Basketball junkie Yarone Arbel has been traveling the globe to watch games for almost a decade. He works as an analyst for official websites of the top competitions and events in European basketball. He also uses his experience and broad network of connections to provide consulting and scouting services for clubs at all levels.

There was only one team before that produced, on a consistent basis, comebacks such as the one Olympiacos did on Sunday night. It was the Greek national team between 2005 and 2007, which time after time managed to find the way to come back from the grave and somehow win games. Probably it wasn't a coincidence the greatest comeback in Euroleague finals was done by a Greek team. And by saying "Greek", I mean that it was fully displayed on the floor and in the boxscore. Out of the 62 points scored by Olympiacos, 52 were generated by Greek players. Pero Antic scored 7 and Marko Keselj added 3. The three Americans went scoreless, Martynas Gecevicius didn't play. The rest was 100-percent pure Greek basketball.

In Olympiacos fashion

It looks like Olympiacos has found the ingredients to win the most prestigious trophy in European basketball. This is the second Euroleague title for Olympiacos. The first was in 1997 and the coach back then was the same Duda Ivkovic. Now Ivkovic is the oldest coach ever to win the title, but his memories from 1997 certainly didn't hurt his team to have the confidence to believe. When it won the title 15 years ago, Olympiacos finished the first group stage with a 5-5 record and also had to go through the playoffs without home court... more

Basketball junkie Yarone Arbel has been traveling the globe to watch games for almost a decade. He works as an analyst for official websites of the top competitions and events in European basketball. He also uses his experience and broad network of connections to provide consulting and scouting services for clubs at all levels.

At the end of the day we have four powerhouses in the Final Four. Heck, one semifinal will feature a replay of the 2007 and 2009 title games. The second semifinal is a replay of the 2010 final. Not bad. Before that, however, was a game to be remembered. Game 5. The one that sealed what was the best playoff series European basketball has ever seen.

Why it was the best ever

Let's leave Game 1 out for a minute. Actually, it added greatly to the drama when Maccabi, out of nowhere, came back from the grave to win Game 2. It's certainly part of the story of this series, even if it doesn't fit the mold of the other four games. Four playoff games in a row that were decided in the last minute. Three of them actually in the last seconds. One home win and one road win for each side. Five comebacks. One game decided by three points. Another by two points in overtime. The winner-takes-it-all one, the grand Game 5, decided by just a single point in the last second. In the leading roles the two most crowned teams in the Euroleague in the last decade. Two teams that only last May fought for the top spot on the podium. A champion and a vice-champ. A legend returns to the arena where he reached his greatness. Two giant powerhouses led by two of the best coaches in the Euroleague in a... more

Basketball junkie Yarone Arbel has been traveling the globe to watch games for almost a decade. He works as an analyst for official websites of the top competitions and events in European basketball. He also uses his experience and broad network of connections to provide consulting and scouting services for clubs at all levels.

Bunnies on the chess board

"There are no bunnies in the hat. It's not a zoo, it's basketball. If there are any bunnies there are very small ones," said Maccabi head coach David Blatt at the press conference on Wednesday before Game 4. Well, Blatt stood by his word. The bunny he pulled out of Maccabi's hat was indeed very small. Actually the smallest. Demond Mallet is the smallest guy on Maccabi, and the least expected tool Blatt could have used down the stretch in Game 4. Mallet had scored just a single basket since Week 4 of the Top 16. He didn't play at all in Game 3. He had been on the floor for only a few seconds in Game 4 before Blatt sent him out there with 6 minutes to go and his team down by 4. Mallet is a veteran and a great shooter. Maccabi was having an awful shooting day. Mallet has shot 37% on three-pointers during his Euroleague career, but on open looks his accuracy is much higher. The problem was that Blatt had to give up on Ohayon to give space to Mallet. In this great series, the battle between Coach Obradovic and Coach Blatt seems like a chess game. Another great coach, Ettore Messina, once wrote in his blog that when you reach a certain level of credibility people will credit you even for things you didn't do. Perhaps that's what Blatt earns in these next lines,... more

Basketball junkie Yarone Arbel has been traveling the globe to watch games for almost a decade. He works as an analyst for official websites of the top competitions and events in European basketball. He also uses his experience and broad network of connections to provide consulting and scouting services for clubs at all levels.

The first two games of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs delivered as promised, but one game, the second in Athens, stood out. Hence, with all due respect to two wins by CSKA, Barcelona's success limiting Henry Domercant to zero three-pointers and Olympiacos getting the first road win, for the first time this season, most of the upcoming text will revolve around one of the best games the Euroleague has seen in years - and that is saying a lot!

Road wins in playoffs

Last season the playoffs started with four home wins in Game 1 and four road wins in Game 2. Maccabi's win in Athens and the near upset by Unics in Barcelona were enough to dig deeper into that. Since the Euroleague moved to a best-of-five playoff system in the playoffs in 2009, the home teams have prevailed 13 times against 3 road winners in Game 1, an 81% success rate. In Game 2 is a totally different story, however, as home teams won only 9 times alongside 7 defeats (56%). Since only one five-game series was ever swept 3-0 (CSKA-Partizan in 2008-09) Game 3 and 4 actually show us just how difficult it is to win back-to-back games, no matter who you are. In Game 3, home teams have now won 8 in 12 games so far (75%), while in Game 4 the split is 6-6 (50%). Yet that's not the final conclusion. Of the teams that lost their homecourt advantage in a playoff series, two managed to recover and... more