By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Many remember the 2009 Final Four in Berlin as one of the absolute best in the history of Euroleague. The level of basketball was top notch and a lot of players or coaches that were involved have a legendary status in European basketball.
The semifinal between CSKA Moscow and Barcelona was decided in the last minute, and the one that came later between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos was a last-second affair.
Although it didn’t begin like that, the grand Final also evolved into a thriller. Panathinaikos was the surviving hero that wore the crown of the Euroleague champion with Vassilis Spanoulis being named Final Four MVP.
Of course, the stories that interweave to draw the landscape of that Final Four were not created on the basketball floor exclusively. So here are some things that we will never, ever forget from Berlin 2009, which happened at both the backstage and front-stage of the tournament.
The thin line between hero and zero
The 2009 Final Four festivities began with the semifinal between Barcelona and CSKA Moscow. The tactical plan of Xavi Pascual worked well enough for his team to have the lead in the score until the fourth quarter. Or perhaps until the moment when the “Ramunas Siskauskas volcano” started to erupt. With a majestic crescendo of 18 points in the last quarter and 29 points in total (a career high in Euroleague) the Lithuanian forward was the one to give CSKA Moscow the victory against Barcelona and the qualification to the Final almost single-handedly.
From being the hero of the semifinal,Siskauskas went on being kinda a last second fatal character of the Russian team in the final. With the score 73 – 71 and five seconds left for the end of the game, he undertook the task of either tying the score or perhaps winning the game. No-one would even question that he was the man of the job, since he had previously given breath to his team with the three-pointer for the 70 – 69. Faced with solid defense by Drew Nicholas, “Siska” attempted a difficult three-point shots which went off target. At the same time, the final buzzer of the Final Four sounded in the arena. CSKA Moscow had just failed to do the repeat and Panathinaikos was the new Euroleague champion.