The first half of Serie A season is over and the table is set for a little appetizer to the final playoffs. In Turin, from February 16th to 19th, the top eight teams of the 2011-12 season’s first half will play each other in elimination games to conquer the Coppa Italia, the second-most important national trophy and litmus paper of each team’s ambitions.

The teams and matchups are as follows.

Montepaschi Siena (1) vs Banco di Sardegna Sassari (8)
EA7 Milano (4) vs Canadian Solar Bologna (5)
Scavolini Siviglia Pesaro (2) vs Umana Venezia (7)
Bennet Cantù (3) vs Sidigas Avellino (6)

Will this be an opportunity for Montepaschi Siena to reassert its dominance after a few unexpected losses or a chance for rampant new challengers to prepare for an assault on the throne?

Looking at the low end of the brackets first, Scavolini Siviglia Pesaro and Bennet Cantù look like the best-equipped teams to make it to the final, with a slight advantage for Cantù. Since the unpleasant episode of the pig’s head, Pesaro has won four consecutive games and looks like the team in the best physical and mental shape.

Cantù recently added the undersized-but-energetic center Greg Brunner and has a long and experienced rotation to oppose to the talented-yet-inconsistent Avellino firstly and then the energetic young Pesaro team.

Siena presumably won’t have too many problems in getting rid of the Cinderella team Sassari but will certainly face a hard nut to crack in the semifinal against the winner of the most balanced matchup of the cup, EA7 Milan vs Canadian Solar Bologna.

After Terrell McIntyre’s abrupt retirement due to chronic hip problems, Bologna point guard Giuseppe Poeta stepped up together with big man Angelo Gigli, quickly becoming the best pick-and-roll duo of the league. Milan, on the other hand, is still struggling to find a fluid game and consistency in results, despite the recent tab of the best Italian prospect Alessandro Gentile. If Coach Scariolo doesn’t fix things before mid-February, Bologna will get the ticket to the semifinal.

Anyway, even though both teams defeated Siena on their home courts this season, Montepaschi’s solid and experienced system makes the club appear more of a more reliable bet.

So, nothing but history repeating? A rerun of last year’s Siena vs Cantù final and a fourth consecutive Coppa Italia for Coach Pianigiani? Lame, yeah. But likely.

Siena has a number of inflammable players who can easily get in the zone and win a game pretty much on their own, like former Euroleague scoring-champ Igor Rakocevic; Bo McCalebb, the most dominant point guard; and young gun Pietro Aradori. In addition to this, Pianigiani can count on a solid core of experienced veterans (Shaun Stonerook above all, but also newcomers like David Andersen and Bootsy Thornton) able to provide the extra killer instinct needed on special occasions.

With such an uneven combination of talent and experience compared to their opponents, it’s hard to bet against Montepaschi in Coppa Italia’s Final 8. However, in America as well as in Europe, the golden rule in elimination-game events is always “Never underestimate the hunger of an underdog.”

And compared to Siena, any team in this tournament is an underdog.

Enrico Cellini is lifelong basketball fanatic and a long-time sportswriter with a focus on Italy and Spain. He was born among European hoops, was raised watching the NBA, and thinks choosing between American and European basketball is like choosing between one’s mother and father. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Italian-language blog Hoop Addicted.

Below runs BallinEurope’s updated roundup on the current situation in regular seasons and/or playoffs in the Continent’s domestic leagues. This list will be updated whenever possible.

Any information BallinEurope readers can provide is much appreciated as well.

Euroleague: Panathinaikos took its third championship in five years by decisively taking out first Montepaschi Siena and then Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Euroleague Final Four tournament. In the year of Dimitris Diamantidis, the PAO guard added another trophy to the mantelpiece by bagging the tourney’s MVP award.

ULEB Eurocup: Unics Kazan became the first unlicensed team to officially join the 2011-12 Euroleague ranks with a decisive 92-77 victory over Cajasol Sevilla in the championship match. Maciej Lampe contributed a huge effort with 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Kelly McCarty went for 18 and Terrell Lyday put in 15. But it was Marko Popović who was named MVP for dishing out a Eurocup championship record 11 assists to go with his 18 points.

FIBA Eurochallenge: Krka Novo Mesto topped Lokomotiv Kuban 83-77 to take the 2011 FIBA EuroChallenge title in Belgium, thanks to a fourth-quarter comeback; in the third-place game, hosts Oostende snuck past Spartak St. Petersburg, 94-92, in overtime.

Adriatic League: Partizan Belgrade took its fifth straight NLB title by defeating fellow Euroleague side Union Olimipija, 77-74, in the championship game.

Balkan League: Macedonia’s KK Feni Indistrija won its first-ever BIBL title by defeating Rilski Sportist of Bulgaria, 88-75, in the championship game.

Baltic League: Žalgiris Kaunas defended home court with the magic of the “Green Death” to take the Baltic League title over VEF Riga, 75-67.

VTB United League: BC Khimki overcame fellow Muscovites of CSKA, 66-64, in the VTB championship game; Vitaly Fridzon was named Final Four tournament MVP. For third place, Eurocup champs Unics Kazan survived Azovmash Mariupol.

Albania: SK Tirana were crowned Albanian Basketball League champions after twice topping UAT. Despite going just 7-8 during the FSHB regular season, UAT snuck into the finals by upsetting theretofore-undefeated Studenti Tirana in a best-of-three round.

Austria: Three-time runners-up Oberwart Gunners finally broke through in the Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga, nipping back-to-back champions Allianz Swans Gmunden in game five of the championship series, 77-75.

Belarus: Is BC Minsk-2006 the European team of the year? Certainly, the Belarusian champions compiled one of the best single seasons ever in terms of straight-up record with a pair of 3-0 sweeps in the playoffs to bring their final mark for the 2010-11 season to a perfect 46-0.

Belgium: The Euroleague’s Charleroi made it four Belgian league titles in a row by disposing of Okapi Aalstar with a three-game sweep in the championship series.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Siroki TT defended its title by taking out regular-season no. 1 seed BC Igokea Aleksandrovac, 3-1 in their best-of-five championship series.

Bulgaria: Lukoil Academik finished the 2010-11 season with a perfect 36-0 mark in Bulgaria, sweeping regular-season no. 2 finisher Levski in the best-of-five final series. This marks the ninth straight NBL title for Lukoil.

Croatia: KK Zagreb bagged its first-ever Croatian league title with a 3-0 series win over Cedevita.

Cyprus: After a wacky playoff tournament which ultimately saw no. 4 seed Intercollege Etha Engomis face off against no. 6 AEL Limassol (who were just 6-10 in the regular season!) for the title, Etha was named 2011 champions in winning the series three games to two. Kudos to these champions, who reportedly have quite the long history of Cinderella and/or underdog status – and this season, league MVP Anthony King.

Czech Republic: The Czech Republic’s marquee team, CEZ Nymburk, finished the season on a 20-2 run, managing to top Eurochallenge side BK Prostejov four games to two in the finals.

Denmark: The Bakken Bears were named Ligaen champions after avenging last season’s championship series loss to Svendborg by sweeping the Rabbits 4-0 in the finals. Bakken’s former Texas Tech Red Raider Charlie Burgess was named league MVP.

Estonia: Kalev/Cramo swept Tartu University/Rock in the best-of-seven championship series, returning the trophy they last won in 2008-09.

Finland: Tampereen Pyrinto are the Finnish champions after destroying Kataja in the deciding game five of the finals, 80-57. Damon Williams was named regular-season MVP after compiling a fantastic line of 18.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals per over 55 games.

France: SLUC Nancy was named LNB champs and earned a 2011-12 Euroleague bid by nipping Cholet Basket, 76-74, in France’s one-game winner-take-all championship final, 76-74.

Germany: Brose Baskets Bamberg outlasted Alba Berlin in the culmination of another edge-of-your-seat Bundesliga tournament, winning game five by a score of 72-65.

Greece: Euroleague champions Panathinaikos made it nine straight EΣAKE titles by stunning theretofore 36-0 Olympiacos in the best-of-five final series, three games to one. PAO has now taken an incredible nine straight Greek championships.

Holland: ZZ Leiden survived GasTerra Flames in Holland’s best-of-seven championship series, four games to three.

Hungary: Szolnok fought back from a two-game deficit to win three straight, shocking Albacomp in the Hungarian finals. This marks the third-ever title for Szolnok, who were champions in 1991 and 2007.

Iceland: In what is perhaps Europe’s smallest league, the tinily-titled KR (a.k.a. KR Reykjavik if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) defeated Stjarnan, three games to one, to take the title.

Ireland: Killester Dublin made it back-to-back titles by defeating Neptune Cork, 84-80, in the championship.

Israel: David Blatt’s Maccabi Tel Aviv regained the Ligat HaAl title by stomping 2009-10 champs Galil/Gilboa in the one-game final, 91-64.

Italy: Montepaschi Siena seems destined to bag its fourth consecutive title, holding a three-games-to-one lead over Bennet Cantu in the championship series.

Latvia: Baltic League runners-up/Eurocup/VTB United League side VEF Riga finally got its 2010-11 trophy, coming back to win the final two games in the best-of-seven championship series over Eurochallenge team Ventspils.

Lithuania: No front-office shenanigans got in the way of Žalgiris Kaunas taking back the title from former back-to-back LKL champs Lietuvos Rytas, 4-1. Žalgiris capped its title bid with a 95-69 punishment of their rivals in game five, ending the season with a 32-1 overall record against Lithuanian teams. The Greens can take great pride in their 2010-11 season, with the LKL trophy sitting nicely on the mantelpiece next to the Baltic League title.

Luxembourg: T71 Dudelange defended its Diekirch League title, topping Etzella in the decisive game three of the championship series, 86-52.

Malta: Athleta took its eighth Maltese title by winning two straight games over BUPA Luxol in the final series.

Norway: Baerum Basket bested the Tromso Storm in two straight games to win the Norwegian title.

Poland: Perpetual Polish power Asseco Prokom took seven games to defeat PGE Turow and take another PLK title.

Portugal: Porto Ferpinta, which had gone 27-2 in LPB play going into the finals, survived a challenge from Benfica to win the final series four games to three.

Romania: As reported via TotalBaschet.ro, U Mobitelco BT Cluj-Napoca is the new Romanian national champion thanks to some last-second half-court shooting heroics by Tyler Morris. The team coached by Marcel Tenter (Tab Baldwin’s former assistant coach at Cluj-Napoca during the 2007-08 campaign, now in just his second year as head coach of a senior first division team) beat CSU Asesoft Ploiesti, 64-61, in Game 6 of the Divizia A final of the 2010-11 season. Cluj won the series 4-2 to break CSU Asesoft Ploiesti’s six-year stranglehold on the title.

Russia: For the ninth consecutive season, CSKA Moscow are the champions of Russian basketball. Along with the exultation of the Red Army’s 74-63 victory over BC Khimki, however, came the sad (if inevitable) news that longtime Muscovite J.R. Holden would be retiring from professional basketball.

Serbia: Partizan Belgrade closed out its Serbian Superleague season by sweeping 2009-10 runners-up Hemofarm Stada in the best-of-five championship series.

Slovakia: BK Astrum Levice were named 2011 Slovakian champions are beating BK SPU Nitra three games to two. Americans Mike English and Esian Henderson starred for Levice in the decisive game five, with the former putting in 21 points and seven rebounds, while the latter added a double-double of 15 and 11.

Slovenia: Eurochallenge team/Slovenian no. 1 seed Krka Novo Mesto made in back-to-back domestic league titles by taking out Union Olimpija in the championship series.

Spain: FC Barcelona returned to ACB titledom and a Spanish triple crown by sweeping surprising Bizkaia Bilbao Basket in three straight games in the finals.

Sweden: In a battle between the last two season’s champions, Sundsvall Dragons recaptured the Basketligan title from 2010 winners Norrköping Dolphins in seven games. The Dragons dominated the league’s awards for 2010-11 as well: Jakob Sigurdarson bagged MVP, Guard of the Year and Import Player of the Year nods; Forward of the Year was Alex Wesby; and finally, the MIP trophy went to Johan Jeansson.

Switzerland: Lugano Tigers defended their title with a 3-1 series victory over Fribourg in the championship series.

Turkey: Fenerbahçe Ülker topped Eurocup side Galatasaray Café Crown, 91-88, in game six of the TBL championship series. This marks the fourth championship for Fenerbahçe in the last five years and a defense of their 2009-10 title.

Ukraine: Eurocup side Budivelnyk took the championship from Ukrainian regular-season table-toppers BC Donetsk by winning three of the last four games in the best-of-seven championship series.

United Kingdom: Liverpool Mersey Tigers won the BBL championship in between Sharks Sheffield, 79-74, in the championship game.

Fenerbahçe’s big guns were all firing in the game, with five players in double-digit scoring including contributions of 20 and 19 from Omer Onan and Oguz Savas, respectively, down to Sean May’s highly efficient 10 points in 16 minutes.

Highlights and official Euroleague writeup follow the break.

(Euroleague.net) – Fenerbahçe Ülker wrapped up its fifth Turkish League championship and fourth in the last five years by holding on to edge Galatasaray Café Crown 88-91 in Game 6 of the Turkish League finals on Friday in Istanbul.

In a thriller, Fenerbahçe guards Roko Ukic and Sarunas Jasikevicius combined to go 6-for-6 from the line in the final 13 seconds to hold on to a slim lead to win the game and take the best-of-seven series, 4-2. Omer Onan paced the winners with 20 points before fouling out and Oguz Savas added 19. Jasikevicius scored 14, Emir Preldzic had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists and Sean May tallied 10 points and six boards in just 16 minutes of court time. Jerry Johnson led Galatasaray with 19 points and eight assists, Preston Shumpert tallied 18 with six rebounds and Ermal Kuqo scored 10 in defeat.

The game was close from the onset. A pair of Shumpert three-pointers lifted Galatasaray to a 19-13 lead, but two May baskets helped Fener cut the gap to 23-21 after 10 minutes. An Onan three put FB Ülker back on top early in the second quarter and May made it 25-32. Jasikevicius nailed a pair of threes to further boost the Fenerbahçe advantage to 31-39, but Galatasaray finished the half on a tear to take the lead before Saras tied the score at 49-49 at halftime.

Shumpert put the hosts up by four points on a number of occasions in the third quarter, but neither team would lead by more than five the rest of the way; the fourth quarter alone featured two ties and six lead changes as the game came down to the wire.

Evren Buker put Galatasaray ahead 80-79 with 2:47 remaining, but the hosts’ attack stalled after that. Onan connected from downtown and then lifted his team to a 82-85 advantage with 49 seconds left. Johnson narrowed the gap to 84-85 with a pair of free throws with 13 seconds remaining as the game turned into a free throw contest. But Ukic and Jasikevicius combined to go 6-for-6 from the line in the final 13 seconds to ensure victory and the title for Fenerbahçe.

Playing nearly the entire game, Holden’s 25-point, four-steal swansong led his team to the series capper. Series MVP Viktor Khryapa contributed 12 points and four rebounds in the win.

But then, the announcement. Russia-based RIA Novosti today reports that after the game, Holden told his teammates that “This was probably my last basketball match. I’ve decided to end my career.” As for whether the naturalized citizen will play for Team Russia in FIBA Eurobasket 2011, Holden stated to the media that he’d promised coach David Blatt to participate and “I plan to keep my word, [but] so far I can’t say exactly if I’ll play in the European championship or not. I still have a week to think about it.”

Holden graduated from Bucknell University in 1998 and went uncalled in the NBA Draft. After bouncing around Latvia, Belgium and Greece, Holden landed with CSKA Moscow in 2002, ultimately calling Russia home. CSKA’s mantelpiece has become more decorated since Holden took over leadership of the Moscow backcourt, earning eight national titles, four Russian Cups, two Euroleague championship titles and eight EL Final Four appearances.

The 35-year-old has played in 209 Euroleague games, averaging 11.4 points and 2.9 assists per game in cumulative EL play, including his 2001-02 bid with AEK Athens.

In terms of individual career highlights, however, the jewel in the man’s crown is certainly the stirring and stunning run led by Holden, Khyrapa and Andrei Kirilenko in Eurobasket 2007. The tourney was capped with a brilliant 60-59 shutting down of mighty Team Spain by the unheralded Russian side who’d only entered the competition through a last-chance qualification round. And guess whose jumper with two seconds remaining was the decisive basket in the gold-medal game…?

This last PBL victory by CSKA may have led in part to Holden’s decision, as he remarked that “he’s on top and did not wish to be ‘like Michael Jordan with Washington.’”

So it was for the 2010-11 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks last night, who were represented by eight players plus head coach Rick Carlisle and Mark Cuban in contributing the regular gag for the CBS program.

Unfortunately, the folks at YouTube diligently block any material from Letterman’s show but you can check out what the station is calling a “preview clip,” including appearances by the team’s “cocky and obnoxious” owner below the break.

For a prose listing of the top 10, including a killer line from Caron Butler and a glimmering of Dirk Nowitzki’s off-season dating plans, click here. (So when’s Jimmy Kimmel gonna invite ‘em over, anyway…?)

In a tightly fought, highly defensive contest the league’s official site describes as “intense,” Bilbao threatened to pull off another upset in its Cinderella playoff run, first taking a 30-29 lead into halftime and adding an 11-2 run early in the third quarter to go up 41-33.

Series MVP Juan Carlos Navarro (who finished with a game-high 16 points) led the charge thereafter, however, and the title-holders outgunned Bilbao, 31-14, the rest of the way.

The Mavs become just the ninth NBA franchise to win the big league’s title since 1980, the year the team entered the league.

Truly, Dirk is the toast of Germany (not to mention Cleveland) today, earning another accolade for his Hall of Fame plaque in becoming the first citizen of his country to bag an NBA championship ring.

In Nowitzki’s hometown of Würzburg, a “few hundred” fans watched the match in the wee hours of the morning. Dirk’s father Jörg commented that the victory “is something very special for Dirk because he is finally recognized in America as a [great].”

The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger proclaimed the Mavs’ victory “The quiet triumph” (“Der leise Triumphator”) and recognized Nowitzki as “join[ing] the ranks of Germany’s biggest sports icons.”

Perhaps the big man might not need quite so much media attention, however: Die Bild noted in a headline that, overcome with emotion after the game, “Nowitzki cries in shower.”

For now, though, let’s just enjoy another look at the game highlights below and rest assured in the notion that sometimes, in sports at least, there is justice.

First up, congratulations to new LNB champs SLUC Nancy, who earned a 2011-12 Euroleague bid in nipping Cholet Basket, 76-74, in France’s one-game winner-take-all championship final yesterday.

Despite shooting a woeful 26-of-89 overall (that’s just over 29%), Cholet managed to stay in the game by dominating the boards. Randal Falker was good for nine rebounds in the game, while Antywane Robinson, Team France’s Luc-Artur Verbobe and Samuel Mejia each contributed six, as Cholet won this battle 41-28.

No matter, though, as ultimately the two shots that mattered came directly at the conclusion of the match. Game MVP and high-scorer John Linehan put in his 14th and 15th points of the game with right around three seconds left on the clock to give Nancy a two-point advantage. On the final possession, Mejia tossed up an airball from beyond the arc at the buzzer and it was game over.

Nancy won its first-ever LNB title in 2008, now bookended by this 2011 trophy.

You can check out the league’s official site for game highlights, but here’s a video of the LNB pulling out all the stops for the game in Paris.

Though not quite enough for Cholet, 74 points was again the winning tally for FC Barcelona in game two of its ACB championship series with Bizkaia Bilbao Basket, with the Euroleaguers besting the upset-minded upstarts, 74-67. This time out, Barca was led by Juan Carlos Navarro, who supplemented another, let’s say, off (4-of-13 overall) shooting night with 9-of-10 free throw shooting and the proverbial tenacious D.

After taking a 40-31 lead into halftime, Barcelona ballooned that lead out to 48-36 and held Bilbao to a wee nine points in the third quarter to put the game beyond BBB’s reach for the remainder of the game.

Game three in the best-of-five series will be played on Bilboa’s home floor on Tuesday night at 8.45pm CET (2.45 EST).

In Germany, game three in Bundesliga championship play saw Brose Baskets Bamberg cruising to a 90-74 (that number again!) victory over Alba Berlin for a 2-1 series lead. The decisive victory in “Freak City” was led by the multi-dimensional attack of Casey Jacobsen (3-of-5 on threes), Anton Gavel (8-of-8 on free throws), and Kyle Hines (a sweet 5-of-7 down low): Each contributed 15 points.

Here’s the very awkward post-game press conference with coaches Muli Katzurin and Chris Fleming together with a moderator taking journalists’ questions; call it the American viewpoint, but BiE isn’t exactly sure why this is organized like this…

Game four in the best-of-five series is scheduled for Tuesday night in Berlin at 8pm CET (2pm EST)

Finally, the Official BallinEurope Fearless Prediction™ (or Predictions™) for NBA Championship game six: Dwyane Wade controls the game, going off for, say, 28 points, hits the clutch shot and draws more infuriating comparisons to Michael Jordan in the blogosphere. But also setting things up for a dandy game seven. Miami Heat 90, Dallas Mavericks 88. (This of course means that folks in Dallas should start partying now.

In Turkey, Galatasaray Café Crown defended homecourt against perpetual power Fenerbahçe Ülker, 97-93 in overtime last night, with an admirably balanced attack against the star-powered defending champs.

Eleven players scored in double figures in the game, but while Fenerbahçe’s headliners include studs like Darjus Lavrinovic (16 points, six rebounds, two blocks), Roko Ukic (18 points, four boards), Ömer Onan (18 points) and Sarunas Jasikevicius (12 points, three assists), Galatasaray got nice performances out of less-than-household names Ermal Kurtoğlu (20 points, three assists), Jerry Johnson (18 points, six assists), Joshua Shipp (14 points, 10 rebounds), Preston Shumpert (14 points), and Luksa Andric (10 points, four boards).

Despite their standing as the two oldest basketball franchises in Turkey, the 2010-11 TBL championship series represents the first time Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe meet for the title in the modern era. Galatasaray last won the Turkish title in 1990.

The best-of-seven series now stands at two games to one in Fenerbahçe’s favor. Game four is set for Saturday night on Galatasaray’s home floor.

Meanwhile, the Cinderella story of the 2010-11 ACB playoffs, Bizkaia Bilbao Basket, met with the big bad Barcelonan wolf … or something like that. Barça managed to hold off the Euroleaguer-killing no. 6 seed in game one of the Spanish finals, 74-64, behind Erazem Lorbek’s career night.

How incredible was Lorbek’s 24-point, seven-rebound performance? Beyond killing his previous ACB high of 18 and amassing an incredible overall valuation of 28 (for comparison’s sake, the next-highest ranking in this match was produced by Boniface N’Dong, whose nine points and 10 rebounds was good for a 17 score), the numbers show that Barça’s plus/minus was a whopping +24 while Lorbek was in the game and thus -14 without him.

Lorbek was the only Barcelona player to score in double figures and was seemingly the sole Blaugrana who had his shooting touch working: While Lorbek shot 9-of-12 overall, Barça’s remainder could manage a cold 19-of-52, or 36.5%. And the Slovenian’s normally sharpshooting teammates went just 3-of-16 outside the arc, including Juan Carlos Navarro’s 1-for-6.

The league’s official website also points out that Lorbek had totaled his previous ACB career-high 18 twice – both times against Bilbao.

All BiE knows is that, barring another such explosion from Lorbek in game two, mighty Barcelona could have their hands full with these scrappy upstarts – the fairy tale story isn’t over quite yet and Bilbao might still have a few upsets left in ‘em…

Game two of the ACB championship series will be played on Saturday evening at the Palau Sant Jordi.

And from the In Case You Missed It Department, here’s the NBA.com’s official highlight clip from the Dallas Mavericks’ 112-103 victory over Zydrunas Ilgauskas and the Evil Empire the Miami Heat in game five of the big league’s championship series runs below. While Dirk Nowitzki fell slightly short of BiE’s Fearless Prediction figuring him for a 30/15, his 29 points and six rebounds lifted him to player of the game status over the triple-double performance by King Lebron James.

Even if the Mavs drop the next two games, surely Dastardly Dirk is a shoo-in for FIBA Europe Player of the Year, a trophy the German last hoisted in 2005, n’est-ce pas?

Before a full capacity crowd of 25,000, Panathinaikos pulled off the win despite an injury to Dimitris Diamantidis in the first minute of the game. After slogging through the first quarter, which produced an 18-17 lead for Olympiacos, the Greens were buoyed by the performances of Mike Batiste (who ended up with 22 points, 11 rebounds), Antonis Fotsis (22 points), and Nick Calathes (16 points, 11 assists, five rebounds) to grab a 41-39 halftime lead.

The sides played nip and tuck throughout the second half, but a 9-0 run in the overtime period would prove too much for Olympiacos, and the Greek trophy will once again stay in the PAO clubhouse.

It’s the end of a frustrating season for the Reds, which took a 36-0 record against Greek teams into the championship series, only to lose three games to one. The Reds also took a 12-4 overall record into the Euroleague final eight round, only to drop three straight to underdogs Montepaschi Siena and suffer elimination from the big league by an identical 3-1 series score.

While Olympiacos will reportedly face league retribution for incidents involving fans in game three of the series, PAO will surely be receiving some penalty from EΣAKE officials for the chaos that ensued after this match as well. Fans stormed the court after the home team’s victory and Olympiacos coach Vangelis Angelou was punched in the eye by a, let’s say, overzealous Greens fan. Ioannis Bourousis was apparently a target for damage as well, but escaped from the court with Dimantidis.

More Reds players were reportedly in physical danger, but Panathinaikos backers were held at bay by Obradovic, Diamantidis, Kostas Kaimakoglou, and Giorgos Bogris.