EUROLEAGUE – Fabulous four go for European glory

PARIS (Euroleague) - The City of Light has had big-time European basketball before.

Nine years ago, the FIBA Suproleague Final Four was staged at Bercy.

Paris was a sea of yellow as Maccabi Tel Aviv fans travelled all the way from Israel to France and watched their team defeat Panathinaikos in a memorable title game.

This weekend, the French capital plays host to another hoops spectacle when the Euroleague Final Four is played at Bercy.

In Friday's first game, Regal Barcelona take on CSKA Moscow in a rematch of their semi-final showdown of one year ago that was won by the Russian team.

The second game features Olympiacos and Partizan Belgrade, the famous basketball institution of Serbia that has returned to the Final Four for the first time since 1998.

After a season of thrills and spills, of countless hours in practices and video sessions, after long journeys on trains, buses and planes, it all comes down to this.

Only one team is going to leave Paris with a European trophy.

When it comes to Barcelona and CSKA, the team names are the same as the 2009 Euroleague Final Four in Berlin but there are notable differences.

For Barca, the Catalan club now has Spain point guard Ricky Rubio as their floor general, and the explosive forwards Pete Mickael and Terence Morris, and center Boniface Ndong.

"They have been to the last eight Final Fours in a row and they know how to play these kind of games,” Rubio said.

“We have to stop them in one-on-ones. They have players like (Ramunas) Siskauskas and (Viktor) Khryapa.

"We know what we have to do, but CSKA will try not to allow us to play easy, comfortable and run, the way we want to play to score easy points on fast breaks.

"We have to take it easy, play with calm in the hard moments."

They also have a vital member of CSKA's team from one year ago, Slovenia international Erazem Lorbek.

Lorbek, who led Slovenia into the EuroBasket Semi-Finals last year for the first time in their history and made the All-Tournament team, admits the Final Four has special significance for him since he is facing his former club.

"I switched teams, but I expect to get another win in the semi-finals," he said.

"CSKA is a big team and I am excited to go against them."

Each of the Barcelona newcomers has served to make this a stronger team, one that has already won the Spanish Supercopa and Copa del Rey, and also clinched first place in the ACB.

The most significant change that took place for CSKA since last season was the change on the bench.

CSKA parted with coach Ettore Messina, who joined Real Madrid, and replaced him with Evgeny Pashutin.

Pashutin, a former Russia national team point guard, was an assistant to Messina and has made a seamless transition to the top job.

"It's an absolutely different emotion, more pressure, different situation because I was never a head coach,” Pashutin said.

“This season was tough, big pressure, because CSKA had one target and that is to win the championship."

Barcelona create a lot of problems for any team, and CSKA is no exception.

"Barcelona have a long, long deep bench,” Pashutin said.

“At every position, they have a good substitution. Everyone who comes from the bench improves the game, and they can keep the same rhythm.

“Our aim is not to let them run because as soon as you let them feel like they usually play, it's very difficult to stop them. We have to be very careful with their fast breaks and rebounds and try to make them play in the half court.

"We have to play hard defense, box out, don't let them run and (we must) play controlled offense.”

Partizan v Olympiacos

In the other semi-final, Olympiacos and Partizan will square off against each other for the third time this season.

The sides split their regular-season meetings.

For Partizan, the toast of Belgrade in recent weeks has been Dusan Kecman, a Euroleague winner with Panathinaikos one year ago.

He has been a major factor in the big games for Dusko Vujosevic's team this year.

Kecman set the tone for Partizan's upset of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Quarter-Finals with a 29-point explosion in their 85-77 Game 1 victory.

His most memorable game came on April 25 in the final of the Adriatic League against Cibona.

In what is easily one of the most famous moments in the history of European basketball, Kecman caught a pass with less than a second remaining in overtime and shot the ball three-quarters of the length of the court and scored to win the game, 75-74.

Kecman says his teammates should relax and enjoy the moment because no one expected them to reach the Euroleague Final Four.

"What I told to my teammates is not to feel pressure," he said.

"We have already had a great success to make it here.

"We already played Olympiacos two times, won in Belgrade and lost in Athens. There aren't so many secrets between us, so only the details can determine the game. One rebound, one missed free-throw - we have to be fully concentrated for 40 minutes."

Olympiacos, meanwhile, are led by the Greek legend, Panagiotis Yannakis.

No stranger to big games as a player or as a coach, the former Greece national team boss can perhaps best be described as a Greek philosopher.

Looking ahead to the game against Partizan, Yannakis said: "If you face a team that you already played against, you have to play smarter and do better.

"That's part of success: They give you a problem and you have to solve it.

"Always in your life, as a team or as a person, a problem that comes to you is also an opportunity to improve and grow."

Let the games begin.

FIBA