FIBA EuroLeague Play-Offs 1996-1997

For the 1996-97 season, FIBA changed the competition system. Instead of 16 teams divided into two groups of 8, the league started with 4 groups of 6, 24 teams total. As a result, there were a lot of newcomers: tefanel Milan and Teamsystem Bologna of Italy, Ulker Istanbul of Turkey, Panionios Athens of Greece, Alba Berlin of Germany, Spirou Charleroi of Belgium, Asvel Villeurbanne of France, Caja San Fernando of Spain, Dynamo Moscow of Russia and others. (After the first phase, the 24 teams reorganized themselves in 4 new groups, each with the best three teams of one original group and the three worst teams of another group of the first ones. The top three teams wouldn't meet each other again in the second phase, but only played against the bottom three teams.) The best 16 teams advanced to the elimination rounds. In the eighthfinals, only Panathinaikos (against Limoges) and Teamsystem (against Caja San Fernando) swept their series 2-0: the others needed the third game. In quarterfinals, there came another Greek derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, which ended 0-2 for the Reds (49-69, 57-65), ending the reign of the defending champion Greens. The surprise Final Four qualifier was Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia eliminating Stefanel. Barcelona did the same with Teamsystem Bologna and Asvel with Efes Pilsen. In the semifinals, the favorite teams advanced with no problems at all. Barcelona defeated Asvel 77-70 and Olympiacos prevailed over Olimpija 74-65. In a great final marked by the point guard duel between David Rivers (26 points) and Sasha Djordjevic, Olympiacos showed clear domination in rebounding (39-26) and the Reds won by 73-58 to get their first European title, the second in a row for Greece.