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Instant history: Olympiacos dominates last 30 minutes, tops Real Madrid, 100-88, for back-to-back titles

May 12, 2013

No matter which way this year’s Euroleague championship played out, history would be made with Olympiacos chasing a repeat championship and Real Madrid its first in 18 years. And as it turns out, fate’s scribe was writing with Red(s) pen: Once again, tournament underdogs Olympiacos ended up EL alpha dogs with a 100-88 win over Real Madrid for only the third repeat title of the last 25 years.

(Olympiacos BC image courtesy Euroleague)

Olympiacos: They are the champions — again

Real Madrid jumped out to an early lead as All-Euroleague first teamer Rudy Fernandez accounted for six points and two assists on his team’s first 10 points, finding Sergio Llull again and again; the two would combine for 16 in the first quarter alone. Los Blancos’ 27-10 lead after the opening stanza might have been considered enough against an ordinary team – but Europe’s comeback kids are hardly ordinary.

Pero Antic’s three to start the scoring in the second quarter got the Olympiacos fans back to their feet –more importantly triggering a 13-2 run with contributions from Kyle Hines and Kostas Sloukas to bring the Reds to within seven at 29-22. And highlight-reel Reyes-to-Slaughter alley-oop dunk aside, the Reds fairly well owned the second 10 minutes, outscoring Real 27-14

Of particular note in the second 10 minutes was Stratos Perperglou stifling Fernandez, limiting him to just two points on free throws; in fact, Perperglou’s defensive play was representative of Olympiacos’, as nearly half of the Madrid points (six) in the quarter were made at the line, while six Real turnovers were forced.

Vassilis Spanoulis, remarkably quiet for so long, finally broke his personal cold streak with a three after the first minute of the third quarter and a subsequent three would give Olympiacos its first lead at 48-45 – must’ve been something concocted at halftime … another run – this one 15-5 – appeared to have Real on the ropes in the third, but Los Blancos weren’t finished yet, momentarily retaking the lead at 56-55 after a pair of jumpers from Fernandez.

Among the highlights in a pressure-packed final five minutes of the third were two consecutive stops of Fernandez after he’d run up seven in the stanza already; among the lowlights, Sloukas assessed for a technical after flopping. Nikola Mirotic, uncharacteristically plagued with foul trouble earned his fourth PF – one of 10 committed by three members of the Real frontcourt – late in the third quarter as well. After 30 minutes, it was a new ballgame: 61-61.

With 90 seconds gone, Spanoulis reentered the court to palpable tension. A section of Reds fans maintained their trademark noise, but many were strangely silent while the Madridistas clung to edges of their seats.
The death blow may have come on a hidden play, as Acie Law forced Llull to bounce a dribble off his foot and into the backcourt – Spanoulis’ followup three would ultimately seal the deal from 70-62:

While Law and Sloukas and Georgi Shermadini went on to score from various spots on the floor, Jaycee Carroll’s three-pointer – just one of three Madrid shooting attempts in the fourth quarter’s first five minutes – stood alone as a Real success from the floor. By that time, the Reds’ lead had ballooned to 82-70 and the Spanish side simply did not have an Olympiacos-like miracle comeback in ‘em.

And no Spanoulis, either.

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May 12, 2013ballineurope
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This post was published on May 12, 2013
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Comments: 39
  1. Derrick
    10 years ago

    Fwww. That was close.
    OLY and V-Span almost destroyed by the great Real Madrid.

    ReplyCancel
  2. gabepizza
    10 years ago

    Spanoulis is the SUPER SCRUB and the WORST player in all of Europe.

    FACTS I only speak about FACTS.

    ReplyCancel
  3. mike
    10 years ago

    Congratulations to Olym for winning the Euroleague, one of the top leagues in the world contending to be no.2 in the world after the NBA. Top contenders for 2nd place: the D-League, CBA, Australian league. It’s a close one.

    ReplyCancel
    • Derrick
      10 years ago

      You sound bitter Mike,
      I hope you get what you need to make you feel better in life.

      ReplyCancel
    • panos christo
      10 years ago

      That got to hurt boys..yes, i mean you 2
      Painful experience, like somebody ripped gabes tongue out off its socket and forced fed it to you mikey boy..
      If there would be an award for beeing completely wrong predicting european basketball ,you and your best butt, would co-share the nobel
      prize every single year..
      No matter how wrong and crazy this gabe character is, at least he got his
      own little head but you, not one original thought that u can pass as your own, you either agreeing with everything your best butt says or disagreeing with everything everybody else says…
      Anyways Fact is OLYMPIAKOS are the old and new European Champions , a guy named VASILIS SPANOULIS is the regular saisons AND final4 MVP / MVP/ MVP and ONLY ONE US boy in both All-Euroleague selections (no farmar no brown no vujanic no weems no nothing)..
      Now get together with your butt open a flaky bottle of lukewarm chardonay have it in front of the fireplace if u got one, pop a dvd of the d-league into your device (or his) and start watching it togetherdaydreaming why the rest of the world dont get you two queers…

      ReplyCancel
  4. mike
    10 years ago

    Spanoulis a SCRUB. He can do well in the junior minor league circuit, but when he was in the NBA playing in the big boy’s league, he was one of the biggest SCRUBS in all of NBA history.

    All the Euros here that say Spanoulis is anything but a COMPLETE SCRUB are insane, delusional, and should be viewed as the jokes that they are.

    ReplyCancel
  5. Gabe
    10 years ago

    Spanoulis is the BIGGEST JOKE EVER! He lost against Nigeria. The same Nigeria that lost to the USA by 83 points. If Spanoulis led Greece would have played against the US at the Olympics, Greece would have lost by between 84-100 points.

    Spanoulis spent 6 years in the inferior junior varsity minor league in Europe without even winning one league MVP award. Spanoulis got DOMINATED by Ade Dagunduro.

    This SCRUB is an EMBARRASSMENT and he needs to RETIRE now. Greece’s national federation needs to ban both the SUPER SCRUB Spanoulis and that ridiculously slow, non athletic white stiff Bourousis that can’t even jump 2 inches off the floor and can’t even run for more than 30 seconds without passing out. Not to mention that he’s slower than 50-60 year old guys at my local YMCA.

    As long as Greece continues to allow the SUPER SCRUB Spanoulis and the soft STIFF Bourousis on their team, they will never win finish even in the top 10 of one of those joke European regional qualifying tournaments, which are about 1/5 the level of the Olympics anyway.

    It is obvious that teams like Nigeria, Angola, China, Germany, Australia, Tunisia and many others long ago surpassed Greece in basketball level. I doubt if Greece even cracks the top 25 FIBA rankings once in the next 20 years.

    As for Olympiacos winning the Euroleague, everyone knows that the Euroleague has dropped in level drastically in recent years. It’s not the 2nd league in the world,even though it claims it is.

    Clearly, the leagues in Puerto Rico, Belgium, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, France, Tunisia, Angola, Nigeria are MUCH better than the Euroleague. As well as many others.

    Leagues like the ones in Australia and China are VASTLY superior to the level of the Euroleague. The D-League is about 50 levels higher than the Euroleague. Spanoulis would be lucky t be a 10-12 man on even the worst D-League teams.

    So Spanoulis won a championship and a MVP from a shitty bush league that is MAYBE around the 20th or so best basketball league in the world.

    Spanoulis even on his best day is not in the top 1,000 players in the world. Greece will not finish higher than 20th at that junior regional qualifier tournament in Europe this summer.

    They won’t even qualify to play at the 2014 FIBA World Cup because any team that is led by Spanoulis is NOT among the top 24 best teams in the world. The only reason Greece ever won a single game was because of Papaloukas and Diamantidis. Since they retired and Spanoulis took over Greece’s national team, Greece is probably the WORST national team in the world in the last 5 years or so.

    If Spanoulis had any dignity or pride at all he would just retire already and stop embarrassing himself.

    Everything I just said is a FACT and is TRUE. Everything I just said is indisputable and factual evidence. I provided TRUE FACTS and backed them up with verified scientific PROOF.

    Anyone that disagrees with a single TRUE FACT that I stated is:

    1. A Euro
    2. A nutcase
    3. Delusional
    4. A liar
    5. Insane

    FACTS. I only bring FACTS.

    ReplyCancel
    • pipo
      10 years ago

      Gabe I’m starting to really like you! It takes some creativity to come up with all that stuff, congrats 🙂

      ReplyCancel
    • Derrick
      10 years ago

      ‘This SCRUB is an EMBARRASSMENT and he needs to RETIRE now’

      Yes, it’s obvious you know what a fact is.

      ReplyCancel
  6. anton
    10 years ago

    i’ve seen in here some ridiculous comments about the level of Euroleague, i suppose that all these comments are coming straight from the other side of Ocean, i only have one question for you guyz, If as you say leagues like Brazil’s, China’s, Australia’s Tynesia’s and so on are much better and have a higher level than Euroleague’s one then Why every year 4 NBA teams are travelling to Europe in order to play some games with Euroleague’s Teams and they just dont go in China in Brazil in Puerto Rico or on Mars to get these games? and yes sometimes these “big” NBA teams are tasting the defeat from these low level EuroTeams. Arrogance? of course it is. Have a goodnight from HELLAS, see ya in summertime.

    ReplyCancel
  7. anton
    10 years ago

    That Scrub Spanoulis you are talkin about he just kicked you out of the World championship 6 years ago..its the taste of the defeat, i can feel you..stop crying,.just deal with it, the arrogant American’s couldn’t believe that some kids from Europe kicked their black a*ses. cheers

    ReplyCancel
  8. Vince
    10 years ago

    I am an American, and Spanoulis is a fantastic player. Great leader and totally controls the tempo of the game and steadies the ship. Love watching him play. He would do really well on the right NBA team.

    ReplyCancel
  9. mike
    10 years ago

    LOL.. The Euroleague Nazi up to his propaganda tricks again. I didn’t type the other mike’s except for the “congratulations”, and I was just joking. I doubt Gabe typed that long unreasonable rant, but I will wait for him to come out and say so.

    ReplyCancel
    • Panagiotis Christo
      10 years ago

      U making progress mikey boy, “unreasonable rant”, it took u ages to see through your best butt but better late then never!!!!
      Its about time u grew up and clip the umbilical cord since u a big boy now that can make his own decisions..
      One more thing dont get idiotic supporting your butts moronic views about china australia nicaragua and I dont now what else even as a goodbyegift to him..
      Remember big boy now , not anymore US kid with shorts cappie front to back and high fives for every fucking grunt..
      CONGRATS

      ReplyCancel
  10. Gabe
    10 years ago

    Spanoulis can’t even guard Adeo Dagunduro. Euroleague is a JOKE. Everyone knows it is LOWER level than the average NCAA teams. Here is a professional coach even saying so and proving it with FACTS and TRUTH.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK10JzbWcAA

    All these butt hurt Euro fags are disgusting.

    ReplyCancel
    • Derrick
      10 years ago

      So, let’s go to ‘American sources’:
      Power ranking of bb leagues outside the NBA.
      Euroleague is comprised by the best teams of the best bb leagues outside the NBA.

      It takes like two seconds to find an article like that, however you have probability looked around a lot to find the opposite.

      http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1291287-power-ranking-the-best-basketball-leagues-in-the-world-outside-of-the-nba

      ReplyCancel
      • mike
        10 years ago

        @Derrick.. The Euroleague Nazi is really messing up things here by using other people’s names. Just so you know, I already saw that article on bleacher, and mentioned that here months ago. I do agree with the article .

        ReplyCancel
  11. Derrick
    10 years ago

    And by the way,
    this forum SUCKS HARD.

    How can expressions the moderators be ok with something like
    ‘All these butt hurt Euro fags are disgusting.’

    I am out.

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      10 years ago

      This is the first time I’ve posted on this article. The other Gabe (and gabepizza) posts are from the troll impersonating me. Congrats to Spanoulis in winning Euroleague MVP and Final Four MVP. He has proved to be a top player in Europe. Now let’s see if he is able to try the NBA again. Will he be able to be a role player there?
      And congrats on Fernandez on being selected to all-Euroleague 1st team and making the finals. Again here is an example of an NBA back-up being one of the top players in Euroleague.
      I never said Spanoulis could not make it in the NBA. He can easily be a back-up and maybe even a starter/role player like Prigioni but there is no way he can ever be a star in the NBA.

      ReplyCancel
      • Gabe
        10 years ago

        Interesting breakdown of the championship game.
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK10JzbWcAA

        ReplyCancel
  12. Gabe
    10 years ago

    Ha that video by a true great AMERICAN coach PROVES that Euroleague is a LOWER level than NCAA.

    Spanoulis is the MVP and champion of a league that is a LOWER level than NCAA. The American coach proved it with facts and truth in the video.

    ReplyCancel
  13. Michael
    10 years ago

    Some European media is claiming that the Philadelphia 76ers want to sign Vassilis Spanoulis, although his asking price for the NBA (3 years $24 million) might be too high.

    ReplyCancel
    • mike
      10 years ago

      I Googled this right away and couldn’t find a source.Can you direct me to a link? Normally, my sources for Sixers news are Philly.com, Liberty Ballers.com, and CSNPhilly.com, and none of them have anything on this.
      The Sixers don’t have a coach yet, but newly hired GM of the Sixers is Sam Hinkie, a known proponent of basketball analytics. I don’t know enough about V-Span from an analytics point of view, but I know Span’s assists to turnover ratio is not the best, to put it mildly. Also, if true, Jrue Holiday is not going anywhere(the Sixers consider him a building block and only All Star) either, which means Span may come off the bench or play alongside Jrue. Many want Evan Turner traded away, and this could be the Sixers plan to get a secondary play maker on the court to replace ET.

      If true, and I tend to doubt it, we will of course welcome V-Span in Philly.

      ReplyCancel
      • mike
        10 years ago

        Also, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski has a a scoop on the Atlanta Hawks coaching search. Danny Ferry, Hawks GM, is seriously considering hiring Ettore Messina as Head Coach for the Hawks. Messina is reportedly very interested as a sort of trail blazer. The first Euro born HC in the NBA.

        ReplyCancel
  14. Paolo
    10 years ago

    No way in hell does Spanoulis sign with any NBA team to come off the bench. He would not stay with the Spurs, even though they wanted him, because they asked him to come off the bench.

    He learned how the NBA works from his treatment by Jeff Van Gundy and he learned that you can’t survive in the NBA no matter how good you are unless you are the starter at your position and the coach is given no other options by his general manager.

    No chance in hell would he come off the bench for a guy like Holiday, when he’s a much better player than Holiday is.

    But in Europe a lot of NBA teams are being mentioned as wanting Spanoulis, but it’s also being rumored that CSKA is offering him a ridiculous amount of money, at around $18 million a season.

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      10 years ago

      What Spanouilis learned from how the NBA works is the talent in the NBA is so much higher than in Euroleague that he is nothing special in the NBA and actually has to earn his playing time. That is why he left the NBA with his tail between his league, content to be “the man” in a second tier league instead of trying to earn repsect by competing against the big boys.

      ReplyCancel
      • Greigas
        10 years ago

        False. Spanoulis just gave an interview where he said he does not think any of the players in the NBA are really any better than him.

        ReplyCancel
        • Gabe
          10 years ago

          Bullshit. I call you on your bullshit. Show a link were Spanoulis says that or else it is just bullshit, Even Spanulis himself realizes he is not at the level of top NBA players.

          ReplyCancel
  15. Giannis
    10 years ago

    The “slowest white stiff in the world” Ioannis Bourousis and his team is now just one game away from the “best player in the history of Europe” Bobby Brown and his team out of the Italian League playoffs…….

    LMFAO

    These clowns Gabe and mike have gotten owned this whole season so bad that it’s freaking unbelievable. I’ve never seen two trolls get humiliated worse than those two with their “facts” and “truth”.

    hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahah

    ReplyCancel
    • mike
      10 years ago

      It’s you against the world. Nobody believes your BS. I asked FiBA directly about your BS on ISH, and he repudiated you. It’s you vs the world. Pathetic..

      ReplyCancel
      • panos christo
        10 years ago

        Cant wait for the 76’s to sign spanoulis on or any other team as long as the headcoach is not that SUPERSCRAB jeff van gandi, the worst excuse for a coach ever..Men like obradovic, messina or ivkovic would smoke that fool in a pipe..who in his right mind would give this jeff the reigns to a team..anywhere in europe up to second divisionteam not more probably less, no talent, no charisma no future this guy..hope spanoulis gives theNBA another go but the money offered to him this year specialy from cska and probably olympiakos to keep him is probably way to good since the tax is beeing taken care off by the teams in contrast to the US where a 5 million $ contract actually amounts only to 2.5 and the rest goes to thee tax office..will wait and see

        ReplyCancel
        • mike
          10 years ago

          @Panos. I hope V-Span does give it another try in the NBA to prove once and for all he can play effectively in the NBA. Until he does this, he will be incomplete in the eyes of the basketball world. Look at the upside, if he can win an NBA Title, he will join a very short list of players who have won EL and NBA. Forget about income for now, Spanoulis has always said it was his dream to play in the NBA anyway.

          ReplyCancel
  16. Boutique PSG
    9 years ago

    Great, thanks for sharing this blog.Thanks Again. Will read on…

    ReplyCancel
  17. Gabe
    9 years ago

    When Greece and Lithunia beat Nigeria it was with biased refs. When Nigeria beat Lithuania and Greece it was with unbiased refs.

    The fact is that Nigeria beat Greece and Lithuania, nothing you can say or do will change that fact. Nigeria, the team that the US beat by 87 points, eliminated Spanoulis and Greece from the Olympic qualifying tournament. Spanoulis will always be remembered for that loss that shows what a horrible player he is.

    ReplyCancel
  18. Gabe
    9 years ago

    Durant was the MVP of the 2010 FIBA World Championship which Spanoulis placed 11th in. Lebron was the best player on the 2012 Gold medal Olympic team, an Olympics that Spanouls could not even qualify for. Not only is Spanoulis one of the over rated and worst players in the world he has bought shame to himself, his family and his nation with his playing.

    The refs beat the US in 2006. The fact is that Nigeria beat both Greece and Lithuania. That means an all-African team would destroy Greece and Lithuania.

    ReplyCancel
    • mike
      9 years ago

      No, Gabe, V-Span is the best player in the world. I’m now convinced of that. It really doesn’t matter that he had scrub-like numbers in Houston because Stern and JVG conspired to make Vspan go crying home to his mama in Greece. They did this so as not to shock the NBA. Even when JVG gave him a chance, V-Span still sucked, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is the OPINION of the Nazi, him whose name shall go unmentioned.

      This is a conspiracy that goes all the way up to the highest levels, maybe even to the White House. Obama has another scandal in his hands. Wow!

      .

      It doesn’t matter that Rudy F is one of the best players in Europe despite the fact that he was a borderline scrub player in the

      ReplyCancel
  19. Hil
    9 years ago

    I follow NBL from all the way down under, Australia and I think Spanoulis is an absolute excellent player on the court

    ReplyCancel
  20. SamFisher Trolls Here
    9 years ago

    Gabe and mike are the poster known as SamFisher at the website clutchfans.net

    This individual is a proven extreme racist and bigot.

    ReplyCancel
  21. maillot football
    9 years ago

    wow, awesome blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.

    ReplyCancel
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10 years ago 40 Comments EuroLeague, MoreAcie Law, EuroLeague, Euroleague 2012-13, Euroleague Final Four 2013, Felipe Reyes, Georgi Shermadini, Jaycee Carroll, Kostas Sloukas, Kyle Hines, Marcus Slaughter, Nikola Mirotic, Olympiacos, Pero Antic, Real Madrid, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Llull, Stratos Perperglou, Vassilis Spanoulis
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