By Vaggelis Papadimitriou/ info@eurohoops.net
The regular season in the EuroLeague is great, but the playoffs are greater! This is where the real season starts and history is made.
From 2001 onwards, when the Euroleague entered its modern era, several format changes happened, however, the playoffs were always special.
Eurohoops is here to rank the top 10 playoff series in the EuroLeague and we expect this year to be even bigger and better!
Olympiacos – Siena 1-3
Season: 2010-11
Scores: 89-41, 65-82, 81-72, 88-76
This is a series that no one will ever forget.
A few months after they lost the final in Paris, the “Reds” wanted to return to the Final Four to finish what they had started. Siena was in their way.
The beginning was thunderous and deafening. How else you can call the unreal 89-41 Olympiacos win (Mavrokephalidis 15, Bourousis 14/Lavrinovic 12) in Game 1?
The rest of the series, however, showed that Coach Ivkovic’s players never moved on from their Game 1 triumph. The Italians gathered their pieces to take Game 2 65-82 (Mavrokephalidis 16/Hairston 19). They shouted that nothing was over, as many might have thought.
The series then moved to Italy, where Coach Pianigiani’s team scored an 81-72 victory in Game 3 (Jaric 24/Nesterovic 16), to finish the job in Game 4, prevailing with 88-76 (Hairston 25, Lavrinovic 19/Bourousis-Gordon 16).
Siena thus advanced to the Final Four for the fourth time in club history and eventually finished third in Barcelona, losing to Panathinaikos in the semifinals.
Barcelona – Panathinaikos 1-3
Season: 2010-11
Scores: 83-82, 71-75, 76-74, 78-67
In the same year, Panathinaikos and Diamantidis registered a masterpiece against Barcelona. The task, however, was not easy. The Spaniards were the defending European champions, had the home-court advantage, and were hosting the Final Four.
Things for Panathinaikos got even worse when Barcelona won the series opener 83-82 (Navarro 13, Lakovic-Lorbek 12). Coach Obradovic‘s team, however, had the solutions and the mental reserves to tie the series at 1-1 after beating Barcelona 71-75 (Navarro 19/Sato 18, Diamantidis 17).
With the games moving to OAKA, Panathinaikos had the upper hand, but Barcelona was not a pushover. Diamantidis with 2 shots sealed the deal in Game 3, 76-74, (Diamantidis 18/Rubio 16) and the Greens completed the great upset two days later.
OAKA was full for Game 4 and celebrated accordingly. The final score was 78-67 (Calathes 12, Diamantidis-Fotsis 11/Vazquez 14) and sent Panathinaikos to Barcelona, where they ended up winning their sixth EuroLeague trophy by beating Maccabi in the Final.
Panathinaikos – Maccabi 3-2
Season: 2011-12
Scores: 93-73, 92-94, 65-62, 69-78, 86-85
This was an epic series and a great way to prepare for what the two rivals can provide this season. The advantage was “Green”. It was evident in Game 1 with a 93-73 home win (Diamantidis 15, Calathis 13/Langford 21) with Panathinaikos celebrating and getting even more self-confidence.
However, everything changed just two days later, when the Israeli champs grabbed a road win, 92-94 (Kaimakoglou 20/Langford 17), after a thriller that was decided in overtime with a big three-pointer by Blu with 31 seconds left that made it 92-93, while Jasikevicius immediately after and Diamantidis at the end could not make the winning shot.
The momentum had turned for good in favor of Maccabi after a 65-62 home win (Ohayon 12/Batiste 13) in Tel Aviv, but the Panathinaikos demonstrated the heart of a champion in Game 4 with a 69-78 win (Langford-Smith 14/ Calathes 15) to force Game 5.
And the climax was worthy of the series. The home team led 73-63, but the visitors tied the score at 85-85 with 7 seconds left in the game. Diamantidis (25 points) was there to finish the job with a free throw and his trademark defense on the last play.
The qualification to the 2012 Final Four remains the last one for Panathinaikos to date and it finished fourth that season after defeats by CSKA Moscow and Barcelona.