| Euroleague Final Four |
| Written by Josip Stjepanović |
| Friday, 15 January 2010 17:00 |
Euroleague Final FourNaturally 7, a one-of-a-kind band, will perform live during the 2009 Final Four for all the basketball fans in attendance at the magnificent o2 World in Berlin. Naturally 7 sings in a distinct a cappella style they call "vocal play" that has won the group devoted audiences in Europe and USA. Well, today is the day, and after a long season the best four European teams will face each other at Euroleage Final Four which takes place in Berlin this Friday and Sunday. It was a season without many surprises or upsets, and if you're trying to find one we could name Turkish powerhouse Efes Pilsen, which struggled in the group stage and Maccabi from Tel Aviv with one of the team's worst seasons, but which ended in the Top 16. Instead of writing an another preview here are just some random facts about the Final 4. If you're still looking for a team overview and a great coverage from Berlin, there are lot of sites like ballineurope.com or ESPN's True Hoop. And boy, I'm very surprised how the media attention on European basketball has grown, this tournament will set some new records for number of TV stations and reporters. The first semifinal will be a matchup between Barcelona and Moscow. CSKA Moscow has 22 wins in 22 games in the domestic league and it's their seventh Final Four in a row and Ettore Messina eighth Final Four as a head coach. Barcelona center David Andersen was part of CSKA squad who won the Euroleague title in 2006 and 2008. Ettore Messina won 4 Euroleague titles (including one with Kinder Bologna in 2001) and might become the first European head coach in the NBA. Rumor says that at least three NBA teams are interested. Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo plans to meet Messina during the European Final Four. Just remember some of the players on Raptors rooster, Parker, Calderon, Bargnani and only Croatian NBA player Roko Ukic, who all have play in Europe and Euroleague and could be looking forward to a coach like Messina. Barcelona vs CSKA will also be a rematch of a great game played in Prague three years ago. Both teams have some players left who participated in that game (Holden, Smodis and Langdon for CSKa and Navarro, Basile, Trias and Grimau for Barcelona). The game Panathinaikos vs. Olympiacos will be extremely attractive for everybody. It is not the first time they will play each other on Euroleague Final Four. In 1994 when Final Four took place in Tel Aviv and 1995 in Saragossa, Olympiacos was able to beat their biggest rival. It will be very interesting in terms of atmosphere, as two groups of Greek fans are expected to be extremely loud and violant. In Greece the finals of the volleyball championship were postponed after the supporter groups have fights during February. The 1st of may is a traditional weekend for riots in Berlin (called "revolutionary 1st May demonstration"). Demonstrators from the left wing from all over Europe come to Berlin and parts of the city are packed with cops, helicopters and stuff and over decades their has been violence between cops and demonstrators. This weekend might become a really heavy challenge for police if their is an another battle in town. Josip Stjepanović, CroHoops.com correspondent reporting from his hometown Berlin Previous articles by Josip Stjepanović: |