EUROLEAGUE FINAL FOUR – It’s wide open! [video]

BARCELONA (Euroleague) - The general consensus ahead of the Euroleague Final Four this weekend is that Real Madrid, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos and Montepaschi Siena have an equal chance to celebrate a title on Sunday.

The season has been unpredictable, but the sides still in contention have one important thing in common.

The players in each have held their nerve in a big way.

Montepaschi Siena lost their first two games in the Top 16, leading coach Simone Pianigiani to declare at the time: "Now, if I have to study the charts, I say that 99% we are out..."

Well, that 1% chance was enough because Mens Sana not only finished second to Real Madrid in that pool, but then overcame a nine-point first-half deficit in a Game 1 demolition at Olympiacos in the quarter-finals to win that series 3-1.

What is Pianigiani, who has coached Montepaschi in three other Final Fours but suffered defeats in each, saying now?

At Thursday’s press conference in Barcelona’s Town Hall, he said: "I believe that we lost the previous three semi-finals due to small details.

"We have to go down to small details and take care of them, hoping that finally these will turn in our favor."

Friday's game could not be any harder for Montepaschi.

They must overcome a Panathinaikos side that has already shown it can win in Barcelona this year.

Pana didn't have home-court advantage in their quarter-final against Regal Barcelona, but they grinded out a win in Game 2 and then won both games in Athens to claim a 3-1 series triumph.

Add to the confidence they gained from that series the fact that Panathinaikos coach Zeljko Obradovic and many of his players have already won previous Euroleague Final Fours and the Greens have every reason to believe this will be their weekend.

One man that knows what it takes to win is the Euroleague's top defensive player of the year, Dimitris Diamantidis.

Diamantidis, who retired from the Greece national team after last year's Eight-Finals exit from the FIBA World Championship in Turkey, was the Most Valuable Player of the Euroleague Final Four when Athens hosted the event in 2007.

Perhaps no man loves playing in Spain as much as David Blatt, the coach of Maccabi.

Blatt steered Russia's national team to a major upset in the EuroBasket 2007 title game in Madrid against Spain.

In the last eight of the Euroleague, Blatt's Maccabi didn't flinch when they took on Caja Laboral, winning Game 2 at Vitoria and then sweeping Baskonia at the Nokia Arena.

One of the key man in the Maccabi team is also a Greek.

Center Sofoklis Schortsanitis had the game of his life five years ago with Greece when they upset the United States in the Semi-Finals of the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

Schortsanitis had some up and downs in the years to follow with Olympiacos but he seems to be as happy as he's ever been since moving to Israel last summer.

"From the moment I sat with Sofo and spoke to him, I had nothing but a great feeling," Blatt said.

"He can tell you from the summer when we spoke in Cyprus, where we both were with our national teams, we had a great conversation.

"And from then, it has been nothing but a wonderful process. He was always known as a great impact player and a winner. This is not his first Final Four. He has always accounted for himself."

Big Sofo, as he is known, said of Blatt: "What helped me is that he demands a lot and gives me confidence because he believes that I can actually do it.

"The best thing he did was build my confidence and help me be one of the main guys on the team. That is one of the great things that happened this season."

Real Madrid are the only side in Barcelona to have had home-court advantage and won.

They needed five games but finally defeated Power Electronics Valencia.

With that series in mind, and the fact that they play in the Spanish ACB, there is no doubting the fact that Madrid are battle tested.

There is also no uncertainty about the mental strength of the players who managed to reach Barcelona despite the unexpected resignation of coach Ettore Messina after the Top 16.

"These are tough games and the best advice, above all, is to play the way we know we can play, like we did most of the season," said Real Madrid captain and Spain international Felipe Reyes.

"If we play as team and are together on and off the court, we can do it."

Coach Emanuele Molin can't be praised enough for his performance.

When his good friend and long-time colleague Messina left, Molin, who was Messina’s assistant, wanted to succeed him.

It's been an enormous challenge and one that the Italian has handled masterfully.

"There is a big difference between being assistant coach or head coach," he said.

"I have been Madrid's head coach for just a few months and it goes down to the essence of it - basketball."

So what is the toughest part of the job?

"Making basketball decisions every day makes it completely different," Molin said.

"It is like sitting at a difference side of the table.

"You can share your opinions as assistant and then the head coach can take it and transmit your opinion to the team - or not.

"Making the final decisions is different and more difficult, from my little experience in the last months."

Check out what players from the Euroleague Final Four teams had to say ahead of Friday's semi-finals.

Panathinaikos

Montepaschi

Maccabi

Real Madrid

We will have extensive coverage of the Euroleague Final Four on fiba.com, facebook.com/fiba and twitter.com/fiba.

FIBA