Euroleague Play-Offs 2007-2008

CSKA Moscow started the third quarter very focused and after two three pointers in a row, they increased the lead to seven points. J.R. Holden (185-G-76, college: Bucknell) and David Andersen was playing some good basketball during this time period.
Will Bynum on the other hand missed a couple of drives in a row and Maccabi suffered from too much one on one play and lost their composure.
Maccabi could not penatrate the strong defense of CSKA and the the Russian got the ball to their inside players increasing the lead to 9 points.
Three minutes before the end of the quarter Maccabi asked for the timeout but It did not help a lot and CSKA kept similar lead till the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter started with CSKA playing very smart and controlled game. Maccabi's approach did not change too much and we could see the end coming soon. CSKA had a small fan contingent but was very loud considering their size compared to the Yellows and their fanatical supporters.
The Russian fans went crazy after Matjaz Smodis hit a three pointer giving CSKA fourteen point (71-57) lead. Maccabi took another timeout with the saame result.
The Russian team still controlled the game and was very successful defending the one-on-one play by the Israeli team.
Maccabi woke up exactly in the center of the forth quarter, when they scored their first two baskets in this period.
CSKA took time out seeing the Yellows getting their rhythm. Maccabi was determined to change the result, but CSKA played very smart game and controlled the tempo of the contest.
Two and a half minutes before the end of the game Maccabi took its last time out since they had nothing to lose as the game was really over at this point.
At this time the security personnel already arrived on the court in a large number just to make sure they would have full control of the fans.
The final minutes belonged to Greek Theodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77, agency: Interperformances) and his Russian team. They had too mucch class to allow the victory slip out of their hands.
The Montepaschi fans who stayed to watch the final game after their team won 3rd place, started cheering in support of CSKA team, upcoming Euroleague champion.
It took CSKA 35 years to win the Euroleague title since it lifter the trophy in 1971, but won it twice in 2006 and now in 2008. It makes the Russian team the second most winning team in Euroleague history. Ettore Messina becomes the second most winning coach in Euroleague history with 4 titles, just behind Zeljko Obradovic with 6 titles.

All-league 1st Team 2007-08
Pekovic	Solomon	Massey	Spanoulis	Siskauskas

Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86) of Partizan Igokea Beograd (SRB) was voted Euroleague Player of the Year by Eurobasket correspondents. It was a very close vote with Jeremiah Massey (202-F-82) of Aris Thessaloniki (GRE).
Massey had slightly better stats. He had only 0.6 ppg, 1.5 rpg and 1.4 index rate per game more than Pekovic but he played 3 games less than Pekovic because of Euroleague quarter finals. Massey spent 33 minutes per game on the court while Pekovic had 27 mpg. Guard of the Year goes to Will Solomon. He had strong competition coming from Papaloukas, McIntyre and Diamantidis. But he posted better final stats. But there was no doubt who gets the award of the best defensive player. It goes to Terence Morris of Maccabi Elite who was top blocker and grabbed most of the rebounds. We had some problems with selecting top 5 import players. Tau's Tiago Splitter should make that list. But he has also Spanish passport, so is already counted as domestic player.

Player of the Year: Nikola Pekovic of Partizan Igokea
Guard of the Year: Will Solomon (187-G-78) of Fenerbahce Ulker
Forward of the Year: Jeremiah Massey of Aris
Center of the Year: Nikola Pekovic of Partizan Igokea
Import Player of the Year: Jeremiah Massey of Aris
Domestic Player of the Year: Nikola Pekovic of Partizan Igokea
Defensive Player of the Year: Terence Morris (206-F-79) of Maccabi Elite
Coach of the Year: Simone Pianigiani of Montepaschi

1st Team
Will Solomon of Fenerbahce Ulker
Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82) of Panathinaikos
Ramunas Siskauskas (197-G-78) of CSKA
Jeremiah Massey of Aris
Nikola Pekovic of Partizan Igokea

2nd Team
Dimitris Diamantidis (196-G-80) of Panathinaikos
Dusan Kecman (197-G/F-77) of Partizan Igokea
Trajan Langdon (192-G-76) of CSKA
Terence Morris of Maccabi Elite
Tiago Splitter (211-C/F-85) of Tau

Honorable Mention
Ksystof Lavrinovic (210-C-79) of Montepaschi
Matjaz Smodis (205-F-79) of CSKA
Lynn Greer (186-G-79,) of Olympiacos
Felipe Reyes (203-F/C-80) of Real
Michael Batiste (203-F-77) of Panathinaikos
Marc Salyers (205-F-79) of Roanne
Marc Jackson (206-C/F-75) of Olympiacos
Hollis Price (186-G-79) of Lietuvos Rytas
Igor Rakocevic (191-G-78) of Tau

All-Domestic Players Team
Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos
Vasilis Spanoulis of Panathinaikos
Dusan Kecman of Partizan Igokea
Felipe Reyes of Real
Nikola Pekovic of Partizan Igokea

All-Imports Team
Will Solomon of Fenerbahce Ulker
Igor Rakocevic of Tau
Trajan Langdon of CSKA
Jeremiah Massey of Aris
Michael Batiste of Panathinaikos

All-Defensive Team
Terrell McIntyre (175-G-77) of Montepaschi
Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos
Dusan Kecman of Partizan Igokea
Terence Morris of Maccabi Elite
Michael Batiste of Panathinaikos

Notice: The awards are done before Final Four, so they are nto effected by the last 4 games and they give more credit to overall- season, not just final stage.
The final votes were combined by Dragan Jankovski of Eurobasket Serbia/Euroleague