The scene of Casa de Correos on Placa del Sol was given to the tournament’s heroes in the morning. Our team was represented by head coach Dimitris Itoudis and Milos Teodosic, who received the award of the All-Euroleague First Team member from the hands of Theodoros Papaloukas. And the main news of the day was the election of Fenerbahce-Ulker forward Nemanja Bjelica as season’s MVP.
The player from Serbia together with his famous compatriot Zeljko Obradovic has become the main heroes of the event. Fener’s coach played the role of Gregg Popovich – he answered very shortly and humorous. Obviously, that in the year when Turkish and Greek teams qualified to the Final Four the number of journalists and subsequently questions from those countries was very high. CSKA guys stayed on the side and looked satisfied with their role. “Work in silence and let the success make noise,” as Itoudis used to say.
“I don’t like to talk much about my game,” Teodosic said. “I would prefer to talk about my teammates and the game CSKA played. I think we played amazing basketball. If tomorrow we play like we have played all season, I hope we win tomorrow.”
“We started the season with the injuries we had to try to adapt,” Itoudis said. “We built our confidence because of the winning streak we had, we started to believe in what we are doing. We, during the season, had some players coming back from injuries and then Andrei Kirilenko came and added another dimension to our game. The semifinal is our final. So we are focused on the game against Olympiacos.”
The Red-Blues have the full roster before the main game of the year. All 15 players practiced today and the coaching staff will choose the dozen before the game.
“Relativity” connections
Teodosic spent four seasons with Olympiacos early in his career between 2007 and 2011. He won the 2010 Euroleague MVP, helped the Reds to a pair of Final Four appearances and was a teammate of current Olympiacos players Vassilis Spanoulis, Georgios Printezis, Kostas Sloukas and Dimitrios Katsivelis.
Kyle Hines spent two seasons with Olympiacos from 2011 through 2013 and helped the Reds win back-to-back Euroleague titles. He was a teammate there of five current Olympiacos players: Vassilis Spanoulis, Georgios Printezis, Kostas Sloukas, Vaneglis Printezis and Dimitrios Katsivelis.
Olympiakos head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos was an assistant to Jonas Kazlauskas in 2011-12 season for CSKA.
Past matchups
Wins/losses: 17-11
1994-95 – European Championship for Men’s Clubs. Quarterfinals. CSKA – Olympiacos: 95-65 (+30)
1994-95 – European Championship for Men’s Clubs. Quarterfinals. Olympiacos – CSKA: 86-77 (-9)
1994-95 – European Championship for Men’s Clubs. Quarterfinals. Olympiacos – CSKA: 79-54 (-25)
1995-96 – European Championship for Men’s Clubs. Ïîëóôèíàëüíûé ðàóíä. CSKA – Olympiacos: 96-91 (+5)
1995-96 – European Championship for Men’s Clubs. Ïîëóôèíàëüíûé ðàóíä. Olympiacos – CSKA: 72-78 (+6)
1996-97 – Euroleague. Qualification Round. Olympiacos – CSKA: 82-51 (-31)
1996-97 – Euroleague. Qualification Round. CSKA – Olympiacos: 70-79 (-9)
1997-98 – Euroleague. Preliminary Round. Olympiacos – CSKA: 86-74 (-12)
1997-98 – Euroleague. Preliminary Round. CSKA – Olympiacos: 77-58 (+19)
1998-99 – Euroleague. Preliminary Round. CSKA – Olympiacos: 75-81 (-6)
1998-99 – Euroleague. Preliminary Round. Olympiacos – CSKA: 74-76 (+2)
2002-03 – Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Olympiacos: 74-67 (+7)
2002-03 – Euroleague. Regular Season. Olympiacos – CSKA: 77-79 (+2)
2003-04 – Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – Olympiacos: 80-66 (+14)
2003-04 – Euroleague. Top 16. Olympiacos – CSKA: 69-93 (+24)
2006-07 – Euroleague. Top 16. Olympiacos – CSKA: 64-85 (+21)
2006-07 – Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – Olympiacos: 83-79 (+4)
2007-08 – Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Olympiacos: 88-79 (+9)
2007-08 – Euroleague. Regular Season. Olympiacos – CSKA: 71-67 (-4)
2007-08 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. CSKA – Olympiacos: 74-76 (-2)
2007-08 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. Olympiacos – CSKA: 73-83 (+10)
2007-08 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. CSKA – Olympiacos: 81-56 (+25)
2011-12 – Euroleague. Top 16. Olympiacos – CSKA: 78-86 (+8)
2011-12 – Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – Olympiacos: 96-64 (+32)
2011-12 – Euroleague. Final. CSKA – Olympiacos: 61-62 (-1)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Semifinal. Olympiacos – CSKA: 69-52 (-17)
2014-15 – Euroleague. Top 16. Olympiacos – CSKA: 84-76 (-8)
2014-15 – Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – Olympiacos: 76-70 (+6)
Important numbers
CSKA was the highest-scoring team in the Euroleague this season with 87.8 points per game and led the league in three-point shooting (41.6%). CSKA was also second in assists (20.9 apg.) and blocks (4.1 bpg.). Olympiacos was the Euroleague’s best defensive team this season with a league-low 71.2 points allowed per game.
Teodosic was the Euroleague leader in assists this season with an average of 7.1 per game, but also led the league with 3.6 turnovers per game. Spanoulis’s 3 turnovers per game were the second-most in the Euroleague.
Teodosic has made at least 1 three-pointer in 23 consecutive games and 18 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action.
Demetris Nichols was the Euroleague’s most-accurate three-point shooter this season at 56.8% (21 of 37).
Victor Khryapa is the all-time leader in rebounds in Final Four games with 88. His place atop that list is safe as no player at this Final Four is within 40 rebounds of him.
Khryapa is second in all-time Final Four steals with 20. Former teammate J.R. Holden leads that list with 24.
Andrei Kirilenko has scored in double figures in each of his last six Euroleague appearances.
Manuchar Markoishvili needs 3 more three-pointers to reach the century mark for his Euroleague career.
Short dossier
Olympiacos Pireaus, Greece
Founded: 1925
Colors: white, red
Homecourt: Peace and Friendship Stadium (10.845)
Presidents: Panagiotis and Giorgios Angelopoulos
Head Coach: Giannis Sfairopoulos
Website: www.olympiacosbc.gr
Trophy case:
- 3-time Euroleague champions (1997, 2012, 13);
- Intercontinental Cup winners (2013);
- 10-time Greek champions (1949, 1960, 1976, 1978, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2012);
- 9-time Greek Cup winners (1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2010, 2011)
