Player of the Year:
Milos Teodosic (195-G-87) of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus
Guard of the Year:
Milos Teodosic of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus
Forward of the Year:
Qyntel Woods (203-F/G-81) of Asseco Prokom Gdynia
Center of the Year:
Aleks Maric (211-C-84) of BC Partizan Igokea Beograd
European Player of the Year:
Milos Teodosic of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus
Import of the Year:
Aleks Maric (211-C-84) of BC Partizan Igokea Beograd
Defensive Player of the Year:
Viktor Khryapa (204-F/G-82) of CSKA Moscow
Coach of the Year:
Dusko Vujosevic of Partizan Igokea Beograd
All-Imports Team
G:
Trajan Langdon (192-G-76) of CSKA Moscow
G/F:
Qyntel Woods (203-F/G-81) of Asseco Prokom Gdynia
G/F:
Alan Anderson (198-G/F-82) of Maccabi Electra Tel-Aviv
G/F:
Josh Childress (203-G/F-83) of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus
C:
Aleks Maric (211-C-84) of BC Partizan Igokea Beograd
Barcelona Crowned Euroleague Kings After
Routing The Reds - May 9, 2010
The atmosphere was fantastic at the start of the
2010 Euroleague Final Four championship game between Regal FC Barcelona
and Olympiacos. The Reds were hoping to shrug off fatigue after their
thrilling overtime semi-final win against Partizan while Barca were
looking to deliver only a second ever Euroleague Trophy as tournament
favourites. Barca went with Rubio, Navarro, N'Dong, Lorbek and Mickeal
while Olympiacos put their faith from tip-off in Penn, Teodosic,
Childress, Kleiza and Schortsanitis. On tip-off the entire Palais
Omnisport seemed to be rocking up and down with both sets of fans
bouncing on their feet and it led to great anticipation of the main
event.
The first action saw Teodosic draw an early foul on Navarro before
Kleiza showed his class with a triple from the corner. Rubio responded
with a nice jump shot and then Mickeal opened the perimeter account for
Barca. Teodosic then finished and there was a nice flow to the game in
the first couple of minutes with the teams tied at 5-5. Childress went
up for a big dunk and looked to have been blocked but amidst jeers from
the Catalans, the foul was called on N'Dong and the American made his
second foul shot. N'Dong had an impressive semi-final and he finished
sweetly inside off an assist from Navarro. Both teams then had a scrappy
passage of play until Vazquez got the ball from Navarro off as pick and
roll and handed off to Mickeal who flushed it down. After a strong
inside play by Schortsanitis, 'La Bomba' buried a triple. At 12-8,
Teodosic responded by Navaro was at it again with his trademark inside
running floater over the top of the defence. Much of the talk before the
game had been about the point guard clash and after Teodosic sunk a
three, Rubio drained one immediately after to keep Barca ahead at 17-13
with the first quarter developing into a shootout. Vazquez then repeated
another nice dish to Mickeal from almost the exact same spot as earlier
and this time, he finished the play again and also completed the 'And-1
to take the lead out to 7! Vazquez was causing the Reds plenty of
trouble with his interior game and he found himself on the line with
just under three minutes to play and he stretched the advantage even
further with two foul shots. Olympiacos turned to Papaloukas but on the
next offence his pass to Kleiza ended up in the active Vazquez blocking
him. Mickeal danced to the hoop to take the lead out into double-figures
but a triple by Childress limited the damage. With Pascual taking off
the impressive Rubio, Navarro, Mickeal and Vazquez it was down to the
bench to carry on the good work and Sada cut to the hoop for a nice
lay-up off the glass. With just over a minute to go Kleiza made a couple
of free-throws but everything was coming tough offensively for
Olympiacos. What Mickeal had done twice, Morris took over by collecting
the ball on a strong baseline slash to the hoop from the corner and he
threw it down just like his team-mate earlier. Papaloukas then finished
off the scoring in a high tempo first period which Barca dominated
28-19.
At the beginning of the second, Barca controlled he boards and Basile
buried a triple from the corner after great perimeter ball movement only
for big man Bourousis to again show he has range by doing the same, this
time from the wing. Vazquez was back in the game and he scored to move
to four points to go with his spectacular 4 blocks. The Barca crowd were
loving it with their team up by 11 points at 33-22 and looking slick
offensively and imperious defensively. They were controlling the tempo
also and things were getting tougher for the Reds but Bourousis managed
to get one to drop after a post-move. Vazquez then took advantage of
some slack defence by going straight to the hole and finishing with
ease. Coach Giannakis turned to veteran Vujcic to try and stop the
rampant Barca front-court and he scored quickly but it was defence that
Olympiacos needed. Papaloukas then made one of the best plays of the
weekend off a Vujcic steal with a stunning move on the break as he sent
Navarro the wrong way and threw down a spectacular dunk. The army of
Reds fans erupted and and at 35-28 with just over five minutes until the
break they had renewed hope in their team - the two veterans doing the
business for their team. After a TV timeout, the joy of the Greeks was
short-lived as Navarro fired-up from long range to restore the
double-digit lead. Bourousis then blocked Navarro on a three-point
attempt which got the fans going in the Red end, as did another score
from their hero Papaloukas. Lorbek then made a huge three-pointer with
just over three to go with a hand right in his face from Vujcic. Things
got worse for Olympiacos whose fans momentarily became quiet after a
steal and score by Rubio which took Barca out to a 13 point lead, their
biggest of the night at that point although a Bourousis tip-in reduced
that gap quickly. Vazquez then let the Reds off the hook with two missed
foul shots and the Greeks went with Teodosic and Papaloukas. With
Schortsanitis back on the floor, Olympiacos looked inside but the big
man missed both shots from the line after being fouled under the hoop.
Navarro drained his third triple of the game to make it 46-32 and
Papaloukas continued the fight at the other end with another textbook
classy move to get himself a lay-up with a minute left. After a time-out
Navarro made one of two foul shots before a miss by Bourousis who thanks
to a Childress steal and assist, got a second chance and he slammed it
down. This led to another time-out with 21 seconds to go until the teams
left the court again, this time for the interval. Childress in
particular needed to raise his game - easier said than done but to have
any chance the NBA man needed to show up. He had the chance of a triple
on the buzzer but didn't make it meaning Barca went into the second half
47-36 ahead. Not that you would have known it judging by the noise
coming from the Greek fans who finally stopped to give themselves a
deserved break too.
The second half started with Penn and Patrick back on the floor
Olympiacos but it was Schortsanitis than came up with the good early
inside and that was followed up by a lay-up from Childress after a rare
Schortsanitis steal as the Reds cut the gap to seven inside 30 seconds.
Schortsanitis then blocked N'Dong and it looked like a Reds comeback but
he got blocked himself next time down. Barca went scoreless for three
minutes until Mickeal made a turnaround jump shot to steady Barca
nerves. Vazquez picked up a quick third foul and sat down and Kleiza
made a nice move in the paint to again reduce the lead. However Navarro
was enjoying himself from outside and he knocked down a triple from the
wing but a fired-up Childress replied instantly from the opposite end
with a three of his own. Both sets of fans were now in full flow vocally
and raising the temperature inside the Palais Omnisport even further
with just under five minutes of the second half having elapsed.
Childress then made two big defensive plays with a block and steal
before Papaloukas made a play to the hoop for a Bourousis tip-in.
However Barca came storming back as N'Dong slammed home the dunk while
being fouled and before he got the chance to finish the three-point
play, it was time-out 54-47 Barca with 4m 25 s remaining of the third.
When the play resumed, N'Dong converted his free-throw. Sada then made
it a mountain for Olympiacos once more with a step back three to take
the margin to 11 again - the same as at the half-time break. An
effortless jump-shot by N'Dong then increased the lead again at 60-47
and Childress took a seat having done his best to fire up the Reds.
Kleiza missed one and made one foul shot with three to go and the Reds
needed stops desperately to keep in touch. They got one but couldn't
convert and Navarro punished them with an outrageous one handed finish
over the top of Beverley. Kleiza finished sweetly when getting the ball
down low from Papaloukas with a minute left but it was a rare moment of
joy for the top scorer of the Reds who was tightly shackled by the Barca
defence.
Morris wrapped up the production for both teams from the line to give
Barca a 64-50 lead heading into the final quarter.
Rubio hammered the first nail into the Olympiacos coffin with a lay-up
thanks to Morris stripping Kleiza, or at least that is how it felt with
a 16 point deficit. Schortsanitis got the first points of the fourth
period for the Reds from the line. After three minutes both teams were
struggling offensively and not surprising with some big defensive plays
and none more so than Morris who spectacularly blocked Schortsanitis.
When Mickeal made it 68-52 Barca it was already looking like the
Catalans had one hand on the trophy. Only a spectacular collapse would
stop them at this point and it was highly unlikely with their quality
rotation at the disposal of Coach Pascual and the Reds enduring a
drought and maybe trying to force things offensively - - not surprising
in their difficult predicament. When the excellent Morris drained a
triple from the top it was effectively game over and entering blowout
territory at 19 points. The only thing left to really wonder about was
who would get MVP with Navarro and Mickeal leading the way. Kleiza made
two from the line and tempers began to almost spill over on the court
after Kleiza almost bumped Navarro into the courtside VIP seats. It also
led to technical fouls on Mickeal and Teodosic which cancelled each
other out. Childress added some respectability with a nice finish under
pressure from Mickeal who fouled and with a free-throw to follow it was
time-out with 4m 41s to go and Barca up 71-56. The NBA man made his
bonus and with the game descending into an anti-climax due to the score,
it was only a matte of time unless he Reds could produce something
spectacular. Lorbek then got his second score of the game while
Papalpoukas got himself to the hoop to move to 12 points in the game.
Sada stroked home a couple of free-throws while Kleiza made only one in
response. Childress picked up his fourth and Morris also made one foul
shot with the Barca fans already celebrating and three minutes away from
their second ever Euroleague title. As the game petered out, Kleiza
fouled out after hard fouling Navarro again and then picking up a
technical foul. As he converted free-throws the chants of MVP went up as
the Barca fans heralded their favourite player. The icing on the cake
came when Trias and Lakovic finally got some court time and the cherry
on top was when Basile and Lorbek drained back to back triples near the
end to help Barca reach the top of the podium in style and become the
new Euroleague champion for 2010.
'La Bomba' Grabs Euroleague Final Four
MVP Crown - May 10, 2010
Juan Carlos Navarro (192-G-80) was crowned the EuroLeague Final Four
MVP of 2010 after inspiring his team to a second Euroleague title in
their history. The only member of the team to have played back in 2003
finished with a game high 21 points including four triples and the fans
idol winning the accolade made it a truly memorable occasion. However
there were plenty of choices other than the Spanish International after
a truly sensational team performance by Barca.
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JC Navarro is 2010 Euroleague Final Four MVP (Photo:euroleague.net)
Barcelona celebrate 2010 Euroleague triumph (Photo:euroleague.net)
Pascual
