February 10, 2012
Sunday, May 3, 2009


Greens champs!

Sarunas Jasikevicius and Dimitris Diamantidis - Panathinaikos Champ 2008-09 - Final Four Berlin 2009Siskauskas makes a free throw, misses second, but Smodis - who is really coming up big - gets the rebound. Holden drives alone off the ensuing possession making it 65-60, the closest it's been since the first half. Spanoulis returns with a huge, huge three-pointer, but wouldn't you know that Khryapa answers with his own triple. Amazing tension in teh air as it's a five-point game, 68-63, going into the last 2 minutes. Panathinaikos attacks slow and goes to Batiste, whose drop-step spin is blocked at the rim by Khryapa, but there's a foul and free throws. At 1:30, big Mike Batiste sinks both of them. 70-63. Time is running out on CSKA, or seems to before Smodis takes a kickout pass from Khryapa and drills a triple, 70-66 going into the last minute. Spanoulis loses handle and forces a shot before the clock expires, a miss. CSKA ball with 50 seconds left. Fotsis fouls on a screen and Khryapa goes to the line with 40.9 seconds left, but misses both after a Panathinaikos timeout made him think about it. An amazing 8-second violation gets CSKA the ball back, however, and Siskauskas makes Panathinaikos pay with a huge triple, it's 70-69 with 25 seconds left. CSKA avoids fouling Jasikevicus and puts Diamantidis on the line. He hits both with 10.4 seconds left, Panathinaikos leads 72-69. CSKA timeout. Are we headed for overtime? Diamantidis fouls Siskauskas immediately, catching him with a shoulder to the jaw. Siskas hits both free throws anyway. It's 72-71 with 8.5 seconds left. Another timeout. The tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. Everyone is on the edge of their seats, even the Panathinaikos fans quiet to let their team attack. The Greens inbound to Saras and CSKA has to foul him this time. If he hits both, the free throws will continue. But he misses the first, but makes the second. CSKA ball with 5.8 seconds and Panathinaikos cannot foul. Ball to Siskauskas, he wheels at the top of the arc, shoots, it rims out. Panathinaikos is champion again!

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 22:01 pm

Third quarter: After 35 minutes

Planinic continues the run for CSKA with a driving layup. It's up to 15-0 and counting. CSKA has showed incredible mental toughness, the heart of a champion. Smodis makes it 17-0 and a 56-50 scoreboard. Less than 10 minutes before, it was a 23-point difference. Just when Panathinaikos needs someone to step up, Fotsis appears to bury a triple and Perperoglou hits free throws and a post-up jump hook. The Greens are in double digits again at 62-50. Lorbek appears for an inside basket, but Perperoglou is showing a lot a lot of moxy, with his first three-pointer, making him the sixth Green to hit from downtown. The greens are again playing from strength, with a 65-54 lead as CSKA takes a timeout. A spectacular save and foul after, with Nicholas flipping over the back of Khryapa, leads to Siskauskas drilling a triple at 65-57. We're in for an exciting finish.

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 21:43 pm

Third quarter: After 30 minutes

Ramunas Siskauskas - CSKA Moscow - Final Four Berlin 2009CSKA, nonetheless is plugging away, and with a couple of turnovers on Pekovic - a travel and an offensive foul on a screen - let the defending champs get within 56-40. With the chance to cut it further, Lorbek's sky hook is blocked by Pekovic, but Langdon comes down after another empty Panathinaikos possession and hits CSKA's first three-pointer, with 2:40 left in the third quarter. With previous baskets by him and Siskauskas, however, CSKA lowered the the biggest Panathinaikos lead, 23 points at 56-33, with a 13-0 run. The Panathinaikos offense stalled with bad decisions and good defense by CSKA, as Pekovic had a three-second violation and two would-be passes to Batiste inside were stolen. Zoran Planinic has given CSKA a spark with heady play on both ends of the court, saving a possession for Khryapa to get to the line and finish the quarter with a free throw. Panathinaikos hasn't scored for 6 minutes, 20 seconds while missing 10 consecutive possessions, but leads 56-46. Hold on, nothing is over at the end of 30 minutes.

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 21:28 pm

Third quarter: After 25 minutes

Incredible first half by the Greens, who trailed by 6 points to start the game, 4-10, and came back to lead by 20 at the half, 48-28. There is a look of not knowing what's happening on the faces of the CSKA's players as Jasikevicius opens the second half with a triple, the eighth in a row without a miss for Panathinaikos. CSKA is still struggling, as one of the few open looks they have seen, a long-range jumper by Langdon, also bounds away. Panathinaikos is going inside and out with machinelike precision, according to its needs. The game has settled into a back-and-forth in which no one scores much, which is exactly what Panathinaikos wants. A quiet third quarter is not only bad for CSKA, but right now they are in danger of being on the losing end of an historic low score. Having never established the inside game, the CSKA shooters haven't had much of a chance to shoot.

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 21:20 pm

Second quarter: At halftime

Vassilis Spanoulis - Panathinaikos - Final Four Berlin 2009CSKA is struggling on offense whenever the ball is not in the hands of Holden, it seems. On defense, CSKA has left Diamantidis open for another three and a whopping 36-21 lead. CSKA is seeing a lot of minutes from young center Kaun, and for some reason - maybe because the Panathinaikos defense is making it happen - the ball ends up in his hads twice in a row, resulting in two turnovers, a shot clock violation and a traveling call. Lorbek have been out of the game for all but four minutes. Meanwhile, Fotsis joins the Panathinaikos three-point parade. Five different Greens have hit from downtown and they are 8-for-14 overall at halftime. By comparison, CSKA is 0 for 6 and not getting any decent looks. Only Holden seems to be the only CSKA player firing on all cylinders, as he gets behind the CSKA defense for a layup. But several Greens are wowing us now. Jasikevicius drills another three and, to end an amazing second quarter for the Greens, Nicholas hits another open triple to beat the buzzer. It's 48-28, the Green wave is lifting this place off the ground, and no one but no one expected this.

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 20:55 pm

Second quarter: After 15 minutes

Diamantidis joined the Panathinaikos scorers to start the second quarter, and Smodis got to the line for CSKA then downed a baseline jumper. Now, Sarunas Jasikevicius opens it up as only he knows how. Curling back to the corner to drill his first three-point attempt, feeding Diamantidis for another and stealing to start a break that Nicholas finishes with a jumper. It's an 8-0 run and a sudden 31-19 lead for Panathinaikos. CSKA needs a timeout, but out of it, watches Diamantidis rob a pass meant for Smodis. Another timeout, and Kostas Tsartsaris makes it a 10-0 run, the second of the game for Panathinaikos. The Greens are in charge early and CSKA is looking for solutions.

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 20:37 pm

First quarter: close after 10 minutes

J. R. Holden - CSKA Moscow - Final Four Berlin 2009It's getting wild. Heavy hitting in the paint has culminated in a collision at the rim between Khryapa and Pekovic, who was trying to dunk. When Khryapa protested the foul call on his block, he received a technical foul. Pekovic took both sets of free throws and made all four, showing that on this stage, the young center who was named All-Euroleague First Team last night is not the least bit nervous. Holden is still CSKA's leader, making an awesome drive to feed Kaun for a slam dunk. CSKA has been up by 6 at one point early, while Panathinaikos turned around the scoreboard to lead by 5. An 11-point swing in the first quarter could point to a game of mini runs. It's sure that neither of this teams is prepared to let the other escape. Panathinaikos tries fullcourt pressure, but patient CSKA gets to Holden who drives baseline. He's coming up big early. Panathinaikos gets Batiste involved, with his first score 26 seconds after he came on the floor, leaving a 21-16

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 20:24 pm

First quarter: close after 5 minutes

For the record, the first basket of the 2009 Euroleague Final was a tip-in by Khryapa after a jumphook by Lorbek hung on the rim. Good sign for CSKA, as was the next basket, a jumper by Holden. The first Panathinaikos score was a fall-back layup by Spanoulis, their sparkplug from early in the semifinal. Again, CSKA looks inside to Lorbek and now Khryapa, who both score, and on the next offense, and when the pass is not there, Holden hits again for a 4-10 advantage. Spanoulis also hits the first three-pointer of the game, and another layup to keep Panathinaikos within 9-12. Panathinaikos goes back inside to Pekovic, while CSKA springs a zone on the Greens and brings in Sasha Kaun. But Pekovic still makes it to the basket, and Drew does the honors with a nice baseline jumper for the first Panathinaikos lead, 13-12.

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 20:12 pm

The 2009 Euroleague Final has liftoff!!!

Tip-Off Panathinaikos vs. CSKA Moscow - Final Four Berlin 2009Here we go! You cannot imagine without being at the o2 World in Berlin, the electricity in the air at tipoff time. The Panathinaikos fans, especially, seem to be lifting a whole corner of the arena off its foundation. Their songs, sung together by thousands who are standing and clapping in unision, are filling the place with noise. They are matched in color, if not volume, by a red tide of CSKA Moscow fans. The 2009 Euroleague Final has blasted off with the following starting lineups: for Panathinaikos: Vassilis Spanoulis, Stratos Perperoglou, Antonis Fotsis, Drew Nicholas and Nikola Pekovic; and for CSKA Moscow, J.R. Holden, Trajan Langdon, Viktor Khryapa, Matjaz Smodis, Erazem Lorbek. The trophy they all want was sitting at midcourt between the two teams during warmups, gleaming in the lights. Almost no one is sitting now. The moment of truth is here. Hold onto your seats, it should be a stone thriller!

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 20:02 pm

Berlin blogging: Time to decide a champion!

All the words have been spoken by the protagonists, as well as the experts and fans on hand to watch them in Berlin. Now it comes down to action. Either CSKA or Panathinaikos, the second and fifth most-crowned teams in European basketball history, respectively, will add a cup to its trophy case based on what they do tonight on the floor of o2 World. Before it starts, it is hard to imagine a more evenly matched final, although the two-point difference between these teams two years ago, when Panathinaikos won at home in Athens is the modern standard for close finals. This time, on a neutral court, CSKA will try to get revenge and become just the third repeat champion of the Final Four era, which began in 1988. Two of the sport's greatest coaches ever, Zeljko Obradovic of Panathinaikos and Ettore Messina of CSKA, will ride the benches, promising a strategic battle that is just as intense as the physical one their superstar lineups will be waging on the floor. If the final comes anywhere close to the thrilling pair of semifinals on Friday that left everyone praising these two teams, it will go down as perhaps the best Final Four ever. Join a worldwide audience in 179 countries to find out!

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 19:40 pm

3rd Place Game: At halftime

Through 20 minutes, the third-place game has lived up to its hype. While Barcelona has mostly gone with its regular rotation and Olympiacos has shaken things up a bit with semifinal starters Josh Childress and Jannero Pargo not in uniform, the two teams have delivered a fast-paced and entertaining game. Barcelona raced out to an early double-digit lead, but Olympiacos fought back to within 3. However Barca reeled off 15 unanswered points while keeping the Reds scoreless for some seven minutes to take control. In spite of Barca’s big lead, the game remained fluid and both teams continued to play positive basketball with lots of movement and good shots. The only thing lacking right now is the drama, but with 20 more minutes left and a roster full of players eager to leave their mark, the Reds have not yet said the last word.

POSTED BY: FRANKIE SACHS, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 17:51 pm

A history of drama for third place

After a record-setting junior title game in which FMP defeated Lietuvos Rytas 110-123, the next game on Sunday, for third place between Olympiacos and Regal FC Barcelona, is underway. Since both were the narrowest of losers in Friday's spectacular semifinals - the combined difference of 6 points in the two games was a record - you can expect both teams to be dead serious about leaving Berlin with a victory to show for their great seasons. History also points to a potentially dramatic game between them. In recent years, there has been a double-overtime result, Panathinaikos over CSKA 94-97 in 2005 at Moscow, and another game won on the last shot, Unicaja over Tau 74-76 in 2007 at Athens. The average winning margin in the last five third-place games has been just 3.4 points, and three of those games finished with both teams scoring 90 or more points. Let's see how Olympiacos and Barcelona try to top that!

POSTED BY: FRANK LAWLOR, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 17:07 pm

The stars were out early in NIJT final

FMP, 2009 NIJT champs!The NIJT final was an event not to be missed for true basketball fans, who saw a pair of young stars shine bright on the big stage as FMP won an incredible offensive show, 110-123. Dejan Musli roared for 31 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocked shots as he lifted tournament MVP honors for the second year in a row. His teammate, playmaker Nenad Miljenovic, who just turned 16, recorded 17 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. Seeing the two of them may well have been a look into the future of Serbian basketball. Musli was too strong and fluid to be stopped underneath. Miljenovic, whose body was less developed than many of his 18-year-old counterparts, displayed a basketball IQ beyond his years, putting the ball where his teammates needed to create opportunities. The only way to stop him was to foul him – and he finished the game with 9 fouls drawn. Both Musli and Miljenovic exited the floor to ovations from the Serbian cheering section, which included the Hemofarm Stada junior team, in the final minute of the game. Hats go off to the runner-up, Lietuvos Rytas, as well, for their part in an exciting final. The record-setting point tally made it the game look like table tennis at times with the ball going back and forth nonstop. The game started with a then-record 34-point quarter by FMP, which would soon be eclipsed when L. Rytas scored 40 in the fourth quarter. Musli won’t be back again due to age, but many are already focusing on what will come from Miljenovic next year.

POSTED BY: FRANKIE SACHS, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 15:59 pm

It’s finals day!

The teams have taken the court and the title game is about to start. No, not the Euroleague title game, though these stars of tomorrow may well take part in the truly big event one day soon. For now the top two junior teams in Europe, FMP of Serbia and Lietuvos Rytas of Lithuania, will clash if the final of the Nike International Junior Tournament. Until now the games have been played at Berlin’s Velodrom, but the final is on center court at o2 World, where tonight Panathinaikos and CSKA Moscow will meet for the Euroleague crown. Spectators are filing in to fill the lower bowl of the arena, with many players from the other junior teams here, talent scouts from around the world, media representatives and basketball-loving fans all taking their seats to witness the best in junior hoops..

POSTED BY: FRANKIE SACHS, Berlin on Sunday, May 3 @ 11:56 am

Sunday, May 03, 2009
Euroleague.net
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SCHEDULE
SEMIFINALS, May 1:
Regal FCB 78-82 CSKA Moscow
Olympiacos 82-84 Panathinaikos
3RD PLACE, May 3:
Olympiacos 79-95 Regal FCB
FINAL, May 3:
Panathinaikos 73-71 CSKA Moscow

FINAL FOUR TEAMS

DEVOTION

2008-09 ALL-EL TEAM, MVP
Jordi Bertomeu, Juan Carlos Navarro

FINAL FOUR SLIDE SHOW
Vassilis Spanoulis - Panathinaikos - Final Four Berlin 2009