By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The eight teams that will battle it out for a place in the final four are well known, but what is their background in this phase? How many times has each one managed to advance in a knockout order? Which ones have the longest winning streak and other knockout stories…
Eurohoops looks back and remembers all the knockout stages of qualification for the Final Four from 2004-05 onwards, when this particular system was established, since up to that point the four finalists had emerged directly from the Top 16. Up to the 2007-08 season, the qualification was granted in two wins, but since then it’s granted in three wins.
Barcelona
From 2005-06 onwards Barcelona qualifies to the playoffs every year and this year marks their tenth participation in a row, having gotten the home advantage for the last seven seasons in a row. In total, the Catalans have qualified six times when they have started the series at the Palau Blaugrana and where knocked out only by Panathinaikos in the 2010-11 season. The two times when they competed without a home advantage they were knocked out by Malaga in the 2006-07 season and Maccabi in the 2007-08 season.
Olympiacos
They are the only team, alongside Barcelona, that has reached the playoffs 10 times in a row. Since 2005-06 Olympiacos has qualified 4 times to the Final Four, three of those with a home advantage (against Real, Prokom, Efes) and once without against Siena. Otherwise the red-and-whites have been knocked out of the Final Four whenever they did not have the home advantage, except for the 2011-12 season, when they left Siena behind 3-1. In the 2010-11 they lost the chance to get to the Final Four, despite having the home court advantage against Siena, which qualified with 3-1 wins.