By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The field for the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs is complete, which makes it a perfect time for Eurohoops.net to rank the most successful teams in this phase of the competition.
Qualification for the Final Four through the playoffs was established in the 2004-05 season and, ever since, European fans have enjoyed in these games some of the most thrilling moments in the Euroleague.
Which teams have been present in the playoffs most often, which ones have qualified the most times, which ones did so by taking advantage of a home-court advantage and which ones have made the most upsets?
Eurohoops ranked the teams based on their presence in the playoffs and set as a second criterion the qualifications for the Final Four. In the following pages you can see the eleven teams that had at least three playoff appearances.
Ten teams have taken part at least once in the playoffs (Scavolini Pesaro, Benetton Treviso, Dynamo Moscow, Unicaja Malaga, Prokom, Valencia Basket, Bilbao, UNICS Kazan, Galatasaray Istanbul, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan) but only one of them, Unicaja, qualified for the Final Four (in Athens in 2007 with a 2-1 series win over FC Barcelona Lassa).
This year’s field features two newcomers, Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, while six other teams below are back in the playoffs. Their results below list their success to date as they begin trying to grab for glory again in a few days!