By Giorgos Orfanakis / info@eurohoops.net
The Red-and-whites had a tough time overcoming the obstacle of Anadolu Efes in the playoffs of the competition but they ensured their participation in the 10th Final Four in their history, where they’ll be facing behemoths of European basketball like Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, but also Fener, who look more ready than ever.
In fact, the situation could have been even better for Olympiacos if they had managed to be more effective the previous times they went after the title. To be precise, the Greek team counts 3 trophies in 9 participations, which is a figure of 33.3%, while they’ve played in 7 finals and have celebrated in 3 of those, that is, a 42.8% figure.
Tel Aviv 1994: 2nd place
The Greek “civil war” against Panathinaikos in the semifinals went in the most ideal way as Zarko Paspalj (22 points, 7 rebounds) and Roy Tarpley (21 points, 16 rebounds) completely dominated and got their team the qualification with 77-72.
Two days later, though, the emotions were completely different. Zeljko Obradovic pulled another miracle, Thompson scored the winning three-pointer and Paspalj proved fateful from the free throw line. Olympiacos’s first attempt didn’t have a happy ending…
Zaragoza 1995: 2nd place
In the semifinal against Panathinaikos, Eddie Johnson proved the reason why the team’s fans called him… pistol, and with 27 points he gave Olympiacos – who had now gotten the better of the Greens – the win (58-52).
However, he wasn’t as accurate in the big final and so Real Madrid of the great Sabonis forced Giannis Ioannidis’s team to settle with second place once again (73-61).
Rome 1997: 1st place
The dazzling David Rivers, the dominant Dragan Tarlac, captain Giorgos Sigalas and an excellent unit guided by Dusan Ivkovic travelled to the Italian city and made the extra step that they hadn’t been able to make the previous two times.
Olimpija Ljubljana in the semifinal (74-65) and Barcelona in the final (73-58) proved to be very low hurdles for Olympiacos who, on April 24, 1995, made history and at the same time kept Greek basketball at the top of Europe for the second season in a row.
Munich 1999: 3rd place
Two years after the triumph in Rome, Olympiacos returned to the Final Four once again, but the dream of another win quickly faded thanks to subsequent champions, Zalgiris Kaunas.
The semifinal against the Lithuanians turned into a one-man show and the only thing the Red-and-whites managed to do was to prevail in the third place game.
Berlin 2009: 4th place
In the stunning Greek semifinal against the Greens, the Red-and-whites lost the opportunity of being in the final for a single basket (84-82), while two days later they were defeated again by Barcelona (95-79), which resulted in them staying in fourth place.
Irrespective of the result, though, Olympiacos were now back in the limelight for good, sending a first message regarding everything that was going to follow in the coming years.
Paris 2010: 2nd place
Olympiacos managed to attend the Final Four for the second season in a row and went a step further by playing in the final, but once again they didn’t get to celebrate as Barcelona were clearly superior.
This was Olympiacos’s first final after the triumph in Rome (1997) and one of four in total in the 2010s.
Istanbul 2012: 1st place
Olympiacos travelled to Turkey as an outsider, but both in the semifinal as well as the final, they played as anything but. One leap brought on the next and, in the end, Dusan Ivkovic, Vassilis Spanoulis, Georgios Printezis and the rest of the youthful roster put their signature on the most… “swag” win among the Greek team’s total of three.
The 68-64 win against Barcelona in the semifinal filled the Red-and-whites with confidence but no one could have imagined what was going to happen on May 13, 2012. CSKA had their arms firmly around the trophy when they were ahead 53-34 at the 28th minute, before Olympiacos launched an extended counterattack that was completed in the most amazing way with the 62-61 lead by the hand of Printezis.
London 2013: 1st place
Before the enthusiasm of Olympiacos’s fans could even subside from the epic win of 2012, Georgios Bartzokas’s team made sure to give them yet another unique moment in the Final Four in London.
The beginning was the semifinal against CSKA, where the Red-and-whites didn’t give up the slightest room to the Russians, prevailing 59-62, while, as it turned out, not even the obstacle of Real Madrid in the final was enough to stop the Greek team.
The final score of 100-88 fully reflects the amazing offensive outbreak produced by Olympiacos, who, led by Vassilis Spanoulis, managed to score 90 points in three quarters and impress Europe’s basketball crowd all over again.
With this trophy, the Red-and-whites became only the third team after Jugoplastika and Maccabi Tel Aviv to celebrate back-to-back wins.