By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
The sweeps have been accomplished by five teams from as many countries, with two teams having three each and the rest following behind. Here are the 11 in 44 best-of-five series, in anticipation of the next one(s)…
2008-09
Face off: (1) CSKA Moscow – (2) Partizan 3-0 (56-47, 77-50, 56-67)
Finish line: Finalists
CSKA Moscow was the first team to sweep a best-of-five series in the playoffs. Its victim was Partizan, with whom it had squared off during the regular season too, but had split road wins. The common denominator was strong defenses, much more so in the case of CSKA, which limited Partizan to an average of 51 points over the three games.
Erazem Lorbek played the main role for CSKA with 15.7 points per game in the series.
2011-12
Face off: (1) FC Barcelona Regal – (2) UNICS Kazan 3-0 (78-66, 66-63, 56-67)
Finish line: Third place
With a 15-1 record entering the playoffs, FC Barcelona Regal was the absolute favorite to qualify from the series against UNICS Kazan and had little trouble – though Game 2 was a nail-biter. Pete Mickeal’s 2 free throws 4.9 seconds before the end made the difference and Henry Domercant scored a three-pointer from behind halfcourt at the final buzzer. Just like in the regular season, Barcelona swept its opponent again on the way to the Final Four.
This remains UNICS’s only appearance in the playoffs in three seasons in the competition.
2012-13
Face off: (2) Real Madrid – (3) Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv 3-0 (79-53, 75-63, 57-69)
Finish line: Finalists
Real Madrid was going full steam ahead towards first place in its Top 16 group, but then accumulated defeats in the last rounds that dropped them to second place by the end of that phase. That didn’t matter at all in the playoffs against Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv. With Sergio Llull scoring 15.7 points in the series and their defense at 57.6 points allowed, qualifying for the Final Four was an easy task.
This remains Real Madrid’s only three-game playoff sweep.
2013-14
Face off: (1) FC Barcelona – (4) Galatasaray Liv Hospital Istanbul 3-0 (88-61, 84-63, 75-78)
Finish line: Third place
FC Barcelona was in the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, Galatasaray Liv Hospital Istanbul for the very first. Barcelona had finished the Top 16 in first place of its group with a 12-2 record, Galatasaray in fourth of the corresponding group at 7-7. Barcelona was the favorite going in and took care of business, even though it took some extra effort in Game 3, as trailed 72-70 going into the final minute of the game.
Barcelona hasn’t swept a series since.
2014-15
Face off: (2) Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul – (3) Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv 3-0 (80-72, 82-67, 74-75 OT)
Finish line: Fourth place
The first time Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul advanced to the Final Four was done through a sweep in Coach Zeljko Obradovic‘s second season at the helm. Maccabi tried to make it difficult, but it was all over in three games after Jeremy Pargo’s missed layup at the end of overtime in Game 3, after Andrew Goudelock’s go-ahead layup 9.1 seconds before the buzzer.
That was the first of three consecutive sweeps for Fenerbahce.
2015-16
Face off: (1) CSKA Moscow – (4) Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade 3-0 (84-74, 77-76, 71-78)
Finish line: Champions
In 2016, CSKA had on its roster the MVP of the season and the Final Four, the top scorer and the competition leader in PIR. They were all the same person: Nando De Colo. The protagonists, however, were many more throughout the season. One only has to consider that De Colo was the third-best scorer in the playoffs against Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade (Kyle Hines had 15.7 points, Milos Teodosic 14.7 points and De Colo 13.3).
CSKA went on to become the first of only two championship-winning teams that had swept the playoffs.
2015-16
Face off: (1) Fenerbahce Istanbul – (4) Real Madrid 3-0 (75-69, 100-78, 63-75)
Finish line: Finalists
The first, historic qualification to a Final Four the previous season meant Fenerbahce Istanbul couldn’t wait to get back, something that Real Madrid learned in the worst possible way in the playoffs. After Fenerbahce held serve at home in the opening game, nothing could hold it back; not with five of its players finishing the series with double digits in points. Bogdan Bogdanovic was the top scorer with 16.7 points per game.
It was Fenerbahce’s second sweep before the third and deadliest, the one that led to the title.
2015-16
Face off: (2) Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz – (3) Panathinaikos Athens 3-0 (84-68, 82-78 OT, 75-84)
Finish line: Fourth place
On a good day, the 2016 Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz team of Darius Adams (22.7 ppg.), Mike James (14.7 ppg.), Ioannis Bourousis (12.5 ppg.) and their gang had no match and they reached the Final Four for the first time since 2008. Dimitris Diamantidis’s Panathinaikos Athens tried to stop them in Game 2 with a three-pointer that had taken them into overtime, but that’s as far as they got. Game 3 was the last one in 3D’s career in the EuroLeague.
Laboral is the second and last team, following Fenerbahce in 2015, that didn’t win any games that followed its playoff sweep.
2016-17
Face off: (4) Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens – (5) Fenerbahce Istanbul 0-3 (58-71, 75-80, 79-61)
Finish line: Champions
What do you do if, in Game 1, you’re behind by 16 points (44-28) at the start of the second half, playing away from home? You do what Fenerbahce did in 2017. Even though it didn’t have the home-court advantage in the playoffs, not only did it win the series, Fenerbahce swept Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens with Bogdanovic the MVP (19.3 points).
That season’s Fenerbahce is the only team that swept a series without the home-court advantage and one of two teams that swept its playoff series and went on to win the title.
2016-17
Face off: (2) CSKA Moscow – (7) Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz 3-0 (98-90, 84-82, 88-90)
Finish line: Third place
Kyle Hines was not the top scorer nor even the top shot-blocker for CSKA in the series against Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz in 2017, but he was the MVP. The winning 2 free throws 1.1 seconds before the end of Game 2 were his, as was the block on Adam Hanga at the expiration of Game 3.
The surprising development in those games made this series the one with the lowest average score difference, which was just 4 points per game.