By Alkis Spyrou
ProBasketballNews.com
Maccabi Elite 92, Montepaschi Siena 85
Maccabi should be renamed from “People’s team” to “Final Four’s team." The Israelis did it again, beating all odds as they qualified for this year’s final. They managed to come back from an 18-point deficit and beat Montepaschi Siena, 92-85 in the Euroleague Final Four.
Siena was teaching basketball lessons for the first 25 minutes, but its extreme confidence (a confidence that landed them in the Final Four in the first place) eventually was its downfal. The Italians shot 45 3-pointers, making just 11! Needless to say that number of 3-pointers is now a Euroleague record ... but not a record to be proud of. Maccabi, on the other hand was 11-of-22 on 3-pointers and that was the differencein the game.
Even when Siena was leading by double digits, they kept shooting 3-pointers and that cost them dearly. The most telling scene of how the Italians lost the game came when they led by 15 points and Terell McIntyre was lead the fast break. Instead of passing the ball to unguarded Bootsy Thornton under the basket, McIntyre took, and missed, a 3-pointer.
The more experienced team won at the end even, if the Israelis seemd out of sync and lacking focus in the first half. The heart of Israeli squad is Derek Sharp (his wife is Israeli and he speaks Hebrew) was the decisive factor. He showed the way with two consecutive treys to cut the deficit to 57-49 at the beginning of the third quarter, finishing with 18 points.
Brazilian Alex Garcia paced Maccabi with 19 points, Sharp scored 17, Will Bynum finished with 13 points and 7 assists, and Terence Morris had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Also, David Bluthenthal added 11 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter.
McIntyre had a game-high 26 points (6-of-14 on 4-pointers) and 5 assists in defeat. Romain Sato added 17 points and 11 boards for Montepaschi, while Ksistof Lavrinovic also scored 17 and Thornton had 10.
Zvika Sherf showed belief in his team and did not leave them to get carried away. He made his team “shorter” and more athletic by taking out Vujcic. Siena did not have an answer to this change and paid the price.
CSKA Moscow 73, TAU Cerámica 69
Another comeback was staged in the second semifinal, but this time the favorite won. CSKA will take part in its third consecutive final. CSKA coach Ettore Mesina extended his unbeaten record in the semifinals to 7-0, as the Russians showed that they are the currently best European team and they can cement that by beating Maccabi in today's final.
TAU was leading at halftime and even at the start of the fourth quarter. But a late 10-0 run by CSKA, led by Theo Papaloukas, turned the game around. It was a collective effort that was a result of the Russians' bone-breaking defense, the unmistakable performance of David Andersen and J.R. Holden’s guts. The Russians showed that with even if they don’t play excellent overall basketball, they could beat anybody at any level due to the their ability to erupt at any time.
Andersen missed only one shot on his way to 16 points (8-of-9 from the field), while Holden finished with 15 points, Matjaz Smodis added 14 and Papaloukas 10.
Igor Rakocevic paced TAU with 19 pointswhile , Tiago Splitter and Zoran Planinic each scored 17 points and Pete Mickeal had 11.
Look for the finals recap late Sunday on Pro Basketball News.
Alkis.Spyrou overs international basketball for Pro Basketball News. He can be reached at Alkis.Spyrou@capita.co.uk.
INTERNATIONAL: May 4, 2008
Euroleague finals set
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