Can the Eurochallenge champions add a TBL title?

Things are progressing meanwhile in Europe’s larger leagues including Spain, Greece, France, Italy, Croatia, Serbia and Germany, and entries for these countries have been updated as well. Plus, new highlight clips and links have been peppered into the list as well; scroll down for BiE’s honorary roll call of European basketball champions.

Euroleague: The top level in all of Europe provided one of the Continent’s top-level upsets when Olympiacos topped the highly-favored CSKA Moscow on Georgios Printezis’ runner which exploded the internet with less than two ticks remaining on the game clock. Olympiacos created an instant classic this year, nipping the Red Army, 63-61, after lagging behind for nearly the entire game – utterly subjectively speaking, the marvelous comeback kinda recalled two NBA playoff matches from way-back-when, a.k.a. 2002: this and this.

Again, congratulations to Olympiacos and thanks for the most memorable Euroleague championship title in years…

ULEB Eurocup: In mid-April, BC Khimki Moscow Region became the first unlicensed team to officially join the 2012-13 Euroleague ranks – grabbing its first-ever Eurocup title in the process – with its 77-68 championship game victory over ACB side Valencia Basket. Better yet, the Russian team capped its 14-2 Eurocup run by re-signing head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis.

FIBA Eurochallenge: After a 2011-12 campaign which saw Deron Williams, Adam Morrison, Semih Erden, Carlos Arroyo and Pops Mensah-Bonsu suit up for the club for all or part of the season, Beşiktaş Milangaz earned entry into the 2012-13 Eurocup league by topping Elan Chalon in a 91-86 shootout in the Eurochallenge championship. Now can they avoid the Eurochallenge Championship Curse?

Adriatic League: It was all Maccabi Tel Aviv in this year’s Liga ABA: David Blatt’s side finished its 26-2 run with an 87-77 victory over Cedevita Zagreb in the finals. Final Four tournament MVP was Keith Langford, “who joined Maccabi at the begining of the season from Khimki[. Langford] was the team’s second-best scorer in the semifinal, when he made 17 points, while in the final he was unstoppable with 21 points and a perfect score from free throws and three-pointers.”

Balkan League: Hapoel Gilboa Galil outlasted BC Levski in overtime, 89-84, for its first-ever European title. Unfortunately, the small-market club won’t be getting any “money prizes” for the effort, as these will be awarded to Balkan League clubs beginning in 2012-13.

Baltic League: In the all-Lithuanian final, Žalgiris Kaunas completed a BBL threepeat in beating longtime rival Lietuvos Rytas, 74-70. (This after immolating Siauliai, the third Lithuanian team in the semifinals, 117-64.)

VTB United League: CSKA Moscow won its first title of 2011-12 in the VTB United League just eight days before the Euroleague Final Four began. Fellow PBL side Unics Kazan fell to the Red Army in the championship game, 74-62. Named this tournament’s MVP was – you guessed it – Andrei Kirilenko.

Albania: SK Tirana finished what must is nearly Europe’s shortest season (take a look at Malta’s, for comparison’s sake) with a perfect 19-0 record; the three-game sweep of Basket Kamza in the finals ended with a 73-62 score line in favor of the repeat champions.

Austria: Thursday night saw Xion Dukes Klosterneurberg claim the Admiral Austrian Basketball League title in its return bid to the country’s championship final after a 22-year drought. In the season-sending game four, Curtis Bobb turned in a nice performance of 23 points and six rebounds.

Belarus: BC Minsk-2006 once again destroyed the domestic competition, closing out 2011-12 with a 97-74 championship game victory over Grodno-93. Perhaps it was something of revenge for Minsk as well: Carrying a 46-0 run into the season from the last, the team extended it to 56 consecutive wins in Belarus before losing to Grodno in January. Minsk had to settle for a 33-2 mark this season (and 5-19 cumulative in Eurochallenge and VTB United play).

Belgium: The Ligue Ethias championship will be contested between Eurocup team Telenet BC Oostende and Euroleague qualifying round side/fourpeat defending champions Belgacom Spirou Basket after both swept best-of-three series in the semifinals. The winner-take-all match goes down tomorrow night.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 2010-11 runners-up BC Igokea came back to win game four against Siroki Wwin. Game five tips off tonight.

Bulgaria: In seeking its 11th consecutive Bulgarian championship, Lukoil Academik has a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five championship series against BC Levski Sofia. Lukoil has now gone 67-3 overall in the past two seasons, including a 4-0 mark against Levski this season.

Croatia: Something like redemption may be rewarded the recently financially-trouble Cibona Zagreb. Having already taken out defending champions KK Zagreb in the semifinals, The longtime local powerhouse took a 1-0 lead over Cedevita Zagreb with an 84-77 win on Saturday.

Cyprus: Once again, InterCollege Etha Engomis managed upsets in the tournament bracket to defend its Cypriot national championship. After coming from the no. 4 spot in last year’s eight-team tournament, Etha ranked third after a 12-4 regular season (plus 3-5 in Eurocup qualifiers/Eurochallenge play) but upended top dogs Keravnos in the finals. Sharp-eyed observers/NBA addicts may have caught well-traveled Etha leader Darryl Finesse Hawkins – he’s played in Lebanon and China in addition to Cyprus and small towns in the ‘States – getting in a few games with the New Orleans Hornets at the tail end of the season.

Czech Republic: Eurocup/VTB United League team CEZ Nymburk swept back-to-back runners-up BK Prostejov, four games to zero, for its ninth consecutive Czech title.

Denmark: The Bakken Bears defended their Ligaen title, again defeating the Svendborg Rabbits in the final series, 4-2. Bakken’s Joshua Alexander, formerly of Stephen F. Austin, was named tournament MVP and regular-season MVP.

Estonia: VTB United/Baltic League team Kalev/Cramo made it back-to-back national titles, again sweeping Tartu University/Rock in the best-of-seven championship series.

Finland: A new champion was named in Finland, as the Nilan Bisons (or LoKoKo) won the Koriisliga title over Joensuun Kataja with a solid 83-66 victory in the final game. The Bisons were buoyed by Martin Zeno’s all-around line of 22 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. Kataja was also the Finnish runner-up in 2011-12.

France: Orléans and Elan Chalon/Saône have advanced to the semi-final round in LNB play. The other side of the bracket has the Gravelines-Dunkerque vs. Cholet Basket and Le Mans vs. SLUC Nancy series knotted up at 1-1 with the decisive game threes scheduled for Tuesday.

Germany: Top seeds Brose Baskets Bamberg and Ratiopharm Ulm enjoy 2-0 leads over Artland Dragons and s.Oliver Baskets, respectively, in the Bundesliga semifinal round; games three are tonight.

Greece: The traditional Panathinaikos-Olympiacos clash in the Greek League championship finals has been as tight as expected. Olympiacos defended home court in game one, taking an 84-78 win fueled by Kostas Papanikolaou’s 16 points and eight rebounds from off the bench; Panathinaikos returned the favor in its place with an 81-79 behind Dimitris Diamantidis’ 23 points. Game three is tonight.

Holland: Eiffel Towers Den Bosch took the title from 2010-11 champs ZZ Lieden, three games to one.

Hungary: Szolnoki Olajbanyasz, fourth-place finishers in 2011-12 Eurochallenge play, now have a 2-1 lead over Falco-Szova Szombathely; game four, set for tomorrow night, will be played in Szolnok.

Iceland: In what must be Europe’s smallest league, Grindavik are the kings, taking the Icelandic title three games to one over Thor Thorl. Former Cleveland State University Viking (and former New York Jets signee!) J’Nathan Bullock contributed a massive 36-point, eight-rebound performance in the 78-72 game four victory.

Ireland: After stumbling through an 11-10 regular season, the UL Eagles took the Irish championship with a 70-56 victory over Dublin’s DCU Saints.

Israel: Perhaps the least suspenseful domestic basketball tournament in Europe ended in predictable fashion on Thursday, with superpower Maccabi Tel Aviv defeating Maccabi Ashdod by 20 points in the final tournament.

Italy: After a couple of insane buzzer-beaters got Banco di Sardegna Sassari past Virtus Bologna, this season’s Serie A surprise now finds itself drawing fourpeat defending champions Montepaschi Siena in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, it’s a Euroleague matchup between Emporio Armani Milano and Bennet Cantù. This round begins tomorrow night.

Latvia: VEF Riga repeated as champions in Latvia, once again taking out Eurochallenge team Ventspils with a convincing 100-70 win in game five of the league’s final series.

Lithuania: Perhaps Lietuvos Rytas never psychologically recovered after the close shave with Siauliai in the semifinal round. In the one-and-one format, L.Rytas actually managed to drop the first leg at home by nine points. While the Eurocuppers managed to survive game two, they were ultimately swept by rivals Žalgiris Kaunas in the finals, three games to none.

Luxembourg: This is Sparta! Led by 36-year-old former Larrie Smith’s 31 points and 16 rebounds in game two, Sparta got past former champions T71 Dudelange in overtime, 93-85.

Malta: After 16 games total, Athleta bagged its ninth Maltese title in its back-to-back championship campaign.

Norway: Froya Basket, the youngest BLNO entry having gotten promotion to the top division for 2009-10, won over the excellently-named Asker Aliens, 80-78, in the one-game championship there. Speaking of great monikers, Froya’s Miilah Kombat took the Final Four MVP award.

Poland: Asseco Prokom looks to make it eight straight PLK titles on Tuesday, as they’re currently holding a 2-0 advantage over Trefl Sopot in the best-of-five series there.

Portugal: Benfica got past Porto Ferpinta, winning the decisive game five in a bit of a brickfest. The 56-53 win in the final match saw Benfica shoot 30.9% overall, while Porto managed a slightly “better” 34.7%. Ah well, a title’s a title…

Romania: Ploiesti needed overtime to take game four and sweep the series over Timisoara. Ploiesti returns to top-dog status in Romania after its recent run of six Romanian titles was broken in 2011 by Cluj-Napoca.

Russia: CSKA Moscow rallied from its Euroleague disappointment to do what the club does best, i.e. take the PBL title – 2011-12 marks the 10th straight season as top dogs for the Red Army.
Reported the English-language Russia Times: “The Army Men beat Khimki 90-75 to wrap up their best-of-five series, 3-0.

“As happened twice before in the series, CSKA were always in control of the game and were 14 points up in the first. That was cut by Khimki to five in the closing quarter, but CSKA put on another surge in the final minutes to run out winners.

“With their iconic front-man Andrey Kirilenko sidelined with an injury, there was a whole bunch of other stars in the Army Men’s squad to make sure his absence would not cost dearly. The likes of Aleksey Shved, Viktor Khryapa, Nenad Krstic, Milos Teodosic and Jamon Gordon finished the game with double digits on their account.

“The pains of Vitaly Fridzon (20 points) and Kresimir Loncar (17) were far not enough for the reigning Eurocup holders to bite into the series.

“So CSKA claimed an incredible 19th title in 21 seasons and sugared the end of a season in which, Kirilenko believes, the team had its strongest squad in the recent years.

“’This year the squad was exceptional. There were at least three players in each position who could become leaders in every Russian team,’ he noted after the final game.”

“Asked about his future plans AK-47 said there are two options for him – staying in the Russian team or to moving back to the NBA, with each of the possibilities regarded as 50-50.”

Serbia: The Serbian Super League is down to its final four contenders; Radnicki KK gets Crvena Zvezda while aspiring Vojvodina will meet Euroleague side Partizan Belgrade.

Slovakia: Prievidza took its first national title in 17 years in Slovakia, winning over Komarno>; both teams had gone 22-10 and were tied atop the regular-season standings.

Slovenia: KK Krka took its third straight Slovenian league title, beating Union Olimpija three games to one in the final set; this begs the question of why Krka has yet to ascend to Euroleague play, doesn’t it?

Spain: Spain is down to its final four teams in 2011-12 and things are starting to get seriously interesting. Real Madrid managed to fight back from a game one loss against Caja Laboral Baskonia yesterday with a 73-64 win to even the series; Valencia BC meanwhile shocked FC Barcelona today in the Palau, 81-76, behind Rafa Martínez’ 18 points and four assists plus Nando de Colo’s 16 points and five assists.

Sweden: The top two teams played for the Basketligan crown in April, with Norrkoping Dolphins taking out Sodertalje Kings, four games to two.

Switzerland: And another threepeat! Lugano Tigers again won the LNA championship with a 92-81 victory over the Geneve Lions in the decisive game five of the title series there.

Turkey: The Beşiktaş Eagles’ bizarre, land-on-their-feet season that began with the signing of Deron Williams and the team’s bouncing from Eurocup qualifiers continues with their defeat of Galatasaray in the Turkish League’s semifinal playoff round. With the Eurochallenge trophy already theirs, the Eagles will now face off against the Euroleague’s Anadolu Efes, who’re looking to regain the TBL title they last lofted in 2009.

Ukraine: The Ukrainian championship was taken by Budivelnik, who beat Ferro in the final match of the year, 82-70. Leading them was Suad Sehovic with 23 points and seven rebounds.

United Kingdom: Finally, BallinEurope sends (belated) congratulations out to the Newcastle Eagles. The Eagles bested Leicester Riders in the final match, 71-62, to complete the clean sweep of BBL titles and buoy hopes that perhaps Newcastle will be joining a pan-European competition in 2012-13.

Tweet of the day? That’s an easy one. Wrote Twitterer Keaton Eberly, “Dang, he blocks everything.”

Who’s “he”? Team Spain/Oklahoma City Thunder force in the middle Serge Ibaka, of course. I mean, look at what the Iblaka did to the image Eberly posted with Instagram – and this after amassing 20 in five games against the Los Angeles Lakers…

On Monday, European basketball great Ramunas Šiškauskas announced his retirement from the game: A story that was noteworthy enough for even North Korean sports fans to be notified. In his official statement, Šiškauskas said that he’d “made my choice in the middle of the season. It was not connected with anything specific – I just feel I should stop. I can only be excited about my career” and that “I am glad I was able to quit as a significant player, playing for such a great team and organization as CSKA Moscow.”

At 33 years of age, Šiškauskas put together a 16-season career with BC Sakalai Vilnius, Lietuvos Rytas, Benetton Treviso, Panathinaikos and CSKA Moscow plus seven years with Team Lithuania in FIBA and Olympic play – good for a gold and two bronzes.

And in that decade and a half, Šiškauskas amassed just under 1,500 points in seven Euroleague seasons on 49.8% shooting including 42.3% on threes. His back-to-back EL titles earned in 2007 and ’08 are among his many individual-career and team highlights … aw, hell. Let’s dispense with further formalities and get to the Ramunas Šiškauskas career tribute in traditional BallinEurope fashion, i.e. with lots of YouTube clips! We’ll miss ya, Ramunas…

Relatively little English-language information and essentially no video appear to be freely available online from Šiškauskas’ premier seasons with Sakalai in 1996-97 and 1997-98, but check out this reportage from the University of Arizona in 1998. One wonders why more interest wasn’t shown in the man by NBA clubs after these scrimmages…

Šiškauskas, who noted in his statement of retirement that he’d “started playing basketball late” without “any basketball school behind my back,” demonstrated an insane learning curve, enough to put him on Team Lithuania in time for the 2000 Olympics – no mean feat that, considering that year’s Lithuania side included names like Sarunas Jasikevicius and Saulius Štombergas.

The Lithuanians fell to the Team USA of Garnett, Kidd and Carter in the semifinals, after taking the eventual champions to the wire in an 85-83 contest. Nevertheless, Lithuania did reach the podium to earn its third consecutive Olympic bronze medal.

In club play, Šiškauskas climbed the career ladder to sign with Lietuvos Rytas for 1998-99, ultimately playing six seasons with the club, helping them to two LKL championships plus one trophy and two second-place finishes in Sarunas Marciulionis’ Baltic League precursor, the North European Basketball League.

Of numerical note from Šiškauskas’ days with L. Rytas was his 2002-03 season in Lithuania, statistically his peak at 16.4 ppg with ridiculous 68% success rate to go with 3.4 rpg.

This must have been the time when the call “When Will I Be Famous” first went out…

Incidentally, between seasons with the Lithuanian powerhouse, Šiškauskas was helping the national team to achieve its greatest modern-era finish alongside all-tournament teamers Jasikevicius and Štombergas for the gold-winning Eurobasket 2003 campaign. Šiškauskas hardily played shabbily as a “mere” third option, however, running up 14.8 points and 4.7 boards per in six games.

In fact, after taking the Continental prize, Team Lithuania missed the podium for the next three years. Lietuva again drew their old adversaries twice that year, beating them in group play, 94-90, before losing to the memorably bounced Team USA in the third-place game in a 104-96 shootout. Lithuania’s losses in the final two games sadly capped a prior six-game winning streak in the tournament.

Meanwhile, back in the pro ranks, Šiškauskas left the homeland to sign with Benetton Treviso for 2004-05; in his two seasons with the club, the team took a league title and an Italian Cup. And it’s here where Šiškauskas first encountered European coaching mastermind/current Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Ettore Messina, who would dub the Lithuanian “the best wing player in Europe right now” the following season.

In fact, let’s get those glory days in Greece … with career still ascending, Šiškauskas got with Panathinaikos for a year. His production for PAO was immediate, and the 2006-07 season earned the Greens a triple crown of Euroleague, Greek League and Greek Cups.

Later in the year, Šiškauskas and Team Lithuania reemerged to take the bronze medal at Eurobasket 2007 in topping Greece, 78-69. Ramunas led his team in scoring at 13.8 ppg in the tournament; this effort combined with the PAO triple crown was enough to have him named Lithuania’s “Sportsman of the Year” for ’07.

And Šiškauskas would further etch his name in the Euroleague record books by making it back-to-back EL titles with different teams after joining CSKA Moscow for 2007-08. Named MVP for the season, it would be his second of four consecutive all-Euroleague team bids.

Even in the imaginary sphere, Siskauskas was exemplary in 2008 in winning BallinEurope’s own 1-on-1 Euroleague tournament. His reward? Immortalization in the BiE logo — and the T-shirt with which he so graciously posed.

His chance for an ultra-rare personal threepeat was stymied in 2009, though, when the Panathinaikos of Jasikivicius and Dimitris Diamantidis nipped the Red Army in the Euroleague championship game, 73-71. Šiškauskas experienced an extreme high and deep low in clutch time of this match, first sinking a three to make it 70-69 to PAO with under 30 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, his missed top-of-the-key three was the last play of the match and CSKA had to settle for second place.

This season was also of note for Šiškauskas, as he put in his career high single-game effort in CSKA’s Final Four match with FC Barcelona.

Such a run of success in the big league naturally gained Šiškauskas entry onto the 2001-10 All-Decade Euroleague Team.

Šiškauskas of course stayed with CSKA until retiring, with the team winning the Russian league three more times, the VTB United League title thrice and the Russian Cup once. Having been armed with a superstar free-agent lineup, the 2011-12 edition of the Red Army saw the Lithuanian earning just 23 minutes of playing time per game.

Despite taking another VTB United and PBL titles, the season must be considered a slight disappointment against already high expectations. Poor Ramunas missed two FTs in that memorable upset final with 10 seconds on the clock after an otherwise solid game of 4-of-6 overall shooting, three rebounds and a steal.

Šiškauskas and CSKA was still offered one final opportunity to go out on a high note, however, and did so in sweeping BC Khimki Moscow region in the PBL championship series. The record will show that Šiškauskas’ contributions in the final game totaled five points and four rebounds.

And so the all-time great may be gone but hardly forgotten for some time to come … “Šiškauskas 4 Ever,” indeed.

As reported on BallinEurope earlier today, prospective Oklahoma City Thunderer/current Brose Baskets Bamberg big man Tibor Pleiss was knocked out of Sunday’s Bundesliga playoff game with Artland Dragons with a knee injury. Heinnews has just reported, however, that, according to team GM Wolfgang Heyder, an MRI examination showed that “Fortunately there was nothing torn and the knee capsule was only overstretched.”

(Yeah, like Oklahoma City needs more good news right now.)

Pleiss will be a game-time decision for Bamberg tomorrow night.

What’s that? You haven’t been watching the quarterfinal round of the Italian League’s playoffs? No problem: BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini has – and he posts today about just what you’ve been missing, namely two cliffhanging, nail-biting finishes that finished off Virtus Bologna. (Ironically and mournfully, BiE notes Bologna’s elimination as dated the same as Kobe Bryant’s 2011-12 Los Angeles Lakers.) Cellini promises that the videos are the centerpiece and so those looking for classic buzzer-beaters need search no further than below the break.

Saturday, May 19. Game two of Italian Serie A playoffs first round, best-of-five series. 0.86 seconds left in overtime, Banco di Sardegna Sassari is down by one at home against Canadian Solar Virtus Bologna. Sassari leads the series after winning game one at home, and needs to defend again home court advantage before moving on to Bologna, where Virtus has proven very solid during the regular season. Sassari calls a timeout and get to move the inbounds pass over midcourt.

The Sardinian TV commentator doubts: “Will Sassari manage to even attempt a shot?” The technical commentator responds, “They sure need to go for a lob pass and a quick tap-in.”

Not really, actually.

The only receiver Sassari inbounder Quinton Hosley manages to find is Drake Diener, a shooting guard cutting away from the painted area. Diener catches the ball while turning his feet to the basket, and fires over the arms of big man Viktor Sanikidze. Nothing but net. Sassari’s arena explodes while the befuddled commentator wonders, “What happened? What has just happened here?”

Monday, May 21. The series goes back to Bologna for game 3 with Sassari leading 2-0. Virtus Bologna discloses that the trip back to Sassari for the still-hypothetical game 5 has already been scheduled and organized. (Think this is an overconfident – not to say cocky – move? Always bear in mind that Virtus president Claudio Sabatini tried to bring Kobe Bryant to Bologna seeking intercession by the White House in a letter Sabatini wrote to US president Barack Obama.

Anyway, such a press release is the assist that negative karma waits for…

Sassari is down by 2 but has the ball to win the game and the series with less than 20 seconds on the clock. Former Milwaukee Bucks/current Bologna forward Chris Douglas Roberts rejects Quinton Hosley, landing the ball out of bounds by the baseline. Only 0.53 are left on the clock. Sassari’s coach Meo Sacchetti asks the referees if there is enough time for a catch-and-sho0t. The officials might have recalled when Derek Fisher won a series against San Antonio with a catch-and-shoot at 0.4, and gave Sacchetti permission to draw up the winning inbounds pass for veteran Manuel Vanuzzo.

So there you have it: Three days, two games, two narrow escapes for Sassari and Virtus Bologna is out of the playoffs. Serie A: Where buzzer-beaters and bad karma happens.

Enrico Cellini is lifelong basketball fanatic and a long-time sportswriter with a focus on Italy and Spain. He was born among European hoops, was raised watching the NBA, and thinks choosing between American and European basketball is like choosing between one’s mother and father. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Italian-language blog Hoop Addicted.

Sonny Weems: Lithuania's top import in 2011-12

Below, then, runs four all-star squads based on play in this season’s edition of the big league; for convenience and competition’s (rather than geopolitics’) sake, players from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and FYR Macedonia will be virtually suiting up for the “former Yugoslavia” team.

Right, so who wins this tournament…?

• Team USA
Henry Domercant, Unics Kazan
Bo McCalebb, Montepaschi Siena
Sonny Weems, Žalgiris Kaunas
Mike Batiste, Panathinaikos
D’Or Fischer, Gescrap Bilbao Basket

A couple of characteristics come to mind when contemplating the above starting five. The past season seems to prove (or at least heavily imply) that though a Euroleague team may be built around an American playmaker type, the title itself will regardless probably remain unattainable without a team concept at work. Weems, Domercant and possibly McCalebb can be considered to have carried their clubs beyond expectations while steadfastly playing through opposition defenses focused single-mindedly on the star.

Note, too, that just one of this would-be starting quintet actually played in the Final Four tourney: Batiste, an EL modern-era top 10 scorer and rebounder, who’s nevertheless known mostly for his defensive prowess. While Batiste was second-best on Panathinaikos in scoring, rebounding and performance index rating, why would the Greens ever let him go? Of course, they wouldn’t.

Honorable mentions: Pete Mickael, FC Barcelona; Richard Hendrix, Maccabi Tel Aviv.

• Team ex-Yugoslavia
Nenad Krstic, CSKA Moscow
Milos Teodosic, CSKA Moscow
Marko Banic, Gescrap Bilbao Basket
Milan Macvan, Partizan Belgrade
Erazem Lorbek, FC Barcelona

Bizarre that BiE came up with at least nine viable names for this squad – with only one currently playing in European basketball capitals like Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and such. Naturally, CSKA swallowed up Serbia’s top two Euroleague players to go with half of Team Russia, a couple of Lithuanian greats and a few with NBA games on their CVs – and Red Army backers weren’t disappointed in the least throughout the season until, say, the last quarter of the EL championship game in which Teodosic uncharacteristically blew up with 0-of-4 shooting, a missed free throw that might have iced the game, three personal fouls and four turnovers.

Meanwhile, all Slovenia’s Lorbek did for FC Barcelona was post a career year of 13.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 15.1 PIR and a first team All-Euroleague nod. Banic was a force for Bilbao either off the bench or in the starting lineup; finally, in 10 games with Partizan, the 22-year-old Macvan scored in double figures every time and may have given attentive Cleveland Cavaliers fans some hope for the future – the sky’s the limit for this guy, it appears.

Honorable mentions: Luka Zoric, Unicaja Malaga; Vladimir Micov, Bennet Cantu; Igor Rakocevic, Montepaschi Siena; Luksa Andric, Galatasaray

• Team Russia (literally)
Andrei Kirilenko, CSKA Moscow
Alexey Shved, CSKA Moscow
Viktor Khryapa, CSKA Moscow
Andrey Vorontsevich, CSKA Moscow

You know that star-studded CSKA squad? Well, it’s a lot like Team Russia’s gonna look this summer. Except … does anyone have a fifth nomination…?

• Team Greece
Dimitris Diamantidis, CSKA Moscow
Vassilis Spanoulis, Olympiacos
Georgis Printezis, Olympiacos
Kostas Kaimakoglou, Panathinaikos
Ian Vougioukas, Panathinaikos

While the country and its national basketball scene are not exactly experiencing the best of times, Greek hoops fans can take solace in one heck of a 2011-12 thus far – and with another Panathinaikos-Olympiacos domestic championship battle set as well. (So crisis really *does* create heroes…)

First and foremost, of course, there was Spanoulis. Already entering the Greek basketball history annals by becoming the second player to win Euroleague titles with both Greece’s Greens and Reds (the first was Dimitris Papanikolaou), Spanoulis turned in a champion-leading season that surely had many EL media partners wishing they could take back those Kirilenko MVP votes after witnessing Olympiacos’ ultimate triumph in the finals.

Printezis might have made this squad based solely on his runner in the final two seconds of EL 2011-12, but his 57.8% two-point shooting beyond the regular-season round displayed growing intensity and focus as the season wore on for Olympiacos. And with last year’s MVP Dimitris Diamantidis again turning in a killer year, Greek fans can take a fair amount of pride in their guys going into 2012-13.

The semifinals are underway in Germany and, as always, David Hein has one eye on the action there. Read on to find out about the Brose Baskets Bamberg-Artland Dragons and Ratiopharm Ulm-s.Oliver Baskets matchups in game one … plus, a bit of distressing news for forward-thinking Oklahoma City Thunder fans.

The top two seeds in the German Beko BBL playoffs defended home turf to start the semifinals as two-time defending champions Brose Baskets blasted Artland Dragons, 103-70, while ratiopharm ulm knocked off s.Oliver Baskets, 77-65.

Bamberg’s win over the Dragons could prove costly, however, as star center Tibor Pleiß went down with a right knee injury in the fourth quarter and reportedly underwent an MRI yesterday to determine the extent of the injury.

Bamberg went ahead 55-37 in the first half and then allowed just eight points in the fourth quarter; the team was led by 21 points, eight rebounds and three steals from P.J. Tucker. Anton Gavel added 12 points and seven assists, while five other Bamberg players scored at least 11 points.

“We are happy to be leading 1-0. I’m happy that we played really well over long stretches of the game,” said Bamberg coach Chris Fleming. “As opposed to the Bonn series, we did a good job today answering the runs of the opponents. … But I think the guys have worked hard since then.”

Fleming’s team did a good job controlling the ball with just eight turnovers while shooting 55 percent from the floor.

Anthony King paced Artland with 14 points with David Holston adding 13 points in the losing effort – which was Artland’s third playoff game in the last 92 hours.

“We would make things too easy if we used that as an excuse,” said Dragons head coach Stefan Koch about opening the semis on Saturday despite finishing the quarterfinals on Thursday.

“It is how it is. It’s not exactly favorable for us, but we can’t make a big deal out of it. And it would lessen the performance of Bamberg and how they deserved this win.”

Artland will host Game Two on Tuesday.

Ratiopharm ulm also head on the road with a 1-0 lead after beating s.Oliver Baskets 77-65 thanks to an 11-0 run over the final 2:29.

Per Günther scored six of his team-high 16 points in Ulm’s decisive spurt while Steven Esterkamp nailed five three-pointers for 15 points. MVP John Bryant was held to 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, but Ulm still out-rebounded Würzburg 44-33.

Chris Kramer came off the bench to lead s.Oliver with 22 points while John Little made just one of 11 shots for a mere two points.

Würzburg missed 10 of their first 12 two-point shots in watching Ulm pull ahead 31-11. But Würzburg stormed back to within two at 33-31. Kramer helped keep Würzburg close before the closing run, which started with Ulm ahead 66-65. With the game tied, Esterkamp nailed two straight three-balls to shift the momentum.

“It was the tough game we expected because Würzburg played with an unbelievable intensity,” said Ulm coach Thorsten Leibenath. “If we want to have a chance in this series, we must hold our own … I think we did that well, which you can see that we held the best rebounding team to just six offensive rebounds.”

“Ulm was clearly the better team for the first 14 minutes, and we lost the game there. If Ulm gets going they’re hard to stop,” said Würzburg coach John Patrick.

“I’m proud that we came back and had a chance. But we were lacking the energy and intensity at the end. And very decisive were Steven Esterkamp’s two three-pointers to make it 69-65.”

Würzburg host Game Two on Thursday.

Germany-based David Hein is often (justifiably, we think) dubbed by BiE as “the hardest-working man in European sportswriting.” Aside from contributing to BallinEurope, FIBA’s official website and the Bundesliga Basketball League official website, he also writes for numerous German- and English-language outlets on sports from soccer and basketball on down. Check out far-ranging samples of his work at heinnews.com.

A patented writeup on recent events is forthcoming from BallinEurope contributor David Hein soon, but in the meantime, the heinnews sports news bloodhound turned BiE onto this seemingly effortless, three-quarter court buzzer-beater popped by Chester Frazier for Würzburg’s s.Oliver Baskets against Ratiopharm Ulm in yesterday’s semifinal game one … too bad it was, you know, after the buzzer and all. On the other hand, Ulm won by 12 points regardless.

Olympiacos are the champions

Below runs news on domestic and pan-European champions from across the Continent – from nearly 50 leagues in all – plus, where applicable, video clips. In cases where playoffs are underway, information on the process of each tourney is noted. Read on to find out who reigns in hallowed corners of European basketball like Iceland, Luxembourg and Albania … while wondering if any story can top Olympiacos’ amazing Euroleague run.

Euroleague: The top level in all of Europe provided one of the Continent’s top-level upsets when Olympiacos topped the highly-favored CSKA Moscow on Georgios Printezis’ runner which exploded the internet with less than two ticks remaining on the game clock. Olympiacos created an instant classic this year, nipping the Red Army, 63-61, after lagging behind for nearly the entire game – utterly subjectively speaking, the marvelous comeback kinda recalled two NBA playoff matches from way-back-when, a.k.a. 2002: this and this.

Again, congratulations to Olympiacos and thanks for the most memorable Euroleague championship title in years…

ULEB Eurocup: In mid-April, BC Khimki Moscow Region became the first unlicensed team to officially join the 2012-13 Euroleague ranks – grabbing its first-ever Eurocup title in the process – with its 77-68 championship game victory over ACB side Valencia Basket. Better yet, the Russian team capped its 14-2 Eurocup run by re-signing head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis.

FIBA Eurochallenge: After a 2011-12 campaign which saw Deron Williams, Adam Morrison, Semih Erden, Carlos Arroyo and Pops Mensah-Bonsu suit up for the club for all or part of the season, Beşiktaş Milangaz earned entry into the 2012-13 Eurocup league by topping Elan Chalon in a 91-86 shootout in the Eurochallenge championship. Now can they avoid the Eurochallenge Championship Curse?

Adriatic League: It was all Maccabi Tel Aviv in this year’s Liga ABA: David Blatt’s side finished its 26-2 run with an 87-77 victory over Cedevita Zagreb in the finals. Final Four tournament MVP was Keith Langford, “who joined Maccabi at the begining of the season from Khimki[. Langford] was the team’s second-best scorer in the semifinal, when he made 17 points, while in the final he was unstoppable with 21 points and a perfect score from free throws and three-pointers.”

Balkan League: Hapoel Gilboa Galil outlasted BC Levski in overtime, 89-84, for its first-ever European title. Unfortunately, the small-market club won’t be getting any “money prizes” for the effort, as these will be awarded to Balkan League clubs beginning in 2012-13.

Baltic League: In the all-Lithuanian final, Žalgiris Kaunas completed a BBL threepeat in beating longtime rival Lietuvos Rytas, 74-70. (This after immolating Siauliai, the third Lithuanian team in the semifinals, 117-64.)

VTB United League: CSKA Moscow won its first title of 2011-12 in the VTB United League just eight days before the Euroleague Final Four began. Fellow PBL side Unics Kazan fell to the Red Army in the championship game, 74-62. Named this tournament’s MVP was – you guessed it – Andrei Kirilenko.

Albania: SK Tirana finished what must is nearly Europe’s shortest season (take a look at Malta’s, for comparison’s sake) with a perfect 19-0 record; the three-game sweep of Basket Kamza in the finals ended with a 73-62 score line in favor of the repeat champions.

Austria: The Admiral Austrian Basketball League best-of-five final series in currently going on between Allianz Swans Gmuden and Xion Dukes Klosterneuburg. Game one was won 78-77 on the Dukes’ Damir Zeleznik’s last-minute three; the four-time champion Swans took game two, 77-68. Note: The hottest player in Europe right now could be Dan Oppland…

Belarus: BC Minsk-2006 once again destroyed the domestic competition, closing out 2011-12 with a 97-74 championship game victory over Grodno-93. Perhaps it was something of revenge for Minsk as well: Carrying a 46-0 run into the season from the last, the team extended it to 56 consecutive wins in Belarus before losing to Grodno in January. Minsk had to settle for a 33-2 mark this season (and 5-19 cumulative in Eurochallenge and VTB United play).

Belgium: The Ligue Ethias is down to a final four of Eurocup teams Telenet BC Oostende and Belfius Mons-Hainaut; Eurochallengers Antwerp Giants; and Euroleague qualifying round side/fourpeat defending champions Belgacom Spirou Basket. The best-of-three series run May 21-26 (if necessary).

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Siroki Wwin needs one more W to finish off the threepeat against 2010-11 runners-up BC Igokea. Game four of the five-game series is scheduled for Wednesday night.

Bulgaria: The best-of-five championship series between Lukoil Academik and BC Levski begins on Tuesday. Lukoil remains thoroughly dominant in Bulgaria and is looking to take its *tenth* consecutive domestic trophy. After going 36-0 overall in 2011-12, Lukoil has had to “settle” for a 29-3 mark thus far. Oh, and they swept Levski last year, too.

Indeed, a Levski upset would probably be the only event on the calendar to best Bulgaria’s top moment of this season, i.e. Dennis Rodman’s visit on all-star weekend.

Croatia: Cibona Zagreb will return to the Croatian league’s title series after going 16-0 in the regular season and taking out last year’s champs KK Zagreb in two games. The longtime local powerhouse will face either Cedevita Zagreb or KK Split, to be determined on Wednesday.

Cyprus: Once again, InterCollege Etha Engomis managed upsets in the tournament bracket to defend its Cypriot national championship. After coming from the no. 4 spot in last year’s eight-team tournament, Etha ranked third after a 12-4 regular season (plus 3-5 in Eurocup qualifiers/Eurochallenge play) but upended top dogs Keravnos in the finals. Sharp-eyed observers/NBA addicts may have caught well-traveled Etha leader Darryl Finesse Hawkins – he’s played in Lebanon and China in addition to Cyprus and small towns in the ‘States – getting in a few games with the New Orleans Hornets at the tail end of the season.

Czech Republic: The finals in the Czech Republic have come down to Eurocup/VTB United League team CEZ Nymburk and BK Prostejov. Nymburk yesterday took game one, 75-66, and game two will be played tonight. Last year saw the same finals matchup, with Nymburk winning four games to two.

Denmark: The Bakken Bears defended their Ligaen title, again defeating the Svendborg Rabbits in the final series, 4-2. Bakken’s Joshua Alexander, formerly of Stephen F. Austin, was named tournament MVP and regular-season MVP.

Estonia: VTB United/Baltic League team Kalev/Cramo made it back-to-back national titles, again sweeping Tartu University/Rock in the best-of-seven championship series.

Finland: A new champion was named in Finland, as the Nilan Bisons (or LoKoKo) won the Koriisliga title over Joensuun Kataja with a solid 83-66 victory in the final game. The Bisons were buoyed by Martin Zeno’s all-around line of 22 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. Kataja was also the Finnish runner-up in 2011-12.

France: The looooong LNB playoff tournament begins tomorrow night. Play begins with the top eight teams (from a league of 16, mind you), namely Gravelines-Dunkerque, Chalon/Saône, Orléans, Le Mans, SLUC Nancy, Paris-Levallois, Chorale Roanne and Cholet Basket.

Germany: In recent years becoming known as one of the wackier tournaments in Europe, the Bundesliga tourney had produced relatively sane results except for the bouncing of the huge-market Alba Berlin by s.Oliver Baskets. No. 1 Brose Baskets Bamberg, no. 2 Ratiopharm Ulm and no. 4 seeds Artland Dragons all advanced out of the quarterfinals, the lattermost barely surviving their five-game set with FC Bayern München. Bamberg and Ulm are currently each up on Artland and s.Oliver, respectively, one game to zero in the semis.

Greece: That’s right, it’s almost time once again … the Greek League finals will naturally pit Olympiacos vs. Panathinaikos. With a stunning Euroleague victory under their belts, can the Reds finally win the seemingly even more elusive domestic title over the hated Greens? It would snap a legendary nine-year run – including last season’s, earned by upending Olympics 3-1 in the finals after the Reds’d gone 36-0 in the league.

Until Saturday, then, let’s consider the February thriller between the clubs…

Holland: Eiffel Towers Den Bosch needs just one more game to complete the four-game sweep of defending champs ZZ Lieden; that’ll be on Thursday.

Hungary: Szolnoki Olajbanyasz, fourth-place finishers in 2011-12 Eurochallenge, have a 1-0 lead over Falco-Szova Szombathely.

Iceland: In what must be Europe’s smallest leagues, Grindavik are the kings, taking the Icelandic title three games to one over Thor Thorl. Former Cleveland State University Viking (and former New York Jets signee!) J’Nathan Bullock contributed a massive 36-point, eight-rebound performance in the 78-72 game four victory.

Ireland: After stumbling through an 11-10 regular season, the UL Eagles took the Irish championship with a 70-56 victory over Dublin’s DCU Saints.

Israel: Balkan League champs and no. 2 seed Galil Gilboa have already been bounced from the Ligat HaAl tournament, thereby ending just about all suspense that Maccabi Tel Aviv takes this trophy again. The other three teams making up the final four round include Hapoel Holon, Maccabi Ashdod and Maccabi Rishon; the round begins tomorrow.

Italy: In another drawn-out tournament, the top-four seeds – Montepaschi Siena, Armani Milano, Bennet Cantu and Banco di Sardegna Sassari – all have 2-0 advantages in their quarterfinal series. With Virtus Bologna and the Los Angeles Lakers both on the brink of elimination, is Claudio Sabbatini desperately trying to get in touch with Kobe Bryant? You know, just to play one game…

Latvia: VEF Riga repeated as champions in Latvia, once again taking out Eurochallenge team Ventspils with a convincing 100-70 win in game five of the league’s final series.

Lithuania: Perhaps Lietuvos Rytas never psychologically recovered after the close shave with Siauliai in the semifinal round. In the one-and-one format, L.Rytas actually managed to drop the first leg at home by nine points. While the Eurocuppers managed to survive game two, they were ultimately swept by rivals Žalgiris Kaunas in the finals, three games to none.

Luxembourg: After rolling through the Luxembourg league in 2011-12, defending champions T71 Dudelange and Sparta meet in the finals. Sparta has the lead after winning game one, 100-84. No clips of the match appear to be readily available, but there is of course this.

Malta: After 16 games total, Athleta bagged its ninth Maltese title in its back-to-back championship campaign.

Norway: Froya Basket, the youngest BLNO entry having gotten promotion to the top division for 2009-10, won over the excellently-named Asker Aliens, 80-78, in the one-game championship there. Speaking of great monikers, Froya’s Miilah Kombat took the Final Four MVP award.

Poland: Asseco Prokom looks to make it eight straight PLK titles in meeting Trefl Sopot in tonight’s new one-game championship format.

Portugal: In a repeat of last year’s championship series, Porto Ferpinta and Benfico are knotted up at two games apiece; the final game will be played on Wednesday.

Romania: Another domestic championship that could be over on Wednesday is that of Romania’s, with Ploiesti now up two games to none on Timisoara. Ploiesti’s recent run of six Romanian titles was broken last season by Cluj-Napoca.

Russia: CSKA Moscow rallied from its Euroleague disappointment to do what the club does best, i.e. take the PBL title – 2011-12 marks the 10th straight season as top dogs for the Red Army.
Reported the English-language Russia Times: “The Army Men beat Khimki 90-75 to wrap up their best-of-five series, 3-0.

“As happened twice before in the series, CSKA were always in control of the game and were 14 points up in the first. That was cut by Khimki to five in the closing quarter, but CSKA put on another surge in the final minutes to run out winners.

“With their iconic front-man Andrey Kirilenko sidelined with an injury, there was a whole bunch of other stars in the Army Men’s squad to make sure his absence would not cost dearly. The likes of Aleksey Shved, Viktor Khryapa, Nenad Krstic, Milos Teodosic and Jamon Gordon finished the game with double digits on their account.

“The pains of Vitaly Fridzon (20 points) and Kresimir Loncar (17) were far not enough for the reigning Eurocup holders to bite into the series.

“So CSKA claimed an incredible 19th title in 21 seasons and sugared the end of a season in which, Kirilenko believes, the team had its strongest squad in the recent years.

“’This year the squad was exceptional. There were at least three players in each position who could become leaders in every Russian team,’ he noted after the final game.”

“Asked about his future plans AK-47 said there are two options for him – staying in the Russian team or to moving back to the NBA, with each of the possibilities regarded as 50-50.”

Serbia: With the big boys of the Superleague, e.g. Partizan Belgrade, Crvena Zvezda, etc., having begun play in January, the second round is still going on in Serbia.

Slovakia: Prievidza took its first national title in 17 years in Slovakia, winning over Komarno>; both teams had gone 22-10 and were tied atop the regular-season standings.

Slovenia: It’s the Euroleague’s Union Olimpija versus the Eurocup’s KK Krka for all the marbles in Slovenia. The series is currently tied at one game apiece with game three set for tomorrow night.

Spain: What we do know thus far about traditionally the last league to finish play in Europe: FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Caja Laboral Baskonia have all advanced to the semifinals with 2-0 series sweeps; Baskonia knocked off no. 6 Gescrap Bilbao Basket to end that club’s miracle 2011-12. Valencia hosts Lagun Aro GBC to determine the last of the final four teams tomorrow night.

Sweden: The top two teams played for the Basketligan crown in April, with Norrkoping Dolphins taking out Sodertalje Kings, four games to two.

Switzerland: And another threepeat! Lugano Tigers again won the LNA championship with a 92-81 victory over the Geneve Lions in the decisive game five of the title series there.

Turkey: In what is rapidly becoming BiE’s favorite domestic league in Europe, Besiktas are looking like the team to watch in the Eagles’ highly successful 2011-12 campaign. Gelling at the right time after dealing with a revolving-door roster, the Eurochallenge winners have already eliminated reigning two-time champs Fenerbahçe Ülker and are up 2-1 in the semifinal round against last season’s runners-up Galatasaray. In the other bracket, Eurocup’s Banvit BK has deadlocked Anadolu Efes at 1-1. It’s now one game a night for the next three days in this round…

Ukraine: The Ukrainian Cup Trophy (hey, that’s what they call it) was won by Aviastar, who topped Musson 88-86 in the championship match as Vitaly Boyko led all scorers with 23 points>.

United Kingdom: Finally, BallinEurope sends (belated) congratulations out to the Newcastle Eagles. The Eagles bested Leicester Riders in the final match, 71-62, to complete the clean sweep of BBL titles and buoy hopes that perhaps Newcastle will be joining a pan-European competition in 2012-13.

With just a few games left in Austria’s championship series, the ever reliable and enthusiastic David Hein contributes another report on progress in the Österreich finals. The focus: (Literally) red-hot Dan Oppland, who notched his second straight game of 22/20 for Allianz Swans Gmunden – and added a crazy 10 steals.

Dan Oppland registered a triple-double to lead Allianz Swans to a 77-68 victory at home over Xion Dukes Klosterneuburg and even their Admiral Austrian Bundesliga Finals series at 1-1.

Just four days after collecting 22 points and 20 rebounds in Swans’ Game One loss, Oppland somehow topped his performance with 22 points, 20 rebounds, 10 steals and five assists for a 48 efficiency ranking – all this despite missing practice due to a high fever.

“I don’t know. [I j]ust tried to bring a lot of energy and have a good game,” said Oppland. “The team was unbelievable tonight. Really played some good defense.”

“I really have to give a huge compliment to Dan Oppland, who could not practice because he had a fever and then he comes out and gives us a triple-double,” said Gmunden coach Mathias Fischer.

Morris Curry, who celebrated his 25th birthday, actually led the top-seeded Swans with 26 points, including hitting hit 12-of-14 on free throws – six of those makes in the final 38 seconds to keep the Dukes from coming back.

“I am very relieved because this game was very difficult,” said Fischer. “A lot of fouls and very intense. It was a very emotional game,” said Fischer. Keeping the Dukes under 70 points is the key to our team’s game. We have to defend, we have to be emotional and have to push one another.”

Klosterneuburg were led by Christoph Nagler with 17 points and eight rebounds, while both Damir Zeleznik and Jason Chappell scored 10 points.

“If we’re kept under 70, then it’s tough for us to win. But we kept ourselves under 70 points,” said Dukes coach Werner Sallomon. “I think we were a little over-motivated. We never found a rhythm. It wasn’t very nice to watch.”

Klosterneuburg veteran Curtis Bobb slumped to a mere four points in shooting just 1-of-13 overall – including 0-8 from three-point range.

“We didn’t execute down the stretch,” said Bobb. “We had too many turnovers [21]. We lost focus in the second half.”

“I got myself a little out of the game personally. A few things were said on the bench and I got my head out of it. I put a lot of blame on myself. I lost focus. Me being a veteran, I’ll be ready for Sunday.”

Game Three is Sunday at Happyland in Klosterneuburg.

“We’ll win on Sunday and finish it out on Thursday,” said Bobb confidently. “It’s going to be a very hostile environment. They have great fans. So we have to be patient, confident and [have] the right mindset,” Curry commented.

Germany-based David Hein is often (justifiably, we think) dubbed by BiE as “the hardest-working man in European sportswriting.” Aside from contributing to BallinEurope, FIBA’s official website and the Bundesliga Basketball League official website, he also writes for numerous German- and English-language outlets on sports from soccer and basketball on down. Check out far-ranging samples of his work at heinnews.com.