By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Last week Maccabi lost at Krasnodar the big chance to win for the fourth time this season Lokomotiv and stay alive in the hunt of the second place in Group F. So we have to ask, how easy is it for a team to win the same opponent four times in the top European level, twice in the regular season and twice in Top 16?
The numbers show that it’s just too hard. This season is the eight under a competition format in which two teams may face each other both in the regular season and in the Top16 and only six times a sweep was registered. No matter the quality difference, it’s just to hard to beat four times the same opponent.
This season the highly coveted 4-0 at this point is reachable only by two teams. Olympiacos can achieve it against Unicaja and Real Madrid against Zalgiris. Both challenges must be completed on road for Olympiacos and Real Madrid.
So here’s the list of games both in regular season and Top16 since the 2002-03, when for the first time the Top16 was introduced and two group stages became the norm for Euroleague. It has to be noted that because of format changes during the period between 2008 and 2012 a four game series between the same times before the play offs couldn’t happen.
|
2002-03 |
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|
Game |
Reg. Season |
Top16 |
Total |
|
Efes-Cibona |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
Panathinaikos-Siena |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
Maccabi-Tau |
0-2 |
2-0 |
2-2 |
|
Olympiacos-Asvel |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
2003-04 |
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|
Tau-Olympiacos |
1-1 |
2-0 |
3-1 |
|
Pau Orthez-Olimpija |
0-2 |
2-0 |
2-2 |
|
Siena-Panathinaikos |
1-1 |
2-0 |
3-1 |
|
Maccabi-Zalgiris |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
2004-05 |
|||
|
Maccabi-Siena |
2-0 |
2-0 |
4-0 |
|
Barcelona-Scavolini |
2-0 |
0-2 |
2-2 |
|
Panathinaikos-Tau |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
Efes-Prokom |
2-0 |
2-0 |
4-0 |
|
2005-06 |
|||
|
Barcelona-Olympiacos |
1-1 |
2-0 |
3-1 |
|
Real M.-Ulker |
2-0 |
2-0 |
4-0 |
|
Tau-Bamberg |
2-0 |
2-0 |
4-0 |
|
Cibona-Efes |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
2006-07 |
|||
|
Maccabi-Roma |
1-1 |
2-0 |
3-1 |
|
Joventut-Partizan |
2-0 |
0-2 |
2-2 |
|
Efes-Prokom |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
Benetton-Aris |
1-1 |
2-0 |
3-1 |
|
2007-08 |
|||
|
Panathinaikos-Partizan |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
Lietuvos Rytas-Aris |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
Olympiacos-Zalgiris |
1-1 |
2-0 |
3-1 |
|
Barcelona-Roma |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
2012-2013 |
|||
|
Real M.-Panathinaikos |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
Zalgiris-Efes An. |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
2-0 |
2-0 |
4-0 |
|
|
Barcelona-Besiktas |
2-0 |
2-0 |
4-0 |
|
Maccabi-Siena |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
Khimki-Fenerbahce |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
Olympiacos-Laboral |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
Unicaja-Alba |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
2013-14 |
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|
Barcelona-Fenerbahce |
1-1 |
2-0 |
3-1 |
|
Maccabi-Lokomotiv |
2-0 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
|
Laboral-Panathinaikos |
1-1 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
|
Real M.-Zalgiris |
2-0 |
1-0 |
3-0 |
|
Olympiacos-Unicaja |
2-0 |
1-0 |
3-0 |
|
Efes An.-Milan |
1-1 |
1-0 |
2-1 |
|
CSKA-Partizan |
2-0 |
0-1 |
2-1 |
|
Galatasaray-Bayern |
1-1 |
1-0 |
2-1 |
So at this point in total just in 6 season series there was a 4-0 sweep (17%), a 3-1 in 16 series (46%) and a 2-2 in 13 series (37%).