EUROLEAGUE – CSKA cap dramatic weekend with title win over Maccabi

MADRID (Euroleague) – Trajan Langdon scored 21 points to lead CSKA Moscow past Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Euroleague title game on Sunday in Madrid. 

Langdon was named MVP of the Final Four as CSKA followed up their semi-final win over Tau Ceramica with a 91-77 triumph to capture a second Euroleague crown in three years. 

Ettore Messina’s men also beat Maccabi in the final two years ago in Prague, while last year CSKA finished runners-up to Panathinaikos in Athens. 

On that Panathinaikos team was Ramunas Siskauskas, a Lithuanian international who was a major part of the Greens’ success. 

He joined CSKA in the summer and that proved to be a major coup because Siskauskas was on Saturday unveiled as the Euroleague MVP this season. 

Siskauskas had 13 points in the title game. 

“This has been a great season for me,” Siskauskas admitted. 

“In less than 24 hours, I was chosen as the Euroleague MVP and won the Euroleague title. 

“Being already on the All-Euroleague team was amazing.” 

Siskauskas, who will play at the Olympics this summer for Lithuania, has now celebrated back-to-back Euroleague titles with two of the biggest clubs in the world. 

“This win is great for me and for the team,” he said. “It’s great to win the Euroleague, but there is a little thing… We haven’t finished the season yet. 

“Maybe we’ll have a couple of days off celebrating and then we’ll start thinking about the Russian League play-offs.” 

It was a weekend of high drama for CSKA because they also signed coach Messina to a one-year contract extension with an option for the 2009-2010 season. 

Messina, who endured personal tragedy two months ago following the death of his brother, joined his family in a tearful embrace for several minutes after the final buzzer. 

Messina, who had been strongly linked with Barcelona while also being persistently rumoured to be a target of NBA clubs, revealed how he had kept his decision on staying with CSKA a secret until after the final. 

“The players did not know anything [about the contract extension],” he said. “I thought that if I tell them before that, it would be a great motivation for Maccabi. 

“It was a great honor that CSKA waited for me to make up my mind and discuss everything with my family. 

“And it was a great honor to do it before the game. We decided to go on together. 

“For me, it was extremely important that the club decided this before this game. It would have been easy after an eventual win to say, 'OK, he's back because they won and because maybe CSKA is financially extremely powerful.' 

“I am glad to have received their support in a very difficult year for me and am glad that the management of CSKA proved to be extremely serious, extremely organized and extremely determined in trying to work things together. 

“That's what I was looking for and having received the news before the game made it much more important for me.” 

The Russians led 42-41 at half-time but a strong third quarter propelled Ettore Messina’s team to victory. 

Named to the all-Euroleague first team after a sensational season, Langdon had 14 points in a very tight first half. 

JR Holden, the CSKA playmaker who made the winning jump shot for Russia against Spain in the gold medal game of last year’s EuroBasket in the same arena, buried a couple of three-pointers to start the second half and the Russian team stayed in front the rest of the way. 

The title is the sixth in Europe’s elite club competition for the Russian team. 

Yotam Halperin, the Israel international of Maccabi Tel Aviv, spoke of his disappointment after the game but also offered warm words to CSKA. 

"It's heart-breaking to lose in the final of the Euroleague,” he said. 

“We've come such a long way to make it here. We had to get over injuries, home losses and almost everything in the book, but we made it here. 

“We are very sad but also proud of what we have done this season. 

“Our fans deserve a cup, and we apologize we couldn't provide it for them. CSKA deserve the cup and I want to congratulate them.” 

Montepaschi Siena, who blew a double-digit lead against Maccabi in their semi-final, took third place with a 97-93 overtime win over Tau Ceramica. 

FIBA