Europe - Euro playoff roundup

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A look at what's been happening in the postseason of the European leagues:

SPAIN

Barcelona managed to beat Joventut Badalona twice (85-71 and 93-90) and in the last encounter, Alex Acker led Barcelona with 20 points while former Milwaukee Buck Ersan Ilyasova recorded a double-double with 15 points and 18 rebounds. Edu Hernandez-Sonseca had 13 points while former NBA center Jerome Moiso netted in 11 points and rejected five shots.

Tau Ceramica also reached the finals by beating Unicaja Malaga 83-82 in Malaga to join Barcelona. Igor Rakocevic led the way for Tau with 21 points while Pete Mickeal (Houston Rockets) recorded 14 and Brazilian Tiago Splitter contributed another 12. For Malaga, Boniface Ndong (L.A. Clippers) led the Andalusians with 18 points and seven rebounds while Marcus Haislip added another 16, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Vitoria-based team.

GREECE

After a thriller in the semis in which Olympiakos survived a scare from Maroussi Athens (Branko Milisavljevic's last second shot went in and out of the rim),
the "Reds" faced the "Greens" for the first encounter of the final series in Athens.

Panathinaikos edged Olympiakos 83-79 and took a 1-0 lead thanks to Sarunas Jasikevicius (Indiana Pacers), who led all scorers with 22. Mike Batiste (Arizona State) addedr 17 while Serbian guard Milos Teodosic and Sofokles "Baby Shaq" Schortsanitis (drafted by the Clippers) had 13 points a piece for Piraeus.

ITALY

Montepaschi Siena leads 2-0 in the semi-finals against Armani Jeans Milano and looks like a lock in the finals. They beat Milano 82-69 on the road mainly due to their great defense.

Bootsy Thornton (St. John's) scored 20 and Lithuanian Ksystof Lavrinovic had 18 points, while potential NBA draft pick Danilo Gallinari led Milano with 18 points.

Lottomatica Roma should be the other team in the finals as they improved to 2-0 with an 85-78 win in Avellino. David Hawkins (Temple) had a great game with 19 points while Erazem Lorbek (Michigan State) collected 14 points and nine rebounds. Roko-Leni Ukic (drafted by the Toronto Raptors) and Ibrahim Jaaber (Penn) and were also a big factors with 18 and 13 points, respectively. Marques Green (St. Bonaventure) scored 17 and Devin Smith (Virginia) 15 in the loss.

TURKEY

Fenerbahce Ülker routed Türk Telekom Ankara in the first game of the final series 100-72 and had its best in Will Solomon and Tarence Kinsey (Memphis Grizzlies), each scoring 15 points to the win. James White (San Antonio Spurs) netted another 12. Erwin Dudley (Alabama) led Ankara with 15 points and Khalid El-Amin (Chicago Bulls) added 11.

RUSSIA

Euroleague champion CSKA should again become the champs of Russia within the next few days, as they are leading in the finals 2-0 against Khimky Moscow.

Trajan Langdon (Cleveland Cavaliers) led the way with 20 points while Matjaz Smodis added 18 in Game 1, while Euroleague MVP Ramunas Siskauskas had 15 points in Game 2. Khimky was paced by Pat Burke (Phoenix Suns) with 17 points and nine boards, and Clay Tucker (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) with 14 points.

LITHUANIA

Zalgiris won its final series 4-1 against Lietuvos Rytas and was led by DeJuan Collins (LSU) with 15 points in the 81-75 series-clinching win. Damir Markota (Bucks) added 10.

LATVIA

Barons Riga are the new champions in Latvia. Demetrius Alexander led the way with 22 points and eight rebounds, followed by J.P. Batista's (Gonzaga) 17 , as Barons edged ASK Riga 79-78 and 4-1 in the final series to win it all. Curtis Millage (Arizona State) and Raitis Grafs (Valpo) got 21 and 18, respectively, for ASK in the loss.