By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Eurohoops presents the complete review of the playoffs in the best European leagues (Spanish, Turkish, Greek, German, Italian and French) this weekend highlighting the Top scorer, the top win, the worst loss, the biggest fall and a tip during the last five days.
Top scorer
DJ Strawberry (Karsiyaka, Turkey)
26 points (9/12 free throws, 4/8 2ps, 3/6 3ps) in Karsiyaka’s victory vs Efes Anadolu (71-65)
The biggest win
Sweep for Olympiacos
Olympiacos won the championship with a sweep (3-0) against Panathinaikos for the first time in their history, actually counting five wins in a row for the first time in their history against their eternal rivals. Also, the “greens” lost the title with a sweep for the first time.
The worst defeat
Reggio Emilia collapse at the finale
Reggio Emilia got the ideal result at home against Sassari (two wins with 82-63 and 84-71) and travelled to Sardinia to make the most decisive step for the title. In the third quarter they were playing the ideal game against the home team (they only conceded 4 points) but in the final quarter they couldn’t hold, conceded 33 points and succumbed, allowing Sassari to cut the deficit down to 2-1.
The biggest failure
Everything upside down for Efes
Efes started out the finals series against Karsiyaka as the big favorites, but is now with the back against the wall (1-3 wins) losing both games in Smyrna (91-88 and 71-65). During the finals Krstic was injured, Heurtel was suspended for two games while the highlight was the line that Batuk stepped on in the fourth game when he scored a three-pointer ten seconds before the end of overtime.
The interesting element
Yet another clásico
Barcelona qualified over Malaga (3-2 wins) in a painstaking manner, but didn’t ruin the tradition that’s been created in the past few years in Spain, as we will have for a fourth season in a row a clásico in the finals with the Catalans having won three of those and Real one. It is, however, strange the extent to which surprises have been “excluded” in recent years, since in the previous decade (2002-2011), Real and Barcelona had met just once in the finals, in 2007. In this way, we had seen in the finals teams like Laboral, Malaga, Valencia, Estudiantes and Bilbao.