Basketball - Olympiakos storm past Madrid to retain Euroleague title

                

For the second year in a row, Olympiacos Piraeus roared back from a double-digit deficit to become the Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion. The Reds bested Real Madrid 100-88 at The O2 in London after trailing by 17 at the end of the opening quarter and in doing so became just the fourth team to win back-to-back Euroleague titles in the Final Four era. In something that has become characteristic of the Reds, they got tremendous contributions from their second unit, led by Kyle Hines and Pero Antic, to climb back. 

                   

Then Euroleague MVP Vassilis Spanoulis heated up in the third quarter and Olympiacos dominated the final 10 minutes as thousands of red-clad fans sang and clapped the night away. Euroleague MVP Vassilis Spanoulis led the charge with 21 points – all in the second half! – as six Olympiacos players scored in double figures. Acie Law collected 20 points and dished 5 assists, Hines added 12 points, Kostas Sloukas 11 and Stratos Perperoglou and Antic scored 10 apiece. The title is the third continental crown in Olympiacos’s illustrious history. Before beating CSKA Moscow last season in Istanbul, it defeated FC Barcelona in the 1997 title game in Rome. Rudy Fernandez led Madrid with 21 points, Sergio Rodriguez scored 17 and Sergio Llull finished with 14. Madrid lost its first final since it defeated the Reds in the 1995 Euroleague final in Zaragoza, Spain, but remains European basketball’s winningest team with nine Euroleague titles.

                     

In the 3rd place CSKA Moscow held on to beat FC Barcelona Regal 74-73 .