Euroleague Finals Blog: Olympiacos Wins Title Behind 42 From Spanoulis and Law

The last time Olympiacos won a title was a year ago in Istanbul, with Georgios Printezis playing the hero with a buzzer-beating floater and Dusan Ivkovic on the sidelines.  Now the club from Piraeus, Greece is looking to be the first Euroleague team to win consecutive championships since those Anthony Parker Maccabi squads did it back in 2004 and 2005.

This time it’ll be in London, and rookie head coach George Bartzokas is calling the shots for the Reds.

Facing them in the O2 Arena Sunday evening will be Real Madrid, who haven’t been European champions since 1995 when Arvydas Sabonis scored 23 in 25 minutes to give Los Blancos their eighth title, which still stands as the highest trophy total on the continent.

The team Sabonis & Co. bested that day in Zaragoza, Spain: Olympiacos.

This Madrid team has no Sabonis.  No one star that’s unequivocally deferred to in big situations.  What they are is a wealthy team who’s collected several star-caliber players, and found a coach in Pablo Laso who accentuates their strengths without bruising egos (or at least without caring if he does).

They’ve got a hard-nosed veteran rebounder in Felipe Reyes, though, who scored 17 points and pulled down five rebounds (four offensive) in 19 minutes against Barcelona.  They’ve got a point guard in Sergio Rodriguez who’s playing with the wisdom you’d expect of a man with a matted beard:  nine assists and nary a turnover in the semis.  His partner in dime (sorry) is combo guard Sergio Llull, who was assist-less against Barcelona but stuck his nose into the stuffy Barcelona defense and cracked it, finishing with 13 to get here.  He was April’s MVP of the Euroleague, and showed signs in Madrid’s playoff series (a 26-point game was one sign) that he’d be ready to make an impact in England.

The tarnished stars of the semifinals include two names familiar to those who read this site frequently: Rudy Fernandez and Bulls prospect Nikola Mirotic.

Rudy is still Rudy, flopping and nailing threes and whining and catching baseline alley-oops and getting his hair just right and relationships with fans all wrong.  Whether you’re entranced or repulsed by him, the fact remains that he’s been Real Madrid’s leading scorer this season at 13.4 PPG and he’s third in assists at 3.1, just decimal points barely behind the other Sergios.

Mirotic looked hesitant and flimsy against Barcelona on Friday and the stats didn’t look much better: 2-of-8 for 6 points, three rebound and two turnovers, his worst statistical game of the year.  Mirotic—along with Fernandez—made the All-Euroleague team for his efforts this season, but he’ll need to bring it in the finals if he wants to get past an undersized, overpowering Olympiacos frontline.

That frontline is led by Kyle Hines, the center who stands somewhere between 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-7 and gets his off his feet quicker than a hiccup.  He proved against CSKA that he’s quick enough to get behind Viktor Khryapa, athletic enough to jump over Sasha Kaun to catch lobs, and strong enough to push Nenad Krstic off the block.   Manhandle a 21-foot trio like that and I’m throwing away the tape measurer.  And if you need numbers, here were his numbers: 13 points and 10 boards in 20 minutes off the bench.

As great as Mirotic was this season (11.5 ppg and 5.4 rpg), Hines’ contributions to his team this season made him the more valuable asset overall and a better candidate for the All-Euroleague team.  Maybe next season—in Piraeus, or wherever he lands—he’ll get the love he deserves from the voters.

Mirotic did lose out on one award though: Rising Star.  It’s given to the Euroleaguer under the age of 22 who makes the biggest individual impact, and it’s been Nikola’s for two years running.  Coming into the season, the 21-year-old Montenegrin was supposed to make it a threepeat.

Kostas Papanikolaou ended Nikola’s award-hogging ways with a strong finish to his Top 16 (including this beauty against Khimki in the finale) and the Euroleague’s best three-point percentage, a disgustingly good 53 percent.

Although Papanikolaou (drafted by the Knicks last summer, traded to the Blazers) played most of his minutes at small forward this season, there’s a distinct possibility we’ll see him at the four for around a dozen minutes today.  That means we’ll likely get a few Mirotic vs. Papanikolaou minutes today.  For the scouts that made the trip to London, that will be the equivalent of validated parking.

And before we get underway we must mention Olympiacos’ Vassilis Spanoulis, the Euroleague’s MVP.  He missed all six of his threes in the semifinal, but the Reds were owning CSKA so totally that it didn’t even feel like an off game from Spanoulis.   Too many good vibes and made buckets sweeping his poor shooting under the rug.

But if Olympiacos wants to win Number Two, they’ll need a hell of a day from Number Seven.

The tip is upon us. Time for a prediction: Olympiacos doesn’t have Madrid’s depth, but Olympiacos has a core that they trust, and that’s done it before. The Reds get it done 81-77.

Check back here for updates at halftime and after the game.