By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The fans are missing, Cologne is still under lockdown and if you get outside the Lanxess Arena you wouldn’t have the slightest idea that inside the court, legends are being fulfilled and made.
No matter how you try to measure it, the presence of Pau Gasol in the 2021 EuroLeague Final Four makes it special.
It’s not just the connection to the late Kobe Bryant, which Pau is politely mentioning when asked without getting into many emotional details. The elder Gasol brother is special in his own right, being part of the holy trinity of European stars together with Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker that left their mark on the NBA, while also dominating with their national teams the world basketball scene for almost two decades.
And yes, after two decades Pau is still standing tall, a beacon of talent, charisma, and class that will be very hard to imitate in the near future.
On his side, his old teammate and now coach Sarunas Jasikevicius, who was there on Gasol’s draft night with Pau buying him the tickets to attend the draft ceremony. “Free tickets are always appreciated”, joked Saras who is on the verge of greatness also as a head coach.
A four-time EuroLeague winner as a player, he can become the first one in the modern history of the EuroLeague who wins it also as a head coach, a feat that in the past was only achieved by former Barcelona coach Svetislav Pesic, Spanish legend Lolo Sainz and Armenian-soviet CSKA icon Armenak Alachachian.
Jasikevicius can dispel the myth that great players are not usually also great coaches and just in his first season in his beloved Barcelona as a head coach to lead the club to the EuroLeague title after a decade.
On the other side, there’s Anadolu Efes, the team which has arguably produced the best basketball in the EuroLeague for the past three seasons and has created comparisons with the Maccabi dynasty at the turn of the century due to their style of play.
How else can Efes cement their legacy without winning the trophy and getting the ultimate seal of approval?
And that also extends to Shane Larkin and coach Ergin Ataman.
Despite being 55 years old, Ataman’s long career dates back to 1996. He has already won the Saporta Cup in 2002, the EuroChallenge in 2012, and the EuroCup in 2016.
He can become the first Turkish head coach to win the EuroLeague and enter without any doubt the pantheon of the European coaching legends.
Meanwhile, Shane Larkin was having the best season ever of a US player in Europe until COVID happen. He holds the record for performance index rating in the Final Four with his 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists performance in the semifinal against Fenerbahce back in 2019.
Also, the 29 points he scored in his losing effort against CSKA Moscow in the final, remain the scoring record in the history of the finals.
Plus in the last season which was never completed, he set one more record by scoring 49 points in the regular season game against FC Bayern Munich.
And despite scoring just 11 points in the semifinal, he sealed the deal in the most unexpected way, with a clutch rebound.
It’s obvious that winning the EuroLeague is not a small feat no matter what and European basketball history is always being made.
However, this time around, in an empty gym in Cologne, Germany, the stakes might end up being higher than ever for everyone involved in what can be a fairy tale ending for both sides. As the world is recovering from a global pandemic, the season is ending with a battle that will go down as one of the most important games in the history of the competition.