Olympiakos won the European basketball title fair and square for the 2nd time in a row, even though he faced many difficulties. As I had predicted, Madrid tried to play a run n gun game at the beginning, enforcing their rhythm, with Rudy Fernandez being a great leader.
Later on, the "Reds" tightened up their defence and balanced the match, coming back from -17 to only 4 points behind at the end of the half, with Stratos Perperoglou leading its game. In the 3rd quarter, Olympiakos gained momentum with Vassilis Spanoulis waking up and, at last, leading. The team from Piraeus also managed to control the last big break attempted by the Spaniards towards the end of the quarter.
The last quarter belonged to the Champions of Europe, and especially to its captain Spanoulis, who scored an unbelievable 3-pointer from 9 metres (30 feet) with the score at 87-78. Real Madrid afterwards started shooting desperate 3-point shots and commiting fouls to stop the time, but it was too late.
Olympiakos managed to achieve this amazing accomplishment of "Repeat" playing an unbelievable game, scoring 100 points, 39 of which in the last quarter. The match in general was really fun to watch for all the funs, inside the stadium and from TV's and compiuters - a true advertisement for the sport. Main protagonist was of course Georgios Bartzokas, the 1st Greek coach to win the Euroleague trophy.
For the end, I have a wish to make: I hope that Greek basketball will get the cup for the 4th time in a row at next year's Final 4 which is taking place again in London.
GreekRagnaroker
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