FC Barcelona is finally the Euroleague champion! Barcelona conquered its first-ever title and sent an entire city to celebrate by downing Benetton Treviso 76-65 in the title game played in front of over 16,600 fans at Palau Sant Jordi on May 11, 2003 - a date that few Barcelona fans will ever forget. Dejan Bodiroga paced the winners with 20 points and earned Final Four MVP honours for the second consecutive season - something that only Toni Kukoc had achieved in the past. Gregor Fucka added 17 while Gregor Fucka had 11 in a historical night for Barcelona. Tyus Edney led Benetton with 16 points. Massimo Bulleri added 11 while Denis Marconato got 10. A trio of three-pointers midway through the final quarter - from Sarunas Jasikevicius, Juan Carlos Navarro and Bodiroga - broke open a three-point game to give Barca an 11-point lead with 90 seconds left. Everything was said and done and all those Barcelona fans that mourned so many losses at the Euroleague final could finally celebrate that their team was the reigning Euroleague champion!

Montepaschi Siena finished a fantastic Euroleague season in style by edging CSKA Moscow 79-78 in the Third Place game. Alphonso Ford led the winners with 19 points. Vrbica Stefanov added 17 while Mirsad Turkcan had 16 and 14 rebounds for Montepaschi. Darius Songaila had 15 points for CSKA. Victor Alexander and Nikos Hatzivrettas each added 14 while Sergey Monya had 10 for the Russian powerhouse. It all came down to the final seconds, as Ford grabbed an offensive rebound and scored for a 79-77 Montepaschi lead with 2.8 seconds to go. Incredibly enough, Ford fouled on Hatzivrettas, who missed his second attempt, sending thousands of Montepaschi fans into delirium to see their team officially as the third best in European club basketball.

In a thriller that was everything the experts expected, Barcelona sent a whole city to celebrating by beating CSKA Moscow 76-71 in the second semifinal. Barcelona joined Benetton Treviso in the Euroleague title in front of a sellout crowd of 16,670 fans at Palau Sant Jordi, a new Final Four record. Gregor Fucka led the winners with 23 points. Dejan Bodiroga added 17 for Barcelona, but Juan Carlos Navarro provided the biggest highlight of the game with a fast break layup off a steal that sealed the outcome with 22 seconds to go, allowing a majority of Barcelona fans to celebrate a major win. Barcelona is now ready to keep fighting to win its first-ever Euroleague title after five finals lost in 1984, 1990, 1991, 1996 and 1997. J.R. Holden led CSKA with 21 points. Darius Songaila added 14 while Victor Alexander had 13 for CSKA in defeat. CSKA trailed 70-68 with a minute to go but Bodiroga hit free throws right before Navarro sealed the outcome down the stretch.

Benetton Treviso made it to the Euroleague final for the first time since 1993 by edging Montepaschi Siena 62-65 in the first semifinal at Palau Sant Jordi. Benetton trailed 58-52 with 3 minutes to go but Garbajosa and an outstanding Bulleri - who scored his team's last 7 points - stepped up in crunch time to lead Benetton to a historical win. Garbajosa hit all of his 12 free throw attempts to lead the winners with 14 points. Bulleri and Denis Marconato each added 12 for Benetton. Vrbica Stefanov led Montepaschi with 17 points. Alphonso Ford added 15, Dusan Vukcevic 14 and Michalis Kakiouzis 10 for Montepaschi, that rallied from a 19-point deficit to keep its options alive in the final period. As such, coach Ettore Messina made it to his fifth Euroleague final in six years - his first without Kinder Bologna -, cementing his status as one of the best bosses in European club basketball history.