By Stelios Toromanidis / info@eurohoops.net
Since 2001, the year Euroleague entered our life in its modern form, the playoffs system has changed quite a few times in order to optimize the product. The quarterfinals were first inducted to the product from the 2004-05 season onwards, first in the form of best-of-three, then in the form of best-of-five since 2009.
Up until the 2018-19 season, there have been 56 playoffs series, from which 15 teams have managed to grab a ticket to the Final Four through the years. Eurohoops picked the Top 10 series, based both on their exciting outcome and the level of difficulty for the teams that turned out to win the series in the end.
Panathinaikos – Tau Ceramica (Baskonia) 1-2
Season: 2005-06
Results: 84-72, 79-85, 71-74
Laboral Kutxa went through the best season of its EuroLeague presence with players like Scola, Splitter, Hansen, Erdogan and Prigioni and faced Panathinaikos, who had the homecourt advantage in the series. The Greens’ roster back in the day included Spanoulis, Diamantidis, Alvertis, Tomasevic and more, while one could argue they had a slight advantage in the series. However, Baskonia emerged in the second and third games to seal their second consecutive Final Four ticket in 2006.
MVP: Serkan Erdogan
The Turkish guard was the pillar for Baskonia in Game 3 and had a key contribution in crunch time with a pair of free throws to send his team straight to the Final Four.