MOSCOW (VTB United League) - Theo Papaloukas put the finishing touches on a glorious career over the weekend in helping CSKA Moscow capture a fourth VTB United League title in the last five years.

After the club's 3-1 Finals triumph over Lokomotiv Kuban, the Greece great retired from playing.

The team photo taken after the 59-54 Game 4 triumph is revealing.

Not only does it show a CSKA outfit in celebratory mood, but a triumphant, 36-year-old Papaloukas with both of his hands clutching the trophy.

It's the sort of photo that basketball fans have grown accustomed to seeing the past several years.

Papaloukas will be regarded as a legend by CSKA fans, Greece national team supporters and nearly everyone in international basketball.

His brightest moments as a club professional were with CSKA, a side that he led to Euroleague glory in 2006.

That championship was the club's first in the Euroleague for 35 years, and Papaloukas was the MVP of the Final.

In the 2006 title game in Prague against Maccabi Tel Aviv, Papaloukas had 18 points, seven assists and a couple of steals to fire CSKA to a 73-69 triumph.

Just several months before, Papaloukas had enjoyed one of his finest moments in a Greece national team shirt, engineering a famous come-from-behind victory over France in the Semi-Finals of EuroBasket 2005.

Greece trailed 58-51 with 1:12 remaining after a Tony Parker three-pointer, but Papaloukas led the Greeks back, pouring in eight of the team's last 16 points in a 67-66 victory.

Papaloukas then scored 22 points in a 78-62 Final triumph over Germany and was named to the All-Tournament Team.

When CSKA captured the title against Maccabi on 30 April 2006, it came as no surprise that Papaloukas darted to the sidelines to get his hands on a Greek flag.

He draped it over his shoulders and ran around the court before going up into the stands to celebrate.

Four months later and Papaloukas pulled the strings on maybe the most famous victory in Greek basketball history, a 101-95 upset of the United States in the Semi-finals of the FIBA World Championship in Japan.

Against the star-laden Americans, Papaloukas had 12 assists to go with his eight points in 33 minutes.

Greece lost to Spain in the Final, but Papaloukas made the All-Tournament Team again.

The accolades didn't stop.

For the 2006-07 campaign, Papaloukas scooped the honor as Euroleague MVP.

After finishing runners-up in the 2007 Euroleague with CSKA, Papaloukas won a second title in the competition in 2008.

As CSKA enjoyed yet another fine moment in their history by lifting the VTB United League trophy, coach Ettore Messina made sure that everyone took a minute to think about Papaloukas.

"Today we say goodbye to one of the greatest basketball players in the history of European basketball, Theo Papaloukas," Messina said.

"He brought a lot of joy to his teammates, coaches, fans.

"I would like to say 'thank you, Theo,' very much."

FIBA