EUROLEAGUE - Maccabi stun Real Madrid in title game

MILAN (Euroleague) - David Blatt presided over one of the biggest upsets in international basketball history when he coached Russia to a 60-59 triumph over hosts Spain in the Final of EuroBasket 2007.

JR Holden's late jump shot gave the Russians victory in that title game played in Madrid.

Several years later and against some of the same Spanish national team players, Blatt has steered Maccabi Tel Aviv to a 98-86 overtime triumph against Real Madrid in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final.

Going up against the side that everyone expected to march to the title, a Real Madrid team that had knocked off two-time defending champions Olympiacos in the playoffs and then utterly destroyed Barcelona in their semifinal on Friday, Maccabi suffered during a 19-2 Real Madrid run in the second quarter.

Blatt's team trailed 33-22 and 35-26 but didn't cave in.

Instead, Maccabi clawed their way back with national team stars leading the way.

Montenegro's Tyrese Rice, Georgia's Ricky Hickman and Israel's David Blu all hit big baskets, and Maccabi fought like lions on defense and the boards and went into half-time trailing just 35-33.

The game was close the rest of the way, with Real's Spanish international Sergio Rodriguez and Greece's Ioannis Bourousis each having to make two free-throws to force overtime.

Rice then threw daggers at Real they didn't recover from.

He scored all of Maccabi's points in an 8-4 run that put the Israeli giants on top, 81-77, and they pulled away over the last couple of minutes.

Blatt's team, who had stunned CSKA Moscow in their semifinal with a comeback win in the final 13 seconds, celebrated.

"I wonder if (Real was) happy when we beat CSKA," Blatt said.

"I wonder, I didn't ask.

"But on paper we were the weaker team.

"They looked like world beaters on Friday.

"That had a negative effect on them tonight.

"They thought it would be easier than it was.

"They stopped playing their game and we stuck around and took their punches to the gut, and not to the face.

"And then in around the eighth round we hit them pretty good in the face and when the time came to knock them out, we did."

Real got 21 points from their Euroleague MVP, Rodriguez.

He hit five of 10 three-pointers but it wasn't enough.

"They were better than us," he said.

"All I can do is give credit to them. They handled the situation better in the second half, now we have to keep working and try to win our domestic title, then come back next season.

"It's always a shame to lose a final, we wanted the title badly, sometimes you just don't get it.

"We are playing to win this Euroleague title: if you lose the final, it means that you had a chance to win it.

"We are proud of what we have done during the whole season."

The defeat is going to be a bitter pill for Rodriguez, Felipe Reyes and Rudy Fernandez, the three Real and Spain players who fell to Blatt's Russia at EuroBasket 2007.

The trio is also going to feature for the national team at this summer's FIBA Basketball World Cup on home soil.

The pain of the setback is going to be excruciating for every member of the Spanish outfit for days, and possibly weeks.

For Maccabi, however, the victory is going to be regarded as maybe the greatest in the club's long and famous history.

Rice finished with 26 points, Hickman 18 and Blu 14.

It was a complete team effort as Devin Smith had 15 points and another Israel international, Alex Tyus, contributed a dozen points to go along with 11 rebounds and three blocks.

Another Israel international, Guy Pnini, could hardly believe what happened.

"It is a dream that came true," he said.

"I grew up with this club, since I was six I am playing with this club.

"I grew up watching Euroleague championship teams, I was one of the fans in the stands, and now it feels like I am dreaming."

FIBA