Sharp to the podium for the trophy ceremony, which capped cap the activities at the arena, but set off wild celebrations throughout Tel Aviv and Israel in what turned out to be a sleepless and unforgettable night for Maccabi and its fans. We would all see more of that amazing Maccabi team that I, for one, will never forget.

WATCH THE 2004 TITLE-GAME REPLAY

Subscribe now to see the 2012 Turkish Airlines Final Four live on Euroleague.TV!

POSTED BY

Johnny Rogers - Euroleague.net

DATE:

Thursday, May 03, 2012