After a fantastic season of Euroleague basketball, one weekend of mayhem in Milano will decide the champion. While the seven-game series format leading up to the Final Four has proven undeniably exciting (and profitable), there is a special charm to the Euroleague’s one-and-done Final Four format that gives off a very comparative feeling to the NCAA Final Four. For the first time since 2006, neither of the Greek powerhouses – Olympiacos and Panathinaikos – will be represented in the Final Four. Instead,
Gibson: Euroleague Final Four Preview
The Euroleague Final Four is this weekend in London, with the semifinals Friday and the championship on Sunday. We have a ‘classico’ in Game 1 with Real Madrid playing Barcelona, and we have a classic in the second game with perennial powerhouse CSKA Moscow facing defending champion Olympiacos. [Read more…]
Euroleague Final Four Is Set (Updated)
Though it’s trumpeted as a launchpad for great big shiny heroics, playoff basketball’s cruel truth is that the no-shows have a particular, formative role to play in the maturation–or atrophy–of each series, as well. [Read more…]
Gibson: Olympiacos Wins Euroleague Championship on Buzzer Beater
ISTANBUL — There wasn’t a uniformed soul in Istanbul with as much Euroleague pedigree as CSKA Moscow’s Ramunas Siskauskas. With 9.7 seconds left and his team up a single point over Olympiacos, the 34-year-old former MVP strolled to the line, staring at a pair of freebies that would bring the two-time champion two points closer to a third. He missed the first. Then he missed the second. Olympiacos secured the ball off the rim, and Vassilis Spanoulis raced upcourt through a frantically scattered
Gibson: Kirilenko “Not A Robot”; Will Play Joey Dorsey In Euroleague Finals
ISTANBUL — This is where Andrei Kirilenko and Nenad Krstic were supposed to be. This is why they came back to Europe, and this is why they signed with CSKA Moscow, a veritable powerhouse. From the moment they stepped on the floor alongside Milos Teodosic and Alexey Shved, it was clear that it would take a mammoth effort to keep the Russians out of the Euroleague Final Four for a second straight season. After steamrolling their way to an 18-2 record in
Gibson: Euroleague Final Four Preview
ISTANBUL — It’s a city so massive that it spans two continents, and even the taxi drivers have to stop and ask for directions. The five daily calls to prayer give Istanbul a conservative soundtrack, while folks who flock to Istiklal Street by the thousands soak up a nightlife that dares even the most adventurous party-goers to keep up. Venders hawk you through the halls of the Grand Bazaar, clamoring for your business in whichever language you’re willing to bargain; still,
Steven Smith: From Philadelphia to Panathinaikos
Steven Smith is the starting power forward for the Greek team Panathinaikos, which will be competing in the Euroleague Final Four in Istanbul next month. After having a successful career at La Salle, where he was a two-time Atlantic 10 player of the year, the Philadelphia native took his talents overseas after a short spurt with the Philadelphia 76ers. After working his way through the ranks in Europe, Smith will get an opportunity to participate at the highest level of competition in