First to Berlin: CSKA Moscow!
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 Leaving no doubt about its resolve to attempt a historic repeat title, Euroleague champion CSKA Moscow is back in the Final Four for a seventh consecutive season - not to mention sooner than any other team this year. CSKA will have a chance to defend its title on the first weekend in May at the state-of-the-art o2 World in Berlin, Germany. CSKA is the first team to reach seven Final Fours in a row since the start of the Final Four era in 1988. It can become just the third team in that time frame, after Jugoplastika Split and Maccabi Tel Aviv, to win back-to-back titles. CSKA qualified this time with the only sweep of the best-of-five Quarterfinal Playoffs, defeating host Partizan 56-67 on Tuesday before 21,352 fans at Belgrade Arena. In the Euroleague semifinals on Friday, May 1 in Berlin, head coach Ettore Messina's men will face the winner of the ongoing playoff series between Regal FC Barcelona and Tau Ceramica. CSKA and Messina defeated Tau in the semifinals last season in Madrid and beat Barcelona in the 2006 semifinals in Prague, going on to win the Euroleague crown both times. CSKA has won the Euroleague six times overall dating back to 1961. Real Madrid, with eight titles, is the winningest team in the history of Europe's top club competition.
Despite its impressive recent run, the road to Berlin was not an easy one for the champs. CSKA opened the Euroleague season with five consecutive wins, defeating each and every opponent in regular season Group D, but lost three of its final five regular season games. Two of those losses were at home, the last to Partizan, which had also taken CSKA to the buzzer before losing by a point in Belgrade. Nonetheless, the team won Group D with a week to spare after beating Efes Pilsen by 19 on the road. CSKA started strong in the Top 16 with convincing wins against Fenerbahce Ulker and Cibona behind an outstanding Ramunas Siskauskas. Despite an 18-point loss in Siena - the club's worst defeat in European competitions since 1999 – CSKA bounced back with a 95-71 home win against Montepaschi and clinched a playoff spot with a 77-60 home victory against Fenerbahce, winning its Top 16 group with a 5-1 record. The champs then proceeded to sweep Partizan, its toughest opponent all season, by 3-0 in the best-of-five playoffs to secure its ticket to Berlin.
 CSKA's star-studded cast can add a number of individual distinctions to their resumes in Berlin. J.R. Holden becomes the first player to appear in seven consecutive Final Fours. Siskauskas has the chance to win his third consecutive Euroleague title, joining a short list of players that since 1991 includes only one other, Sarunas Jasikevicius. Team captain Matjaz Smodis targets his fourth continental crown, which would tie him with seven others for the fourth most behind only the legendary Dino Meneghin (seven) and Clifford Luyk and Aldo Ossola (five each). Meanwhile, Messina could further cement his status as one of the game's all-time coaching greats with a fifth Euroleague title, second only to Zeljko Obradovic of Panathinaikos, whose team is still alive in the playoffs.
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Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Euroleague.net
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