By Evangelos Papadimitriou / info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahce, Real Madrid and Zalgiris Kaunas are the top teams in this season’s EuroLeague, but only one will be crowned champion on Sunday night (20/5).
A few hours before the first jump ball, Eurohoops outlines the profiles of the teams, analyzes their course and presents the player who had a key contribution in getting them all the way to the end of the road.
Place in the regular season: 1st
Record: 24-6
Playoffs: 3-1 over Khimki with a home court advantage
Stats: 89.23 points (55.8% in two-point shooting, 41.7% in three-point shooting, 82% in free throws), 33.23 rebounds, 17.79 assists
Roster: Dimitris Itoudis’s team didn’t have a hard time finishing in first place in the regular season. Right from the start, they were the big favorites and they proved it on the court. Their 6 defeats (only one at home, by Fenerbahce) speak for themselves.
In fact, it happened in perfect harmony, since after 15 rounds they had a 12-3 record, something that was repeated in the second half of the season!
CSKA’s offense was ablaze once again this season, with 89.23 points per game! Their percentages in two-point shooting (55.8%), three-point shooting (41.7%) and free throws weren’t bad either, numbers that proved their players’ killer instinct.
In the playoffs, they went up against the other Russian team of the competition, Khimki, the two of them perhaps offering the series with the most quality, but it was Dimitris Itoudis who smiled in the end and not Georgios Bartzokas.
In Belgrade, they will be facing Real (18/5, 22:00) in the second semifinal.
Key players: Nando De Colo and Sergio Rodriguez were the best players for the Muscovites. The Frenchman played in 29 games of the regular season and averaged 16.9 points and 3.9 assists. He only managed to play one game in the playoffs and he never saw it to the end since he got injured.
And this is where the Spaniard comes into the equation, since he covered Nando De Colo’s gap more than adequately with 19.3 points and 6.5 assists in the series against Khimki, while he also became the first player in the history of the playoffs to have a game with 20+ points and 10+ assists.
Place in the regular season: 2nd
Record: 21-9
Playoffs: 3-1 over Baskonia with a home court advantage
Stats: 81.55 points (53.9% in two-point shooting, 42.2% in three-point shooting, 79.5% in free throws), 32.32 rebounds, 19.38 assists
Roster: The defending Champions, who had been considerably weakened after the departures of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Ekpe Udoh, didn’t start out the season well at all. Their opening game found them losing to Malaga, while in 7 games they already had 3 defeats, two of them by Panathinaikos and Olympiacos at the Olympic Sports Center Athens and the Peace and Friendship Stadium, respectively. The first phase ended with a 9-6 record, but the counterattack was launched after Round 16.
Five wins in a row for Zeljko Obradovic’s squad, who only suffered three defeats and, in combination with some negative results for Olympiacos, were able to secure second place in the regular season.
The playoffs were relatively easy for Fenerbahce: 2-for-2 wins over Baskonia in Istanbul, a defeat in Game 3 in Spain and a comfortable victory in the fourth game of the series.
Key players: A difficult call in Fenerbahce’s case too. Brad Wanamaker signed with the team in the summer and from the very start, he showed that he can lead the defending champions’ effort.
His 11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game confirm that.
We couldn’t possibly leave out Jan Vesely, who’s doing an amazing job in defense and offense: 12.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and almost 1 block in every game is nothing to sneeze at.
Place in the regular season: 5th
Record: 19-11
Playoffs: 3-1 over Panathinaikos without a home court advantage
Stats: 85.67 points (55.4% in two-point shooting, 37.4% in three-point shooting, 78.2% in free throws), 35.41 rebounds, 19.38 assists
Roster: Even though they were one of the favorites to reach the Final Four, things weren’t looking good for Real at the start of the season. Sergio Llull was already out from the beginning and new injury problems started coming quickly.
Ognjen Kuzmic and Gustavo Ayon were out, with the former missing the whole season and creating a huge gap in the frontline. The circumstances forced the team to cover for their casualties with Walter Tavares.
However, the Madrilenos’ roster is once again full and, of course, has Luka Doncic, who was the absolute leader in many games, steering Real safely towards their goal.
The 6 defeats in the first phase left Pablo Laso’s team behind, but they simply couldn’t fail to get the qualification for the playoffs. In the end, the triple tie with Olympiacos and Panathinaikos left Real in fifth place and sent them straight to the Greens without a home court advantage.
Game 1 in the Olympic Sports Center Athens was a nightmare for Doncic and his gang, but what came next was straight out of a dream. An away win in Athens and then 2-for-2 in Madrid and the Final Four spot was theirs, and, in fact, Sergio Llull is back in action.
Key players: Who else? Luka Doncic! The boy wonder of European basketball is having his best season and is headed for the MVP of the year award. Indicatively, we’ll mention his 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 25 minutes. Wholeness in all its glory.
Zalgiris Kaunas
Place in the regular season: 6th
Record: 18-12
Playoffs: 3-1 over Olympiacos without home court advantage
Stats: 81.82 points (54.3% in two-point shooting, 42.4% in three-point shooting, 77.8% in free throws), 33.29 rebounds, 19.5 assists
Roster: Time for the miracle in Kaunas! Zalgiris are in the Final Four for the first time after the distant 1999, after a fairytale season.
The first few rounds were indicative of what was going to follow. Saras’s players were consistently among the Top 8 teams and made all of Europe talk about them when they beat the defending champions on their own home court. After the end of the first phase, the message had been sent: Zalgiris were ready for the playoffs.
Sixth place in the regular season was nothing compared to what came next. Olympiacos hosted the Lithuanians for Game 1 and the break was made. The Reds reacted and tied to 1-1, but the next two games in Kaunas sealed what has been a unique season for Zalgiris.
With their well-known assets and an almost total brand of basketball, Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team completed the miracle and will be in the Final Four. And judging by their overall image, they’re not going to be such an easy opponent for Fenerbahce (18/5, 19:00).
Key players: Kevin Pangos has developed into a top-level player. The 25-year-old guard has taken his team by the hand and with 12.7 points, 6 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game, he’s undoubtedly Zalgiris’s MVP this season.