By Lefteris Moutis / moutis@eurohoops.net
This Turkish Airlines Euroleague season ended with yet another epic championship game that was decided in extra time, after a buzzer-beater that tied the game at the end of the fourth quarter. To mark the occasion, Eurohoops.net now ranks the five most exciting championship games in the Euroleague this century!
The Euroleague is the competition of upsets, turnarounds, comebacks and huge thrills. And this was proven once again at the Final Four in Berlin, where CSKA Moscow defeated Fenerbahce Istanbul in a championship game that all basketball fans will remember for many years to come.
Eurohoops.net has collected the most exciting Final Four championship games in the modern history of the competition (from 2001 onwards) and highlighted the five with the most dramatic developments, the biggest swings and the wildest finishes!
Go back in time and recall the intense emotions generated by the Euroleague Final Four and its sensational championship games!
Final Four 2013
London
Olympiacos Piraeus – Real Madrid 100-88
Olympiacos won its second consecutive European trophy in London in 2013 in a less dramatic fashion compared to the previous year in Istanbul, but they still had to come back from a 17-point deficit!
Madrid was leading 27-10 after one quarter, securing the kind of important advantage that seemed to point it toward the club’s ninth trophy. However, the red-and-whites launched their counteroffensive at the start of the second quarter and got closer to the Madrileños by halftime. Then, their leader, Vassilis Spanoulis, scored all 21 of his points in the second half with 5 three-pointers, completing the comeback. Olympiacos went on to win by 12 points after scoring 90 points in the final three quarters as Spanoulis was voted MVP of the Final Four!
Final Four 2014
Milan
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv – Real Madrid 98-86 (73-73)
Maccabi won its sixth European trophy after a huge upset in the championship game against Real Madrid, following another against CSKA Moscow in the semifinal. Maccabi was behind by 9 points to Madrid, 26-35, late in the first half, but came back soon enough to ensure a back-and-forth battle all the way to the finish.
Now, however, for the first time in a European championship game since 1969, that battle extended to overtime. In fact, Maccabi had the chance to get the win in regulation time, but kept the momentum and dominated in the extra 5 minutes. Maccabi guard Tyrese Rice went into orbit in the fourth quarter and in the extra period, scoring 21 of his 26 points in those 15 minutes. He ran away with the Final Four MVP trophy and Maccabi became champion again!
Final Four 2016
Berlin
CSKA Moscow – Fenerbahce Istanbul 101-96 (83-83)
Berlin is the city of thrillers! CSKA won their first title after eight years and their seventh overall in a game full of turnarounds which – this time – tipped the scales in their favor.
The Muscovites had a 21-point lead against Fenerbahce, 60-39, after 26 minutes and were behind on the scoreboard for only 2 minutes throughout the entire game. However, one more championship game was to be decided in the details. The Turkish team pulled off the huge comeback that allowed them to lead 83-81 with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter. In CSKA‘s next attack, however, Victor Khryapa got the offensive rebound and put back Nando De Colo’s missed shot to send the game into overtime. In the extra five minutes CSKA dominated and celebrated the trophy as De Colo was named MVP of the Final Four!