2014 Euroleague Final Four

2014 Euroleague Final Four

The official logo was revealed in February 2014.[1]
Season 2013–14 Euroleague
Tournament details
Arena Mediolanum Forum
Milan, Italy
Dates 16 May 2014 (2014-05-16) – 18 May 2014 (2014-05-18)
Final positions
Champions Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv (6th title)
Runners-up Spain Real Madrid
Third place Spain FC Barcelona
Fourth place Russia CSKA Moscow
Awards and statistics
MVP Montenegro Tyrese Rice
Top scorer(s) Spain Sergio Rodríguez, 42[2]

The 2014 Euroleague Final Four was the concluding EuroLeague Final Four tournament of the 2013–14 Euroleague basketball season. It was held from 16–18 May 2014. All of the games were played at the Mediolanum Forum, in Milan. Maccabi Tel Aviv upset CSKA Moscow, 68–67, in the first semifinal, while Real Madrid dominated FC Barcelona, 100–62, in the second semifinal. In the final, Maccabi upset highly favored Real, by a score of 98–86, in the tournament's first overtime final since 1969. The win gave Maccabi their sixth EuroLeague title.

The Mediolanum Forum set up for the EuroLeague Final Four

Bracket

Semifinals
16 May		 Final
18 May
 Russia CSKA Moscow  67  
 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv  68  
 
     Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv   98
   Spain Real Madrid   86
Third place
 Spain FC Barcelona  62  Russia CSKA Moscow   78
 Spain Real Madrid  100    Spain FC Barcelona  93

Semifinals

All times are CEST (UTC+2).

CSKA Moscow vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv

CSKA Moscow entered their semi-final match up against Maccabi Tel Aviv, having won both regular season meetings. It looked like Moscow would make it 3–0 on the year, when they took a 55–40 lead, late in the third quarter. However, led by guard Tyrese Rice, and support from a large majority of the fans in attendance, Maccabi launch a fourth quarter comeback. Rice's steal and layup, with 5 seconds to play, gave Maccabi a 68–67 lead, and Sonny Weems missed a contested three pointer at the buzzer. Maccabi's David Blu led all scorers with 15 points.[3]

16 May 2014 CSKA Moscow Russia 67–68 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv Mediolanum Forum, Milan  
18:00 Scoring by quarter: 19–16, 19–14, 17–15, 12–23
Pts: Kaun 14
Rebs: Khryapa 10
Asts: Weems 6 		Report Pts: Blu 15
Rebs: Smith 9
Asts: Ohayon 4 		Attendance: 11,843
Referees: Sasa Pukl (SLO), Milivoje Jovčić (SRB), Borys Ryzhyk (UKR)

Barcelona vs. Real Madrid

Real Madrid entered the Final Four as the clear favorite, having recorded the highest point differential in both group (plus 237) and Final 16 play (plus 143). Between the two stages, they held a 24–4 overall record.[3]

After FC Barcelona got off to a 12–4 start, the semifinal game was all Real Madrid. Real scored 14 3-pointers, and played at a blistering pace, to beat their Spanish rivals for the fifth time in six games on the year. Real's Sergio Rodríguez led all-scorers with 21 points, followed by teammate Nikola Mirotić, who scored 19. Three other Real players scored more than 10 points.[3]

16 May 2014 FC Barcelona Spain 62–100 Spain Real Madrid Mediolanum Forum, Milan  
21:00 CET Scoring by quarter: 20–20, 17–25, 11–28, 14–27
Pts: Tomić 16
Rebs: Tomić 8
Asts: Huertas 6 		Report Pts: Rodríguez 21
Rebs: Llull, Slaughter 5
Asts: Rodríguez 6 		Attendance: 11,843
Referees: Christos Christodoulou (GRE), Ilija Belošević (SRB), Robert Lottermoser (GER)

Third-place game

Juan Carlos Navarro of Barcelona, became the EuroLeague's all-time leader in three-point field goals made, after hitting three three-point field goals during the game.[4]

18 May 2014 FC Barcelona Spain 93–78 Russia CSKA Moscow Mediolanum Forum, Milan  
17:00 (CET) Scoring by quarter: 21–24, 29–23, 19–17, 24–14
Pts: Navarro 20
Rebs: Dorsey 12
Asts: Huertas 7 		Report Pts: Kaun 12
Rebs: Khryapa 4
Asts: Khryapa 7 		Attendance: 11,843 (Tentative)
Referees: Robert Lottermoser (GER), Fernando Rocha (POR), Rüştü Nuran (TUR)

Final

Before the game, Real Madrid was heavily favored, as they sought a league-record ninth title. Real got off to a good start, taking an 11-point lead in the first half, behind a 19–2 run.[5] However, Maccabi Tel Aviv fought back with a series of fast breaks, and trailed by just two points, at half time.[5][6]

It looked as if Maccabi would come out on top, after a back-and-forth second half, that gave them a four-point lead, with under a minute to play.[5] However, Real hit four consecutive free throws, from Sergio Rodríguez and Ioannis Bourousis, to tie the game.[6] Tyrese Rice missed a three pointer at the buzzer, that would have given Maccabi the win.[5] Instead, the final went to overtime, for the first time since 1969.[6] Rice dominated in overtime, scoring 14, as Maccabi pulled away, for a 98–86 win.[5] In total, Rice scored 21 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.[6] Rodriguez led Real with 21 points.[6]

The win gave Maccabi their sixth league title.[5] For Real Madrid, it was the second consecutive year in which they lost in the final game.[6]

Real Madrid
Maccabi
Starters: Pts Reb Ast
PG 23 Spain Sergio Llull 0 2 8
SG 5 Spain Rudy Fernández 15 8 4
SF 21 United States Tremmell Darden 7 7 0
PF 11 Spain Nikola Mirotić 12 7 1
C 30 Greece Ioannis Bourousis 12 9 0
Reserves:
F 9 Spain Felipe Reyes 12 6 0
F 11 Spain Dani Díez 0 0 0
G 13 Spain Sergio Rodríguez 21 2 2
G 20 Azerbaijan Jaycee Carroll 5 1 0
F 44 United States Marcus Slaughter 2 0 0
C 50 Tunisia Salah Mejri 0 1 0
Head coach:
Spain Pablo Laso
Rules

The games was played under official FIBA rules.


Mediolanum Forum

2013–14 Euroleague
Champions
Israel
Maccabi Tel Aviv
6th Title
Starters: Pts Reb Ast
PG 12 Israel Yogev Ohayon 4 5 1
SG 7 Georgia (country) Ricky Hickman 18 6 3
SF 6 United States Devin Smith 15 7 0
PF 10 Israel Guy Pnini 0 2 2
C 21 Greece Sofoklis Schortsanitis 9 3 1
Reserves:
G 4 Montenegro Tyrese Rice 26 4 2
G 8 Australia Joe Ingles 0 1 0
C 9 Israel Alex Tyus 12 11 0
F 13 Israel David Blu 14 4 1
C 14 Israel Ben Altit DNP
F 15 Israel Sylven Landesberg DNP
C 11 Croatia Andrija Žižić DNP
Head coach:
Israel David Blatt

Reaction

Maccabi's surprise win led to wild celebrations, as the club's fans filled Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. Israeli President Shimon Peres, called to congratulate the team, saying "I watched the whole game, and nearly had a heart attack. You are heroes, and have brought incredible pride to the state of Israel."[6] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also offered his personal congratulations.[6]

Spanish fans expressed their frustration on Twitter. An estimated 18,000 such tweets contained anti-Semitic language, prompting a lawsuit by local Jewish communities, and an official apology by the league.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ "Final Four logo, Fan Zone, EA7 Emporio Armani partnership revealed in Milan!". Euroleague.net. 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  2. ↑ Statistics Final Four 2013-14
  3. 1 2 3 "Real Madrid, Europe’s dominant force, soar into Euroleague final". The National. Reuters. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Navarro makes history as Barcelona claims third place
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Maccabi stun Real to win fifth Euroleague title". EuroSport. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Maccabi beats Real Madrid 98-86 to win Euroleague". Washington Post. AP. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Maccabi Tel Aviv Euroleague win spurs Spanish anti-Semitic tweets". JNS. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "Euroleague Basketball condemns racist, discriminatory comments". Euroleague. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
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