FIBA Basketball
ISR - Maccabi, Barca in Final Four
TEL AVIV (Euroleague) - Maccabi Tel Aviv and Winterthur Barcelona are headed back to the Euroleague Final Four after winning thrilling Game 3 deciders on Thursday. Maccabi return to the competition’s showpiece event for a third year running
TEL AVIV (Euroleague) - Maccabi Tel Aviv and Winterthur Barcelona are headed back to the Euroleague Final Four after winning thrilling Game 3 deciders on Thursday.
Maccabi return to the competition’s showpiece event for a third year running after surviving a titanic struggle with Olympiacos in Israel. The two-time defending champions were pushed to the limit by Jonas Kazlauskas’ men but eventually prevailed 77-73.
Their qualification means three teams from last season will be back in the Final Four with CSKA Moscow and Tau Ceramica having already booked their places.
Barcelona, the 2003 champions, claimed the last place on offer with a 76-70 triumph in the deciding Game 3 of their quarter-final series with Spanish rivals Real Madrid.
Maccabi edge Olympiacos
Maccabi Tel Aviv no longer have the talismanic figure of Sarunas Jasikevicius following the Lithuanian guard's move to the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and his absence has been telling at times this season.
Olympiacos, the 1997 FIBA EuroLeague champions, have been turned into a powerhouse in Greece once again by Lithuanian coach Jonas Kazlauskas and they gave Maccabi all they could handle.
Kazlauskas’ team levelled the quarter-final tie with victory in Greece last week and they were close to springing a major upset in Game 3. Christos Charisis buried a three-pointer with just under three minutes remaining to give the visitors a 71-69 lead and silence the crowd in Tel Aviv.
Croatian international Nikola Vujcic came to the fore for Maccabi, tying the contest with a pair of free throws and then splitting two from the line for a 72-71 advantage. After Quincy Lewis had his shot blocked by Will Solomon, Vujcic again went to the line and made two more for a 74-71 lead.
Olympiacos hurt themselves at the stripe. Both Tyus Edney and Sofoklis Schortsanitis were only able to make one of two on separate occasions as Olympiacos pulled to within one. They were rare misses as Kazlauskas’ team made 20 of 24 on the night while Maccabi struggled, making 20 of 33 (61%).
Maccabi made them when it counted, however. Olympiacos fouled Derrick Sharp and he was able to sink two from the stripe to move his team back in front at 76-73. The Greeks still had a chance with the game nearing the conclusion.
Edney penetrated and, well guarded, he curled a pass back to the top of the key which fell into the hands of Manolis Papamakarios. He threw up an attempt from the arc which only drew iron and Maccabi rebounded.
The Greeks had to foul and put Vujcic back at the charity stripe and he sank one to make it 77-73. Olympiacos still had nine seconds left and got the ball to Lewis but he missed with a three-pointer and time ran out on Kazlauskas & Co.
Solomon paced Maccabi with 18 points while Edney, who spent much of the fourth quarter on the bench with four fouls, finished with 14.
Maccabi, who beat Tau Ceramica in last year’s final, have joined the Spanish club in this year’s big event along with CSKA who also played in last year’s big event.
The loss completes a nightmare three nights for Greek basketball. Panathinaikos lost a close Game 3 decider to Tau on Wednesday evening while the day before, Aris Thessaloniki were beaten in the final of the ULEB Cup by Dynamo Moscow.
Basile lifts Barcelona
There was incredible drama in Barcelona where the Catalans and Real Madrid were playing each other for a fourth game in succession.
As fate would have it, they met in the league on Sunday, a game Madrid won.
Madrid levelled the quarter-final tie last week and then beat Barcelona at the weekend, but Dusko Ivanovic & Co remained confident.
That had every reason to be because on paper, Barcelona may have the best team in Europe after Ivanovic joined from Tau last summer, along with a host of veteran players like Greece captain Michail Kakiouzis, Italian stars Gianluca Basile and Denis Marconato and Americans Shammond Williams and Bootsy Thornton.
They already had Spain star Juan Carlos Navarro and defensive specialist Rodrigo De La Fuente.
The Catalans needed every bit of that star power on Thursday because they were unable to put Madrid away until the end.
Igor Rakocevic’s lay-up tied the contest for Madrid at 69-69 with just under two minutes remaining.
Basile, who led Climamio Bologna to the Lega A title last season, replied with a three-pointer and Barca stayed in front the rest of the way.
Madrid had their chances. Spanish international power forward Felipe Reyes tried to bull his way up for two points but missed and Kakiouzis got the rebound, only for Basile to miss at the other end from long range.
Louis Bullock then had two attempts to bring Madrid level but missed three-pointers. After Kakiouzis again rebounded for Barca, he fed Gregor Fucka and he made a lay-up for a five-point cushion.
Alex Scales added a free throw for Madrid while Kakiouzis made two from the stripe at the end for the final margin.
Kakiouzis is a big-game player, as he showed by helping Greece win the EuroBasket gold medal in Serbia & Montenegro last year and he will be pivotal for his country at the FIBA World Championship in Japan.
He finished with a game-high 19 points.
Basile has been with Italy's national side for nearly a decade but there is speculation that he may not travel to Japan with the Azzurri looking to freshen up their squad.
By PA Sport, Exclusively for FIBA
Maccabi return to the competition’s showpiece event for a third year running after surviving a titanic struggle with Olympiacos in Israel. The two-time defending champions were pushed to the limit by Jonas Kazlauskas’ men but eventually prevailed 77-73.
Their qualification means three teams from last season will be back in the Final Four with CSKA Moscow and Tau Ceramica having already booked their places.
Barcelona, the 2003 champions, claimed the last place on offer with a 76-70 triumph in the deciding Game 3 of their quarter-final series with Spanish rivals Real Madrid.
Maccabi edge Olympiacos
Maccabi Tel Aviv no longer have the talismanic figure of Sarunas Jasikevicius following the Lithuanian guard's move to the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and his absence has been telling at times this season.
Olympiacos, the 1997 FIBA EuroLeague champions, have been turned into a powerhouse in Greece once again by Lithuanian coach Jonas Kazlauskas and they gave Maccabi all they could handle.
Kazlauskas’ team levelled the quarter-final tie with victory in Greece last week and they were close to springing a major upset in Game 3. Christos Charisis buried a three-pointer with just under three minutes remaining to give the visitors a 71-69 lead and silence the crowd in Tel Aviv.
Croatian international Nikola Vujcic came to the fore for Maccabi, tying the contest with a pair of free throws and then splitting two from the line for a 72-71 advantage. After Quincy Lewis had his shot blocked by Will Solomon, Vujcic again went to the line and made two more for a 74-71 lead.
Olympiacos hurt themselves at the stripe. Both Tyus Edney and Sofoklis Schortsanitis were only able to make one of two on separate occasions as Olympiacos pulled to within one. They were rare misses as Kazlauskas’ team made 20 of 24 on the night while Maccabi struggled, making 20 of 33 (61%).
Maccabi made them when it counted, however. Olympiacos fouled Derrick Sharp and he was able to sink two from the stripe to move his team back in front at 76-73. The Greeks still had a chance with the game nearing the conclusion.
Edney penetrated and, well guarded, he curled a pass back to the top of the key which fell into the hands of Manolis Papamakarios. He threw up an attempt from the arc which only drew iron and Maccabi rebounded.
The Greeks had to foul and put Vujcic back at the charity stripe and he sank one to make it 77-73. Olympiacos still had nine seconds left and got the ball to Lewis but he missed with a three-pointer and time ran out on Kazlauskas & Co.
Solomon paced Maccabi with 18 points while Edney, who spent much of the fourth quarter on the bench with four fouls, finished with 14.
Maccabi, who beat Tau Ceramica in last year’s final, have joined the Spanish club in this year’s big event along with CSKA who also played in last year’s big event.
The loss completes a nightmare three nights for Greek basketball. Panathinaikos lost a close Game 3 decider to Tau on Wednesday evening while the day before, Aris Thessaloniki were beaten in the final of the ULEB Cup by Dynamo Moscow.
Basile lifts Barcelona
There was incredible drama in Barcelona where the Catalans and Real Madrid were playing each other for a fourth game in succession.
As fate would have it, they met in the league on Sunday, a game Madrid won.
Madrid levelled the quarter-final tie last week and then beat Barcelona at the weekend, but Dusko Ivanovic & Co remained confident.
That had every reason to be because on paper, Barcelona may have the best team in Europe after Ivanovic joined from Tau last summer, along with a host of veteran players like Greece captain Michail Kakiouzis, Italian stars Gianluca Basile and Denis Marconato and Americans Shammond Williams and Bootsy Thornton.
They already had Spain star Juan Carlos Navarro and defensive specialist Rodrigo De La Fuente.
The Catalans needed every bit of that star power on Thursday because they were unable to put Madrid away until the end.
Igor Rakocevic’s lay-up tied the contest for Madrid at 69-69 with just under two minutes remaining.
Basile, who led Climamio Bologna to the Lega A title last season, replied with a three-pointer and Barca stayed in front the rest of the way.
Madrid had their chances. Spanish international power forward Felipe Reyes tried to bull his way up for two points but missed and Kakiouzis got the rebound, only for Basile to miss at the other end from long range.
Louis Bullock then had two attempts to bring Madrid level but missed three-pointers. After Kakiouzis again rebounded for Barca, he fed Gregor Fucka and he made a lay-up for a five-point cushion.
Alex Scales added a free throw for Madrid while Kakiouzis made two from the stripe at the end for the final margin.
Kakiouzis is a big-game player, as he showed by helping Greece win the EuroBasket gold medal in Serbia & Montenegro last year and he will be pivotal for his country at the FIBA World Championship in Japan.
He finished with a game-high 19 points.
Basile has been with Italy's national side for nearly a decade but there is speculation that he may not travel to Japan with the Azzurri looking to freshen up their squad.
By PA Sport, Exclusively for FIBA