By Stefanos Tatsios / info@eurohoops.net
Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team shocked Olympiacos in the playoffs by stealing the qualification for the Final Four in Belgrade, where they are considered – not without reason – the big outsiders for the championship.
Of course, Zalgiris Kaunas haven’t been the only surprise in the history of the EuroLeague by taking part in the Final Four, since we’ve seen this fairytale unfolding in front of our eyes many times in the past and, without a doubt, basketball fans love when this happens since nobody likes… routine.
Eurohoops presents the teams that got into the EuroLeague Final Four as Cinderellas in the modern era of the competition (2002-2017), and their accomplishments in the big appointment of Europe’s top club competition.
Panathinaikos 2002: The epic win in Bologna with Bodiroga the MVP.
In 2002 in the EuroLeague, Panathinaikos were coming off a lost final from 2001 to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Paris and their goal was to at least get into the Final Four.
Zeljko Obradovic had an excellent team with Bodiroga, Alvertis, Kutluay and Middleton. Of course, they weren’t as strong as they had been in previous years, but they were still a strong EuroLeague team.
What they did in the Final Four: Panathinaikos’s presence in the Final Four in Bologna is considered by many one of Zeljko Obradovic‘s top coaching performances, since he won the trophy as the ultimate outsider.
To begin with, in the semifinal against Maccabi, Dejan Bodiroga’s feats (26 points, 9 rebounds) and Middleton’s excellent performance (15 points, 5 rebounds) were enough for Panathinaikos to advance to the final. There, however, the opponent was going to be Ettore Messina and Manu Ginobili’s Kinder Bologna, playing on their home court as the favorites to win the EuroLeague from the start of that season.
In the first half, the Italians had the lead (48-40), but in the second Bodiroga (21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), Kutluay (22 points, 5 rebounds) and Lazaros Papadopoulos (12 points, 5 rebounds) put their signatures on an historic triumph. The Greens played excellent offense, tightened up their defense and… shocked the home team and the Final Four organizers by lifting the trophy with an 89-82 win in Bologna!