Euroleague Final Four Recap

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The 2014 Euroleague Final Four, played at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan, featured the three of the top five winning clubs in Euroleague history and a team that has been in the Final Four three of the last four years. CSKA Moscow, FC Barcelona, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Real Madrid. Real Madrid has won the most Euroleague Championships with eight heading into the finals, while CSKA Moscow has six and Maccabi Tel Aviv had five heading in as well. In the last four Final Fours, all four made an appearance against a club from Greece. In 2010, FC Barcelona beat Olympiacos in the finals, Maccabi Tel Aviv lost to Panathinakos in 2011, Olympiacos defeat CSKA Moscow in 2012, and Olympiacos won again in 2013 over Real Madrid. 

The semi-final games were Moscow-Maccabi and Barcelona-Madrid. The first game was the match-up between Moscow and Maccabi. Heading into the fourth quarter, CSKA held a 55-45 lead. But, the Electra had a comeback in the fourth quarter and brought the game to 67-63 with under a minute left. Maccabi's David Blu hit a three pointer, his fifth of the day, to bring Maccabi within one point. Then, Maccabi got the ball back off a turnover and Tyrese Rice hit a lay-up with 5.5 seconds left. CSKA still had one final shot. They got the ball into the hands of Sonny Weems, who missed he game-winning three as time expired. Maccabi won 68-67. 

Sergio Rodriguez
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The second semi between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid was expected to be a great match-up. Not only were they two teams from the league (Liga ACB), but they are also fierce rivals and have faced off in the Liga ACB Finals the last two years. However, the game ended up being a blowout. While the first half was relatively close (Real had a 45-37 lead at the half), the second half was not. Madrid outscored Barca 26 to 11 in the third quarter and 27 to 14 in the fourth quarter and also had a 26 to one run in the middle. The final score was 100-62, the largest difference in final score ever in a Euroleague Final Four game. For Real Madrid, Sergio Rodriguez, the Euroleague Regular Season MVP, had 21 points in less then 21 minutes and Nikola Mirotic had 19 points.

Before the Final, Barcelona and Moscow played a third place game. Barcelona pulled out the victory, 93-78. Juan Carlos Navarro had 20 points in less than 18 minutes. Navarro became the career leader in three pointer made at the Final Four with 31 and moved up to fourth on the Final Four scoring charts with 168 points. 

Tyrese Rice
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The Final was great. The game was close throughout. Through three quarters, Real Madrid had a slight 55-53 lead. However, with one minute left to play, Maccabi had taken the lead and was up by four. Rodriguez then drew a foul and hit both of his free throws. After getting a stop on defense, Rudy Fernandez took a jumper for Real and missed, but Ioannis Bourousis got the offensive rebound and drew a foul. He went to the line and hit two free throws to tie the game at 73. Maccabi still had a chance to win the game. Tyrese Rice took a potential game-winning three pointer, but missed. Alex Tyus missed a contested tip-in and the game went to overtime. This was the first overtime game in a Euroleague Final since 1969, a game that also featured Real Madrid. The overtime was all Maccabi, outscoring Real 25-13 and earning a 98-86 win. Rice score 21 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime and was named Euroleague Final Four MVP. This is Maccabi sixth Euroleague championship and their first since 2005.