2008–09 Euroleague

Euroleague
Champions	Panathinaikos 5th title
Runners-up	CSKA Moscow
Third place	FC Barcelona
Fourth place	Olympiacos
Teams	24
Games played	188 (total)
Duration	22 October 2008 – 3 May 2009
Awards
MVP	Juan Carlos Navarro
Final Four MVP	Vassilis Spanoulis
Rising Star	Novica Veličković
Best Defender	Dimitris Diamantidis
Coach of the Year	Duško Vujošević
Statistical leaders
PIR	D'or Fischer 21.5
Points	Igor Rakočević 18.0
Rebounds	Mirsad Türkcan 8.6
Assists	Theodoros Papaloukas 5.2

The 2008–09 Euroleague was the 9th season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 52nd season of the premier competition for European men's clubs overall. The season, which featured 24 teams from 13 different countries, culminated in the 2008–09 Euroleague Final Four at the new O₂ World arena in Berlin, Germany.^[1] It was won by Panathinaikos, who defeated in the final, the defending champions, CSKA Moscow.

While the general structure of the competition was identical to that used in recent seasons, changes were made to the format for two of its phases, the Regular Season and Quarterfinals.

Teams of the 2008–09 Euroleague

Key to colors

	Champion
	Runner-up
	Third place
	Fourth place
	Eliminated in Quarterfinals
	Eliminated in Last 16
	Eliminated in the regular season

Country (League)	Teams	Teams (ranking in 2007-08 national championship)
Spain (ACB)	5 [2]	Tau Cerámica (1)	FC Barcelona (2)	DKV Joventut (SF)	Unicaja Málaga (SF)	Real Madrid (QF)
Italy (Lega A)	4	Montepaschi Siena (1)	Lottomatica Roma (2)	Air Avellino (SF)	Armani Jeans Milano (SF)
Greece (ESAKE A1)	3	Panathinaikos (1)	Olympiacos (2)	Panionios Forthnet (3)
Turkey (TBL)	2	Fenerbahçe Ülker (1)	Efes Pilsen (SF)
France (LNB Pro A)	2	Nancy (1)	Le Mans (SF)
Lithuania (LKL)	1	Žalgiris (1)
Germany (BBL)	1	Alba Berlin (1)
Croatia (A1 Liga)	1	Cibona (SF)
Russia (Superleague A)	1	CSKA Moscow (1)
Israel (BSL)	1	Maccabi Electra (2)
Slovenia (SKL)	1	Union Olimpija (1)
Serbia (KLS)	1	Partizan (1)
Poland (PLK)	1	Asseco Prokom Sopot (1)

• DKV Joventut qualified as ULEB Cup winners.

Team rosters

Format

Regular Season

The first phase was a regular season, in which the competing teams were drawn into four groups, each containing six teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 10 games for each team in the first stage. The top 4 teams in each group advanced to the next round. This was the first year for this particular format; previously, the competing teams were split into three groups of eight teams each, with the top five teams in each group plus the best sixth-place team advancing.

If two or more clubs finished level on won-lost record, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:^[3]

1. Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
2. Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
3. Overall point difference in all group matches
4. Points scored in all group matches
5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

Games were played from October 22, 2008 to January 15, 2009.^[4]

Top 16

The surviving teams were then divided into four groups of four teams each, and again a round-robin system was adopted resulting in 6 games each, with the top 2 teams advancing to the quarterfinals. Tiebreakers are identical to those used in the Regular Season. Games began on January 28 and ended March 12.

Quarterfinals

In the quarterfinals, the top placed teams from each Top 16 group played second placed teams from a different group in a best-of-five playoff series, with the winners of those series advancing to the Final Four. This was the first season in which the quarterfinals were best-of-five; previously, they had been best-of-three. The quarterfinal matches were played from March 24 until April 9.

Final Four format

The culminating stage of the Euroleague in which the four remaining teams played a semifinal match and the winners of those advance to the final. The losers played in a third-place playoff. The team which was victorious in the Final (Panathinaikos) would be Euroleague champion. The Final Four semifinals were played May 1, with the third-place game and final on May 3.

Regular season

The regular season began on October 20, 2008 and concluded on January 15, 2009.

Key to colors

Top four places in each group advanced to Top 16

Group A Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Unicaja Málaga 10 8 2 771 698 +73 2. Olympiacos 10 6 4 815 748 +67 3. Maccabi Electra 10 6 4 815 811 +4 4. Cibona 10 5 5 760 772 -12 5. Air Avellino 10 3 7 754 814 -60 6. Le Mans 10 2 8 747 819 -72

Group B Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. FC Barcelona 10 9 1 813 650 +163 2. Montepaschi Siena 10 8 2 835 750 +85 3. Panathinaikos 10 7 3 763 707 +56 4. Asseco Prokom Sopot 10 2 8 675 734 -59 5. Žalgiris 10 2 8 716 812 -96 6. Nancy 10 2 8 706 855 -149

Group C Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Tau Cerámica 10 8 2 916 808 +108 2. Lottomatica Roma 10 6 4 814 786 +28 3. Fenerbahçe Ülker 10 6 4 779 755 +24 4. Alba Berlin 10 4 6 691 748 -57 5. DKV Joventut 10 4 6 800 810 -10 6. Union Olimpija 10 2 8 725 818 -93

Group D Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. CSKA Moscow 10 7 3 774 644 +130 2. Real Madrid 10 6 4 740 707 +33 3. Armani Jeans Milano 10 5 5 734 745 -11 4. Partizan 10 5 5 706 687 +19 5. Efes Pilsen 10 4 6 713 762 -49 6. Panionios Forthnet 10 3 7 668 790 -122

Top 16

The Top 16 stage was played from January 28 to March 12, 2009.

The draw was conducted on January 19 at Euroleague Basketball Company headquarters in Barcelona. The group winners in the Regular Season were drawn from one pot, the runners-up from one pot, the teams in 3rd place from one pot and those in 4th place from one pot. Teams that played in the same group in the Regular Season could not meet again in the Top 16. Also, teams from the same country could not be drawn into the same pool unless it was necessary to prevent teams from the same Regular Season group from being drawn together.

Key to colors

Top two places in each group advanced to quarterfinals

Group E Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Olympiacos 6 5 1 496 446 +50 2. Tau Cerámica 6 4 2 556 474 +82 3. Armani Jeans Milano 6 2 4 455 529 -74 4. Asseco Prokom Sopot 6 1 5 444 502 -58

Group F Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. FC Barcelona 6 5 1 508 429 +79 2. Real Madrid 6 5 1 505 487 +18 3. Maccabi Electra 6 2 4 459 481 -22 4. Alba Berlin 6 0 6 427 502 -75 *FC Barcelona wins the group over Real Madrid by the head-to-head point differential.

Group G Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Panathinaikos 6 5 1 503 428 +72 2. Partizan 6 4 2 420 434 -14 3. Unicaja Málaga 6 2 4 484 461 +23 4. Lottomatica Roma 6 1 5 441 525 -84

Group H Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. CSKA Moscow 6 5 1 454 377 +77 2. Montepaschi Siena 6 4 2 472 456 +16 3. Cibona 6 2 4 423 456 -33 4. Fenerbahçe Ülker 6 1 5 384 444 -60

Quarterfinals

Team 1 hosted Games 1 and 2, plus Game 5 if necessary. Team 2 hosted Game 3, and Game 4 if necessary.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg	4th leg	5th leg
Olympiacos	3–1	Real Madrid	88–79	79–73	63–71	78–75
FC Barcelona	3–2	Tau Cerámica	75–84	85–62	62–69	84–63	78–62
Panathinaikos	3–1	Montepaschi Siena	90–85	79–84	72–53	91–84
CSKA Moscow	3–0	Partizan	56–47	77–50	67–56

Final Four

The Final Four is the last phase of each Euroleague season, and is held over a weekend. The semifinal games are played on Friday evening. Sunday starts with the third-place game, followed by the championship final.

Semifinals

May 1, O2 World, Berlin

Team 1	Score	Team 2
FC Barcelona	78–82	CSKA Moscow
Olympiacos	82–84	Panathinaikos

3rd place game

May 3, O2 World, Berlin

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Olympiacos	79–95	FC Barcelona

Final

May 3, O2 World, Berlin

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Panathinaikos	73–71	CSKA Moscow

2008–09 Euroleague Champions
Panathinaikos 5th Title

Final standings

	Team
	Panathinaikos
	CSKA Moscow
	FC Barcelona
	Olympiacos

Final Four 2009 MVP

Vassilis Spanoulis (Panathinaikos)

Individual statistics

Rating

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rating	PIR
1.	D'or Fischer	Maccabi Electra	13	279	21.46
2.	Terrell McIntyre	Montepaschi Siena	19	377	19.84
3.	Mirsad Türkcan	Fenerbahçe Ülker	14	271	19.36

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rating	PPG
1.	Igor Rakočević	Tau Cerámica	21	377	17.95
2.	Terrell McIntyre	Montepaschi Siena	19	328	17.26
3.	David Logan	Asseco Prokom Sopot	15	253	16.87

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rating	RPG
1.	Mirsad Türkcan	Fenerbahçe Ülker	14	121	8.64
2.	D'or Fischer	Maccabi Electra	13	99	7.62
3.	Ioannis Bourousis	Olympiacos	22	162	7.36

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rating	APG
1.	Theodoros Papaloukas	Olympiacos	22	114	5.18
2.	Omar Cook	Unicaja Málaga	16	82	5.13
3.	Terrell McIntyre	Montepaschi Siena	19	84	4.42

Other Stats

Category	Name	Team	Games	Stat
Steals per game	David Logan	Asseco Prokom Sopot	15	2.67
Blocks per game	Fran Vázquez	FC Barcelona	23	1.74
Turnovers per game	David Logan	Asseco Prokom Sopot	15	2.93
Fouls drawn per game	Sani Bečirović	Lottomatica Roma	13	6.23
Minutes per game	David Logan	Asseco Prokom Sopot	15	34:18
2FG%	Luboš Bartoň	FC Barcelona	23	0.800
3FG%	Marco Mordente	Armani Jeans Milano	12	0.555
FT%	Louis Bullock	Real Madrid	20	0.953

Game highs

Category	Name	Team	Stat
Rating	Lior Eliyahu	Maccabi Electra	42
Points	Terrell McIntyre	Montepaschi Siena	35
Rebounds	Pat Burke	Asseco Prokom Sopot	20
Assists	Theodoros Papaloukas	Olympiacos	13
Steals	7 occasions		6
Blocks	Loren Woods	Žalgiris	7
Turnovers	3 occasions		8
Fouls Drawn	Sani Bečirović	Lottomatica Roma	12

Awards

Euroleague 2008–09 MVP

• Juan Carlos Navarro ( FC Barcelona )

Euroleague 2008–09 Final Four MVP

• Vassilis Spanoulis ( Panathinaikos )

All-Euroleague Team 2008–09

^[5]

Position	All-Euroleague First Team	Club Team	All-Euroleague Second Team	Club Team
PG	Terrell McIntyre	Montepaschi Siena	Theodoros Papaloukas	Olympiacos
SG/SF	Igor Rakočević	Tau Cerámica	Ramūnas Šiškauskas	CSKA Moscow
SG/SF	Juan Carlos Navarro	FC Barcelona	Vassilis Spanoulis	Panathinaikos
PF/C	Ioannis Bourousis	Olympiacos	Erazem Lorbek	CSKA Moscow
PF/C	Nikola Peković	Panathinaikos	Tiago Splitter	Tau Cerámica

Rising Star

• Novica Veličković ( Partizan )

Best Defender

• Dimitris Diamantidis ( Panathinaikos )

Top Scorer (Alphonso Ford Trophy)

• Igor Rakočević ( Tau Cerámica )

Coach of the Year (Alexander Gomelsky Award)

• Duško Vujošević ( Partizan )

Club Executive of the Year

• Marco Baldi ( Alba Berlin)

MVP Weekly

Regular Season

Game	Player	Team	Rating
1	Will McDonald	Tau Cerámica	32
2	Pops Mensah-Bonsu	Joventut Badalona	37
3	Igor Rakočević	Tau Cerámica	34
4	Mike Hall	Armani Jeans Milano	28
5	Edu Hernandez-Sonseca	Joventut Badalona	38
6	Lior Eliyahu	Maccabi Electra	42
7	Rawle Marshall	Cibona	34
8	Sani Bečirović	Lottomatica Roma	38
9	Immanuel McElroy	Alba Berlin	38
10	Oğuz Savaş	Fenerbahçe Ülker	41

Top 16

Game	Player	Team	PIR
1	Nikola Peković	Panathinaikos	28
	D'or Fischer	Maccabi Electra	28
	Lior Eliyahu (2)	Maccabi Electra	28
2	Novica Veličković	Partizan	29
3	Ersan İlyasova	FC Barcelona	39
4	Tiago Splitter	Tau Cerámica	28
5	Charles Gaines	Maccabi Electra	33
	Mike Hall (2)	Armani Jeans Milano	33
6	Mike Batiste	Panathinaikos	35

Quarter-finals

Game	Player	Team	PIR
1	Romain Sato	Montepaschi Siena	36
2	Erazem Lorbek	CSKA Moscow	33
3	Ramūnas Šiškauskas	CSKA Moscow	30
	Matjaž Smodiš	CSKA Moscow	30
4	Terrell McIntyre	Montepaschi Siena	37
5	Ersan İlyasova (2)	FC Barcelona	26

MVP of the Month

Month	Player	Team
October 2008	Ersan İlyasova	FC Barcelona
November 2008	Sani Bečirović	Lottomatica Roma
December 2008	Lior Eliyahu	Maccabi Electra
January 2009	Igor Rakočević	Tau Cerámica
February 2009	Novica Veličković	Partizan
March 2009	Erazem Lorbek	CSKA Moscow

See also

• ULEB Eurocup 2008–09
• EuroChallenge 2008–09

References and notes

External links

• Euroleague official site