2014 Euroleague Final Four
Official logo, published in February 2014.[1] | |
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Host | Milan, Italy |
Arena | Mediolanum Forum |
Dates | 16 May 2014 – 18 May 2014 |
Final positions | |
Champions | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
Runners-up | Real Madrid |
Third place | FC Barcelona |
Fourth place | CSKA Moscow |
Awards and statistics | |
MVP | Tyrese Rice |
Top scorer(s) | Sergio Rodríguez, 42[2] |
The 2014 Euroleague Final Four was the concluding Euroleague Final Four tournament of 2013–14 Euroleague basketball season. It was held from 16–18 May 2014. All of the games were played at the Mediolanum Forum, in Milan. Maccabi Tel Aviv upset CSKA Moscow 68–67 in the first semi-final, while Real Madrid dominated FC Barcelona 100–62 in the second semi-final. In the final, Maccabi upset highly favored Real 98–86, in the first overtime final since 1969. The win gave Maccabi their sixth Euroleague title.
Bracket
Semifinals 16 May |
Final 18 May | ||||||
CSKA Moscow | 67 | ||||||
Maccabi Tel Aviv | 68 | ||||||
Maccabi Tel Aviv | 98 | ||||||
Real Madrid | 86 | ||||||
Third place | |||||||
FC Barcelona | 62 | CSKA Moscow | 78 | ||||
Real Madrid | 100 | FC Barcelona | 93 |
Semifinals
CSKA Moscow vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv
CSKA Moscow entered their semi-final matchup against Maccabi Tel Aviv having won both regular season meetings. It looked like Moscow would make it 3–0 on the year when they took a 55–40 late in the third quarter. However, led by guard Tyrese Rice and a large majority of the fans in attendance, Maccabi launch a fourth quarter comeback. Rice's steal and layup with 5 seconds to play gave Maccabi a 68–67 lead, and Sonny Weems missed a contested three pointer at the buzzer. Maccabi's David Blu led all scorers with 15 points.[3]
16 May 2014 18:00 |
CSKA Moscow | 67–68 | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
Scoring by quarter: 19–16, 19–14, 17–15, 12–23 | ||
Pts: Kaun 14 Rebs: Khryapa 10 Asts: Weems 6 |
Pts: Blu 15 Rebs: Smith 9 Asts: Ohayon 4 |
Mediolanum Forum, Milan Attendance: 11,843 (Tentative) Referees: Sasa Pukl (SLO), Milivoje Jovčić (SRB), Borys Ryzhyk (UKR) |
Barcelona vs. Real Madrid
Real Madrid entered the Final Four as the clear favorite, having recorded the highest point differential in both group (plus 237) and Final 16 play (plus 143). Between the two stage they held a 24–4 record.[3]
After FC Barcelona got off to a 12–4 start, the semi-final game was all Real Madrid. Real scored 14 3-pointers and a blistering pace to beat their Spanish rivals for the fifth time in six games on the year. Real's Sergio Rodríguez led all-scorers with 21 points, followed by teammate Nikola Mirotić who scored 19. Three other Real players scored more than 10 points.[3]
16 May 2014 21:00 CET |
FC Barcelona | 62–100 | Real Madrid |
Scoring by quarter: 20–20, 17–25, 11–28, 14–27 | ||
Pts: Tomić 16 Rebs: Tomić 8 Asts: Huertas 6 |
Pts: Rodríguez 21 Rebs: Llull, Slaughter 5 Asts: Rodríguez 6 |
Mediolanum Forum, Milan Attendance: 11,843 (Tentative) Referees: Christos Christodoulou (GRE), Ilija Belošević (SRB), Robert Lottermoser (GER) |
Third-place game
18 May 2014 17:00 (CET) |
FC Barcelona | 93–78 | CSKA Moscow |
Scoring by quarter: 21–24, 29–23, 19–17, 24–14 | ||
Pts: Juan Carlos Navarro 20 Rebs: Dorsey 12 Asts: Huertas 7 |
Pts: Kaun 12 Rebs: Khryapa 4 Asts: Khryapa 7 |
Mediolanum Forum, Milan Attendance: 11,843 (Tentative) Referees: Robert Lottermoser (GER), Fernando Rocha (POR), Rüştü Nuran (TUR) |
Final
Before the game, Real Madrid was heavily favored as they sought a league-record ninth title. Real got off to a good start, taking an 11-point lead in the first half behind a 19–2 run.[4] However, Maccabi Tel Aviv fought back with a series of fast breaks and trailed by just two points at half time.[4][5]
It looked as Maccabi would come out on top after a back-and-forth second half that gave them a four-point lead with under a minute to play.[4] However, Real won four consecutive free throws from Sergio Rodríguez and Ioannis Bourousis to tie the game.[5] Tyrese Rice missed a three pointer at the buzzer that would have given Maccabi the win.[4] Instead the final went to overtime for the first time since 1969.[5] Rice dominated in overtime, scoring 14, as Maccabi pulled away for a 98–86 win.[4] In total, Rice scored 21 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter or overtime.[5] Rodriguez led Real with 21 points.[5]
The win gave Maccabi their sixth league title.[4] For Real Madrid, it was the second consecutive year in which they lost in final game.[5]
18 May 2014 20:00 (CET) |
Real Madrid | 86–98 (OT) | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
Scoring by quarter: 16–15, 19–18, 20–20, 18–20, Overtime: 13–25 | ||
Pts: Rodríguez 21 Rebs: Bourousis 9 Asts: Llull 8 |
Pts: Rice 26 Rebs: Tyus 11 Asts: Hickman 8 |
Mediolanum Forum, Milan Attendance: 11,843 Referees: Christos Christodoulou, Sasa Pukl, Milivoje Jovčić |
Real Madrid
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Maccabi
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The games was played under official FIBA rules.
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Reaction
Maccabi's surprise win led to wild celebrations as fans filled Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. Israeli President Shimon Peres called to congratulate the team saying "I watched the whole game and nearly had a heart attack. You are heroes and have brought incredible pride to the state of Israel."[5] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also offered his personal congratulations.[5]
Spanish fans expressed their frustration on Twitter. An estimated 18,000 such tweets contained anti-Semitic language prompting a lawsuit by local Jewish communities and an official apology by the league.[6][7]
References
- ↑ "Final Four logo, Fan Zone, EA7 Emporio Armani partnership revealed in Milan!". Euroleague.net. 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
- ↑ Statistics Final Four 2013-14
- 1 2 3 "Real Madrid, Europe's dominant force, soar into Euroleague final". The National. Reuters. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Maccabi stun Real to win fifth Euroleague title". EuroSport. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Maccabi beats Real Madrid 98-86 to win Euroleague". Washington Post. AP. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
- ↑ "Maccabi Tel Aviv Euroleague win spurs Spanish anti-Semitic tweets". JNS. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
- ↑ "Euroleague Basketball condemns racist, discriminatory comments". Euroleague. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.