2014 Euroleague Final Four

2014 Euroleague Final Four

Official logo, published in February 2014.[1]
Tournament details
Host Milan, Italy
Arena Mediolanum Forum
Dates 16 May 2014 (2014-05-16) – 18 May 2014 (2014-05-18)
Final positions
Champions Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
Runners-up Spain Real Madrid
Third place Spain FC Barcelona
Fourth place Russia CSKA Moscow
Awards and statistics
MVP Montenegro Tyrese Rice
Top scorer(s) Spain Sergio Rodríguez, 42[2]

The 2014 Euroleague Final Four was the concluding Euroleague Final Four tournament of 2013–14 Euroleague basketball season. It was held from 16–18 May 2014. All of the games were played at the Mediolanum Forum, in Milan. Maccabi Tel Aviv upset CSKA Moscow 68–67 in the first semi-final, while Real Madrid dominated FC Barcelona 100–62 in the second semi-final. In the final, Maccabi upset highly favored Real 98–86, in the first overtime final since 1969. The win gave Maccabi their sixth Euroleague title.

The Mediolanum Forum set up for the Euroleague Final Four

Bracket

Semifinals
16 May		 Final
18 May
 Russia CSKA Moscow  67  
 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv  68  
 
     Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv   98
   Spain Real Madrid   86
Third place
 Spain FC Barcelona  62  Russia CSKA Moscow   78
 Spain Real Madrid  100    Spain FC Barcelona  93

Semifinals

All times are CEST (UTC+2).

CSKA Moscow vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv

CSKA Moscow entered their semi-final matchup against Maccabi Tel Aviv having won both regular season meetings. It looked like Moscow would make it 3–0 on the year when they took a 55–40 late in the third quarter. However, led by guard Tyrese Rice and a large majority of the fans in attendance, Maccabi launch a fourth quarter comeback. Rice's steal and layup with 5 seconds to play gave Maccabi a 68–67 lead, and Sonny Weems missed a contested three pointer at the buzzer. Maccabi's David Blu led all scorers with 15 points.[3]

16 May 2014
18:00
Russia CSKA Moscow 67–68 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
Scoring by quarter: 19–16, 19–14, 17–15, 12–23
Pts: Kaun 14
Rebs: Khryapa 10
Asts: Weems 6		 Pts: Blu 15
Rebs: Smith 9
Asts: Ohayon 4
Mediolanum Forum, Milan
Attendance: 11,843 (Tentative)
Referees: Sasa Pukl (SLO), Milivoje Jovčić (SRB), Borys Ryzhyk (UKR)

Barcelona vs. Real Madrid

Real Madrid entered the Final Four as the clear favorite, having recorded the highest point differential in both group (plus 237) and Final 16 play (plus 143). Between the two stage they held a 24–4 record.[3]

After FC Barcelona got off to a 12–4 start, the semi-final game was all Real Madrid. Real scored 14 3-pointers and a blistering pace to beat their Spanish rivals for the fifth time in six games on the year. Real's Sergio Rodríguez led all-scorers with 21 points, followed by teammate Nikola Mirotić who scored 19. Three other Real players scored more than 10 points.[3]

16 May 2014
21:00 CET
FC Barcelona Spain 62–100 Spain Real Madrid
Scoring by quarter: 20–20, 17–25, 11–28, 14–27
Pts: Tomić 16
Rebs: Tomić 8
Asts: Huertas 6		 Pts: Rodríguez 21
Rebs: Llull, Slaughter 5
Asts: Rodríguez 6
Mediolanum Forum, Milan
Attendance: 11,843 (Tentative)
Referees: Christos Christodoulou (GRE), Ilija Belošević (SRB), Robert Lottermoser (GER)

Third-place game

18 May 2014
17:00 (CET)
FC Barcelona Spain 93–78 Russia CSKA Moscow
Scoring by quarter: 21–24, 29–23, 19–17, 24–14
Pts: Juan Carlos Navarro 20
Rebs: Dorsey 12
Asts: Huertas 7		 Pts: Kaun 12
Rebs: Khryapa 4
Asts: Khryapa 7
Mediolanum Forum, Milan
Attendance: 11,843 (Tentative)
Referees: Robert Lottermoser (GER), Fernando Rocha (POR), Rüştü Nuran (TUR)

Final

Before the game, Real Madrid was heavily favored as they sought a league-record ninth title. Real got off to a good start, taking an 11-point lead in the first half behind a 19–2 run.[4] However, Maccabi Tel Aviv fought back with a series of fast breaks and trailed by just two points at half time.[4][5]

It looked as Maccabi would come out on top after a back-and-forth second half that gave them a four point lead with under a minute to play.[4] However, Real won four consecutive free throws from Sergio Rodríguez and Ioannis Bourousis to tie the game.[5] Tyrese Rice missed a three pointer at the buzzer that would have given Maccabi the win.[4] Instead the final went to overtime for the first time since 1969.[5] Rice dominated in overtime, scoring 14, as Maccabi pulled away for a 98–86 win.[4] In total, Rice scored 21 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter or overtime.[5] Rodriguez led Real with 21 points.[5]

The win gave Maccabi their sixth league title.[4] For Real Madrid, it was the second consecutive year in which they lost in final game.[5]

18 May 2014
20:00 (CET)
Real Madrid Spain 86–98 (OT) Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
Scoring by quarter: 16–15, 19–18, 20–20, 18–20, Overtime: 13–25
Pts: Rodríguez 21
Rebs: Bourousis 9
Asts: Llull 8		 Pts: Rice 26
Rebs: Tyus 11
Asts: Hickman 8
Mediolanum Forum, Milan
Attendance: 11,843
Referees: Christos Christodoulou, Sasa Pukl, Milivoje Jovčić
Real Madrid
Maccabi
Starters Pts Reb Ast
PG 23 Spain Sergio Llull 0 2 8
SG 5 Spain Rudy Fernández 15 8 4
SF 21 United States Tremmell Darden 7 7 0
PF 11 Spain Nikola Mirotić 12 7 1
C 30 Greece Ioannis Bourousis 12 9 0
Reserves:
F 9 Spain Felipe Reyes 12 6 0
F 11 Spain Dani Díez 0 0 0
G 13 Spain Sergio Rodríguez 21 2 2
G 20 United States Jaycee Carroll 5 1 0
F 44 United States Marcus Slaughter 2 0 0
C 50 Tunisia Salah Mejri 0 1 0
Head coach:
Spain Pablo Laso
Rules

The games was played under official FIBA rules.


Mediolanum Forum

2014 Euroleague Champions
Israel
Maccabi Tel Aviv
6th Title
Starters Pts Reb Ast
PG 12 Israel Yogev Ohayon 4 5 1
SG 7 United States Ricky Hickman 18 6 3
SF 6 United States Devin Smith 15 7 0
PF 10 Israel Guy Pnini 0 2 2
C 21 Greece Sofoklis Schortsanitis 9 3 1
Reserves:
G 4 Montenegro Tyrese Rice 26 4 2
G 8 Australia Joe Ingles 0 1 0
C 9 Israel Alex Tyus 12 11 0
F 13 Israel David Blu 14 4 1
C 14 Israel Ben Altit DNP
F 15 Israel Sylven Landesberg DNP
C 11 Croatia Andrija Žižić DNP
Head coach:
Israel David Blatt

Reaction

Maccabi's surprise win led to wild celebrations as fans filled Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. Israeli President Shimon Peres called to congratulate the team saying "I watched the whole game and nearly had a heart attack. You are heroes and have brought incredible pride to the state of Israel."[5] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also offered his personal congratulations.[5]

Spanish fans expressed their frustration on Twitter. An estimated 18,000 such tweets contained anti-Semitic language prompting a lawsuit by local Jewish communities and an official apology by the league.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ "Final Four logo, Fan Zone, EA7 Emporio Armani partnership revealed in Milan!". Euroleague.net. 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  2. ↑ Statistics Final Four 2013-14
  3. 1 2 3 "Real Madrid, Europe’s dominant force, soar into Euroleague final". The National. Reuters. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Maccabi stun Real to win fifth Euroleague title". EuroSport. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Maccabi beats Real Madrid 98-86 to win Euroleague". Washington Post. AP. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Maccabi Tel Aviv Euroleague win spurs Spanish anti-Semitic tweets". JNS. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Euroleague Basketball condemns racist, discriminatory comments". Euroleague. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.

External links

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