Panathinaikos won their second Men's Basketball Euroleague Final Four title, beating
Maccabi Tel Aviv 73-67 in Greek Thessaloniki.
It was a tale of two centres with Zeljko Rebraca driving the
Greek side to victory and Maccabi's Nate Huffman refusing to
give up.
Yugoslav Rebraca topscored for Panathinaikos with 20 points
but was outdone by a dazzling though ultimately doomed
performance from American Huffman who ended with 26.
The victory brought ecstasy for the 4,000 Panathinaikos fans
there to watch their heroes.
Dejan Bodiroga
with a trophy
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The scores were level 36-36 at half time but the Greek side
generally had the better of things in the second period,
building up an 11-point lead with 10 minutes to play.
The Greek crowd smelt victory but Huffman with two important
two pointers helped cut the deficit to four, only for
Panathinaikos to draw clear again.
Rebraca, a member of Yugoslavia's world championship winning
side of 1998, said: "It's a great success and we are very happy.
For me the next thing is the Olympic Games."
The result was a personal triumph for Panathinaikos coach
Zeljko Obradovic. With the triumph in Thessaloniki, he has become the first coach in the history of the Euroleague (former Champions' Cup) who won the title with four different clubs (Partizan Belgrade in 1992, Badalona in 1994, Real Madrid in 1995 and now Panathinaikos). He also coached Yugoslavia to their world title. He said: "I'm delighted for my players and for me of course. It's always a new feeling when you win it again even if it's with a different team."
Panathinaikos danger man Dejan Bodiroga, a national teammate of Rebraca, was expected to run Thursday's show but he had a quiet time, scoring just nine points.
Rebraca was voted the tournaments Most Valuable Player.
Maccabi centre Nate Huffman is the best scorer of the tournament with 50 points, and Efes Husein Besok grabbed most of the rebounds.
Won the title with
four different clubs:
Zeljko Obradovic
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Up to now, 13 Final Four tournaments of the Champions' Cup (later the Euroleague) have been played. As many as nine times the winners were the teams coached by the Yugoslavs. Zeljko Obradovic and Bozidar Maljkovic each won four titles, while Dusan Ivkovic won the title once.
European Men's Basketball Euroleague, Final-four, Thessaloniki, Greece, April 18-20 - Efficiency of the Yugoslav players
Semi-finals, April 18
PANATHINAIKOS (Greece) - EFES PILSEN (Turkey) 81-71 (41-33)
Dejan Bodiroga (Panathinaikos) - 22 points (5/6 2P FGs, 2/4 3P FGs, 6/7 FTs), five rebounds, three assists, in 33 minutes.
Zeljko Rebraca (Panathinaikos) - 15 points (5/10 2P FGs, 5/6 FTs), seven rebounds, in 27 minutes.
Predrag Drobnjak (Efes Pilsen) - 11 points (2/5 2P FGs, 1/1 3P FGs, 4/6 FTs), three rebounds, in 28 minutes.
BARCELONA (Spain) - MACCABI (Israel) 51-65 (22-38)
Milan Gurovic (Barcelona) - Five points (1/5 2P FGs, 1/4 3P FGs), four rebounds, in 28 minutes.
Third-place match, April 20
BARCELONA (Spain) - EFES PILSEN (Turkey) 69-75 (34-41)
Milan Gurovic (Barcelona) - 13 points (2/2 2P FGs, 3/6 3P FGs, 0/2 FTs), eight rebounds, in 27 minutes.
Predrag Drobnjak (Efes) - 16 points (5/9 2P FGs, 1/2 3P FGs, 3/4 FTs), five rebounds, in 40 minutes.
FINAL, April 20
PANATHINAIKOS (Greece) - MACCABI (Israel) 73-67 (36-36)
Dejan Bodiroga (Panathnaikos) - Nine points (2/8 2P FGs, 5/8 FTs), four rebounds, two assists, in 34 minutes.
Zeljko Rebraca (Panathinaikos) - 20 points (5/6 2P FGs, 10/14 FTs), eight rebounds, in 29 minutes.
