Olympiacos Crowned as 2013 Euroleague Champions!

Olympiacos was just recently crowned as the winner of the Euroleague 2013 Finals and has brought home the crown for its second consecutive year! The Reds competed against the Real Madrid of Spain at The O2 in London during their Finals match last Sunday, May 12, 2013. However, Vanilis Spanoulis and the Reds emerged as winners via a 100-88 game, to close out this season of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. 

The Reds came back from being down 17 during the first quarter of the Finals game. Vassilis Spanoulis, later named Final Four MVP, had tremendous contributions for his team and raked in points during the third quarter to help push his team past their opponent, wherein he eventually scored 21 points overall (which he scored in the second half!). The Reds dominated the final 10 minutes of the game as their fans cheered from the bleachers in a sea of red. On Real Madrid's side, Rudy Fernandez top scored for his team with 21 as Sergio Rodriguez added 17 points and Sergio Llull had 14 points.
Before reaching the finals game in the Final Four weekend of the 2013 Euroleague season, Olympiacos beat CSKA Moscow during the semifinals match. Meanwhile, Real Madrid defeated arch rival Regal FC Barcelona in their own matchup. 

To watch highlights of the Finals game between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, check out the video below: 



Meanwhile, you can watch this interview of Final Four MVP Vassilis Spanoulis of the Olympiacos Piraeus after the game:


Who were you rooting for in the 2013 Euroaleague Final Four?


Disclaimer: All photos and videos credit to www.euroleague.net

Euroleague Regular Season Week 2 MVP: CSKA’s Sonny Weems

Image: Euroleague.net

The second week of action in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague 2012-2013 Regular Season has wrapped up. And in the first overtime game of the season, CSKA prevailed over its competition as forward Sonny Weems showcased the best performance out of any player in the league this past week.

Thus, Weems ends up with the MVP honors, thanks to his career-best performance and fifth overall for any player that had suited up for CSKA Moscow throughout the team’s stint in the Euroleague. Weems’ performance came at the heel of a nailbiter road win for CSKA wherein the game closed out at 76-71. He put in 8 points during the final three minutes of play along with 6 crucial free throws that helped to secure the win for his team.

At the end of the game, Sonny Weems had registered a total of 30 points with only 4 misses on the field. In addition, to his 30-point performance, he also grabbed 3 rebounds, had 6 steals, and drew 6 fouls from the opposing team. This helped to bring in a total of 38 points for his performance index ranking on week 2 of Euroleague regular season.

Other contenders for the Euroleague Regular Season Week 2 MVP award were Anadolu Efes Istanbul’s Jordan Farmer (performance index rating of 36) and Asseco Prokom Gdynia’s Lukasz Koszarek (performance index rating of 26).

Meanwhile, Jordan Farmar also led the league in assists during the course of the Thursday and Friday games in the Euroleague. Farmar had 9 assists during their win against defending Euroleague champs, Olympiacos Piraeus. When it comes to rebounds, Elan Chalon’s Shelden Williams was the champ this week. He grabbed 13 rebounds, the highest this week, despite their loss to Alba Berlin.

Check out this blog for more updates on Euroleague games as the regular season continues to progress.

Euroleague 2012-2013 Regular Season Week 1 Results

The new season of Euroleague has officially kicked off last October 11, 2012. Hence, the wait is over for Euroleague fans who are excited to see which teams will make it to the Euroleague Final Four and be crowned as champs!

Euroleague Week 1 Thursday Recap

Starting off in Group A, BC Khimki Moscow suffered its first defeat of the season at the hands on Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul via a 92-80 rout last October 11. Emir Preldzic, the MVP for week 1 of the 2012-2013 Euroleague Regular Season, raked in 20 points to help out his team's cause. But the team also got a fair amount of support across its players like Bo McCalebb, Omer Onan, and Oguz Savas. As for BC Khimki, Zoran Planinic led them in the offensive department with 17 points. The poor 25 percent shooting of the team did not help their cause to kick off the season in a winning note.

In another Group A match on Thursday, Mapooro Cantu suffered a 13-point loss to Union Olimpija in an 84-71 game. The win from Union Olimpijia was made possible thanks to the efforts from Dylan Page and with three other teammates scoring in double digits (namely Jaka Blazic, Aron Baynes, and Sasu Salin).  

The first game of the season was kicked off by a Group D match between CSKA Moscow (last year's runner up) versus Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius. Head coach Ettore Messina's CSKA squad ends up with the win in a close game with a 75-73 finish. Sonny Weems was the highest scorer for the Russian squad after raking in 14 points in nearly 27 minutes of play within a 5/8 field goal shooting percentage. Helping him out in the scoring duties were Nenad Krstic and Viktor Khryapa, who each scored 12 apiece for their team. Meanwhile, Renaldas Seibutis carried Rytas' on his back with 19 points in 32 minutes that he played on the court. But the Russian powerhouse seemed to be too much for the Lithuanians to hold off.

Other game results on Thursday are as follows: 

Elan Chalon-Sur-Saone beats Asseco Prokom via an 81-74 game, making their Euroleague debut memorable. Meanwhile, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv inks their first win of the season after beating Unicaja Malaga, 85-80. In Group C, Zalgiris Kaunas and defending champs Olympiacos Piraeus each earn their respective wins over Cedevita Zagreb and Caja Laboral Vitoria, respectively, during Thursday's schedule of games.

In Group D, Spanish champs Regal FC Barcelona took an easy win in front of their home crowd at Palau Blagrana as they went up against Brose Baskets Bamberg, winning 72-60.  

To get more highlights from the Thursday basketball action at Euroleague Regular Season Week 1, view this:

 

Euroleague Week 1 Friday Recap

Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid went up with the Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos Athens in their respective debuts this season, but it was the Spanish team that came out victorious in this matchup in Group A. Rudy Fernandez was all fired up with 23 points in this game and 2-time Euroleague Rising Star awardee Nikola Mirotic chipped in 18 points to help out his team's cause despite an equally strong debut for Big Sofo with 23 points.

Here is a breakdown of the Euroleague Week 1 results for Friday's games per group:

Group B:

Alba Berlin outdid Montepaschi Siena in their first meeting last Friday as they went away with a 92-82 victory. David Moss helped power his team to victory with Kristjan Kangur sharing 13 points. They successfully defended their first win against a rallying Alba Berlin team, which had six players scoring in double figures.

Group C:

Emporio Armari Milano beat Andalou Efes Istanbul by 5 points (winning 80-75) last Friday as the two teams completed the remaining game for Group C on Friday. Ioannis Bourousis was the leading scorer for both teams with 23 points in 26 minutes on the floor.

Group D:

Besiktas JK Istanbul defeated Partizan Belgrade in an 81-65 match, led by the 25-point scoring from Patrick Christopher. On the other hand, Vladimir Lucic is the best scorer for Partizan at 18 points.

To check out the highlights of the games on Friday, check out the video below:

Be sure to check us again for more updates and news on the ongoing Turkish Airlines Euroleague 2012-2013 season.  

News Roundup for Turkish Airlines Euroleague 2012-2013 Season

The kick off for Turkish Airlines Euroleague 2012-2013 season is just around the corner. To be exact, it is just around a week from now (October 11, 2012) and so fans are excited to know what’s the latest with their favorite teams heading into this brand new season. Here is a quick roundup of the latest news from in and around the league.

Regal FC Barcelona Extends Xavi Pascual Contract

Barca fans, listen up! Your beloved head coach, Xavi Pascual, will be commanding the sidelines for Regal FC Barcelona for the next 3 seasons, which means that he will not only be returning as head coach for the 2012-2013 season of Euroleague, but will be keeping his post until the 2014-2015 season.

This news was confirmed by reps from Regal FC Barcelona last Thursday. If you can remember, he is the only Spanish head coach to have won a title in the Euroleague for 30 years now and he also helped Barca win the Euroleague trophy in 2010 during the Final Four competition in Paris.

Panathanaikos Acquire a New Defensive Specialist

Randal Falker

As if Panathinaikos Athens isn’t already a formidable competition in the Euroleague, they had beefed up their lineup yet again with their latest acquisition – defensive ace Stephan Lasme. For the past two years, Lasme had been absent from the Euroleague but he is back to join one of the favorites coming into this new season. In the 2009-2010 Euroleague Season, Lasme was recognized among the Best Defender Award while suiting up for Maccabi Electra.

Besiktas Istanbul Boosts Frontline with Falker

Another team that has given its lineup a major boost coming into the Turkish Airlines Euroleague 2012-2013 season is Besiktas JK Istanbul. The 27-year-old Randal Falker will reunite with his former coach with whom he played with at Cholet Basket. A couple of seasons ago, Falker debuted in the Euroleague playing for Cholet after he helped the team win the French League crown.

Be sure to check back for more updates on the Euroleague. 

Draw Results for 2012-2013 Turkish Airlines Euroleague

The 2012-2013 Euroleague season has officially kicked off! The commencement of the much anticipated new season in the most prestigious basketball competition in Europe, the Euroleague, was signaled by the recent draw that was held in Barcelona, Spain. There are lots of exciting new things for the league, which will be something that fans should await for. One of the biggest changes this season is the fact that this will mark the only draw that is going to be held this season.

The 2013 Euroleague Final Four has been set to take place in London, wherein the recent Olympic Games was held as well. One other exciting change this season is the game schedule. Instead of the usual Wednesday and Thursday game schedule, this season it has been moved to Thursdays and Fridays.

To view the group classifications and see which group your favorite team belongs in to start off the regular season, view the image below:

image courtesy of http://euroleague.net

If you're a Euroleague fan, these new changes is no doubt exciting as it will also change the face of the games in the upcoming 2012-2013 Euroleague season. Keep it here for more updates and analysis on these groupings soon!

Which is your favorite team? How do you think they'd do with their group? Discuss more below.

Euroleague Post-Season Awardees

The Euroleague Final Four tipoff will happen in 15 days and it also means that another intense and exciting season of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague has wrapped up. Before all you die-hard Euroleague fans sulk in your seats because it will mean you will be missing the action at the Euroleague hard court for a few months until another season opens, this is also the time to look back on the individual players who shone above the rest despite tough competition in the league to showcase their individual skills and talents at the hard court.

There are a few post-season awards to give away and this post will highlight only some of the most recognizable awards given by the Euroleague Basketball. Let us kick off with one award that is based purely on statistics, the Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy, which is awarded to the player with the most impressive scoring performance for this current Euroleague season. And this year's winner is Igor Rakocevic of Efes Pilsen Istanbul. Although his team failed to qualify to the Playoffs and Euroleague Final Four 2011 after they were eliminated in the Top 16 round, Igor Rakocevic' outstanding performance cannot be denied. This trophy is given to players with the most number of points in minimum amount of games, which showcases their efficiency on the court. By the end of the regular season, Rakocevic has outdone Mirza Teletovic of Caja Laboral, Joel Freeland of Unicaja, Juan Carlos Navarro of Regal FC Barcelona, and Kenny Gregory of Union Olimpijia for this award. Also, Rakocevic earned the distinction of the only player to win this award more than once; in fact, this is his third time to win the trophy after he won it twice while still playing for Tau Ceramica.

Another notable post-season award is that of the Best Defender. For the sixth time, Dimitris Diamantidis owns the award, which is determined through votes given by head coaches in the Euroleague. It is an impressive feat for Diamantidis because in 7 seasons in the Euroleague, he has won the award 6 times, including his rookie year! That only goes to show his quality as a defensive player despite being quite an offensive powerhouse himself, thus making him a valuable player for his team! In doing so, he has assured his status as one of Euroleague's best defensive figures of all time, if not THE best!

Finally, Nikola Mirotic of Real Madrid earns the nod for this year's Rising Star award. Last year, it was won by Regal FC Barcelona's Ricky Rubio and this year, Mirotic has won it after making a huge transition from being a teenage reserve to becoming a decisive force that helped lift his team, the Whites, into the Euroleague Final Four 2011. It is also a historic moment for the club as they have broken a 15-year drought since it last reached the Euroleague Final Four. This award is given to any player in the Euroleague below the age of 22 that has shown massive leadership, excellent individual play, and a great overall performance to lift their team's performance. And for these reasons, Nikola Mirotic is deserving for the Rising Star award given to him by the Euroleague officials.

Euroleague Final Four Predictions

With less than a month from today, the Euroleague Final Four will tip off in Barcelona, Spain wherein it will feature the following semi finals matchup: Panathinaikos vs Montepaschi Siena and Maccabi Electra vs Real Madrid. Three of these final four teams did not have home court advantage during the Playoffs round, except for Real Madrid who had to battle with Power Electronics Valencia until Game 5 to earn the distinction of becoming one of the Final Four 2011 qualifiers.

There are a lot of fans saying in blogs, forums, and social networking sites that a Maccabi-Panathinaikos finals is going to happen in Barcelona on May 8th. However, Montepaschi Siena has shown in the Playoffs round that this team is not a mere pushover, especially with the championship title in the line. They defeated 3-1 in a 5-game series Olympiacos Piraeus, which many basketball critics predicted to dominate this series - after all, Olympiacos battled Regal FC Barcelona in the finals last year in Paris. Sadly, Milos Teodosic and the rest of the Reds could not overcome the charge that Siena posed on them despite the fact that the Italians suffered from a rather forgetful Game 1 performance in the Playoffs round in Piraeus. It only shows you that Siena has an impressive character that goes beyond basketball skills and talent. Plus, the return of Bo McCalebb is still widely awaited by fans and the Euroleague Final Four 2011 could be the best avenue for that.

Real Madrid is also in a strange position entering the Euroleague Final Four 2011 because they are playing in Barcelona, the home of their eternal rivals, Regal FC Barcelona. Sadly, the defending champs were dethroned by Panathinaikos Athens in Game 4 of their series. Hence, Real Madrid (a team that is not new to being in the finals with its rich championship tradition) will become the sole Spanish representative in the Final Four. Although Maccabi is deemed as the popular favorite in this matchup, the size and depth of the roster of the Whites will be something that they can use to their advantage, especially without Doron Perkins in the side of Maccabi. Coach Emanuele Molin will have a task tough at hand going head-to-head with Coach David Blatt on the Israeli side, and this one is worth watching itself!

This is going to be an exciting Euroleague Final Four. What about you? Any predictions on the outcomes during the games on the weekend of May 6 & 8? Make sure to share them on the comments section below.