Maccabi kept trying but Batiste and Nicholas came up big to help Panathinaikos close out the game, 70-78. Free throws by Diamantidis and a couple of defensive stops helped Panathinaikos to stay ahead for good, and even when Maccabi got within 62-69, it was too little, too late for the Israeli powerhouse. Panathinaikos won its sixth Euroleague title, tying with CSKA for second place in the all-time list. Fotsis, Diamantidis, Tsartsaris and Batiste won their third Euroleague title, Perperoglou and Nicholas are now two-time winners and, of course, Coach Zeljko Obradovic added his eighth Continental title. Not counting the 2001 FIBA SuproLeague, Panathinaikos has a nearly perfect 11-1 Final Four record since coach Obradovic joined the team. Romain Sato is the first player from the Central African Republic to win the Euroleague, and Maric the second Australian after David Andersen. Congratulations to Panathinaikos for its sixth Euroleague title! It will be a long night of celebration for Green fans in Barcelona. Maccabi had a bitter finish to a fantastic Euroleague season, but it will be back next year, ready as ever. Thanks for following our blog!

Schortsanitis dunked it off an in-bound past, trying to ignite the Yellow comeback. He picked up his fourth foul right after that, with 9:27 to go, but Pargo delivered an acrobatic shot to give Maccabi some hope, 47-54. Nicholas quickly answered with a three-pointer in transition to reject Maccabi's comeback attempt and soon added a jumper off tha glass to give Panathinaikos a 47-59 margin. Free throws by Diamantidis soon made it a 14-point game, 47-61, with 7:18 left. Lior Eliyahu found his first basket in the entire Final Four and Pnini added a layup for a 51-61 Maccabi deficit, as Panathinaikos ate the clock with long possessions. A dunk by Batiste brought Greens fans to their feet, 51-63, with less than 6 minutes left.

Blu tried to change things with a three-point play but Nicholas struck from beyond the line, too, as his shot hit the rim, went up and fell through. Maccabi tried a more dynamic lineup with Blu, Richard Hendrix and Macvan together on the court. Batiste split free throws and had an outstanding block in the other end, as Panathinaikos was simply all over the place on defense. Calathes scored off an inbound pass, while Maccabi lacked patience to run its offense. A big dunk by Fotsis made Panathinaikos fans jump up and down, forcing Maccabi to call timeout at 40-51. Blu hit a big three-pointer, and Maccabi tried a match-up zone defense that Sato punished with a bomb from downtown, good for a 43-54 Panathinaikos lead after 30 minutes. At the buzzer then Eidson's wild shot went in just after time expired.

Batiste and Pargo have traded baskets in an electric start to the second half. The noise level is just off the charts for a sports event. Maccabi keep tying to feed Schortsanitis down low but Maric quickly returned to the game to guard him. For Maccabi Pargo hit free throws and found Schortsanitis for a layup -- his first points -- for a 36-35 score. Nicholas nailed a six-meter shot and Panathinaikos adjusted its defense to double-team Schortsanitis, Maccabi tried a different front court with Blu and Macvan back on the floor, as Pnini waved his arms to ask Maccabi fans for even more support. Sato nailed back-to-back shots from downtown to give Panathinaikos a 36-43 edge midway through the third quarter.

Having a quick look at the stats, it's a three-point game but Panathinaikos has a 25-44 lead in performance index rating. Why? Maccabi has made just 4-of-21 two-pointers this far. Schortsanitis is scoreless and played less than 8 minutes due to foul trouble. It will be very important to keep him on the court longer if Maccabi is to win the game. Over the years, Panathinaikos has played against Sofo many times and knows better than anyone how to limit him. Of course, Schortsanitis can be unstoppable at times, too. The assists record in a Final Four title game is 9 and Diamantidis already has 5. Here comes the second half!

So far Diamantidis and Eidson have been outstanding, but there is much more to this game than two particular players. Maric, who didn't play against Montepaschi, scored around the basket. His physical game is important against Schortsanitis, who returned to the floor at 24-29 -- with 2 fouls. Blu buried his trademark catch-and-shoot three-pointer and the pressure is on for Panathinaikos now. Perperoglou stepped up with a long jumper and Maric kept rebounding well at both ends, forcing Maccabi to call timeout late in the first half. Blu knocked down another three-pointer but Sato downed a jumper to fix the halftime score at 30-33. What a game!

Eidson downed a three-pointer early in the second quarter, as Maccabi now tried Blu at power forward to spread the floor. A fully focused Diamantidis answered from downtown but Macvan scored down low and Eidson sank a jumper to make a sea of yellow chant even louder. It is difficult, if not impossible, to explain the atmosphere here at Palau Sant Jordi, as difficult as it was in 2003 or even more so. Sato hesitated before taking an open shot and missed it. Nicholas kept things on track for Panathinaikos with a smooth driving layup, good for a 22-27 score. Eidson is just unstoppable in this second quarter and sank an off-balance jumper to beat the shot clock buzzer. The game is well on its way to become an instant classic!

An incredible atmosphere at the Palau Sant Jordi to kick off the Final Four title game between Panathinaikos and Maccabi, as both teams feed off the crowd’s intense energy for a red-hot start. Led by Euroleague MVP Dimitris Diamantidis’ masterful playmaking abilities and an aggressive defense, the Greek side pulls ahead first, but Maccabi evens up thanks to Guy Pnini and Chuck Edison’s long-range marksmanship. With a spectacular head-to-head matchup between Diamantidis and Jeremy Pargo on full display at the point guard position, it’s forward Antonio Fotsis who sparks the Panathinaikos faithful with a gutsy three-point play, and sharpshooter Pnini who again hits from beyond the arc to even things up at 11-11. Inside buckets are hard to come by, as Sofoklis Schortsanidis remains scoreless in the quarter and Panathinaikos turns on the jets on defense to ignite the fast break. After a loose-ball scramble, the Diamantidis show continues with a gorgeous set-up for a Mike Batiste slam. In an attempt to add quickness, David Blatt subs Milan Macvan for Schortsanidis, but it’s Diamantidis’ show until the end of the quarter, scoring his 6th point on a beautiful reverse layup to enter the break at 15-22.

Madrid needs a one-of-a-kind comeback, the one you get only once every season, at most. Problem is, that miracle already took place against Montepaschi in Siena. The Whites kept struggling to score against a more focused Montepaschi and free throws by Lavrinovic sealed the outcome, 55-70. Montepaschi capped a fantastic Turkish Airlines Euroleague season with a prestigious win that pleased its many fans at Palau Sant Jordi. Madrid went back home empty-handed but may have started a new era with this Final Four appearance -- time will tell and we'll be looking forward to finding out! The game blog will be back for the Euroleague final in just a few minutes!

Novica Velickovic, in his first minutes in this year's Final Four, made free throws early in the fourth quarter and Reyes added a long jumper but Madrid only traded baskets now, as Montepaschi kept finding easy scoring options. Tomas Ress and McCalebb made free throws for a 49-61 Siena lead. Reyes nailed another shot and when Tomic banked in a jump hook, Madrid was within 53-61 with 7 minutes left. Marco Carrareto fired in one from downtown and followed that with a baseline jumper that got Montepaschi much closer to sealing the outcome. Madrid lacked intensity and Zisis scored in transition to make coach Lele Molin stop the game at 53-68.

Panathinaikos fans have taken over and are now singing louder than anyone. We're sure that Maccabi fans, outnumbering those wearing green, will be heard from later on today. Kaukenas provided one of the plays of the day, an excellent driving layup over Fischer, and Lavrinovic fed Moss for an off-balance layup, good for a 39-49 score. Montepaschi found another new go-to guy in McCalebb, who scored in penetration and added a lightning quick fast-break layup to make Madrid stop the game at 39-53. Llull stayed on fire but he hasn't found much help. He had 17 points but Rodriguez, Tucker, Rodriguez and Suarez combined for just one. Llull followed a triple with a layup-plus-foul for a 45-57 Madrid deficit after 30 minutes.

Rakovic shined after the break with an off-balance layup and a big offensive board. Madrid went scoreless for almost 2 minutes until Llull downed a catch-and-shoot three-pointer. Moss scored in transition for a five-point Montepaschi lead, 35-40. Llull made free throws but a big three-pointer by David Moss and a jumper by Lavrinovic gave Montepaschi a 37-45 edge. Suarez and Tucker must start scoring in bunches at some point, but so far Siena is clearly dominating the game, playing with more intensity.

Nikos Zisis and Pietro Aradori entered the game and the Greek playmaker buried a triple for a 17-28 Montepaschi lead. Madrid quickly regrouped, once again getting its big men involved, as Mirotic, Reyes and Tomic brought the Whites back to life, 23-28. Montepaschi called timeout but Madrid kept its good momentum going -- it wouldn't be this season's first double-digit comeback against Montepaschi, after all. Moss and Zisis stepped up for Montepaschi but Mirza Begic and Mirotic answered on the other end to keep Madrid within 28-32. Michelori and Lavrinovic scored over Begic but a close jumper by Begic fixed the halftime score at 32-36.

Madrid tried to run its offense through Tomic early in the second quarter but Montepaschi dominated the game with McCalebb's explosiveness. Andrea Michelori checked into the game for the first time in this Final Four -- he sat out against Panathinaikos. A highly motivated Kaukenas stayed on fire and soon gave Montepaschi a 15-23 lead. Madrid did not find answers on offense, hitting just 6 of its opening 20 shots and picking up 7 turnovers in 14 minutes. Rakovic scored in the paint to make it a double-digit game, 15-25. Tomic hit a jump hook but other than Llull, all of Madrid's perimeters players were scoreless midway through the second quarter.

Free throws by Hairston and Milovan Rakovic's first basket make it 2-10. Madrid tries to change things with its second unit off the bench -- Sergio Rodriguez, Clay Tucker, Nikola Mirotic and D'or Fischer. A layup by Lavrinovic caps a 0-10 run as Madrid went scoreless for more than 5 minutes until back-to-back baskets by Fischer and Sergio Llull get the Whites within 6-12. Montepaschi tried a different backcourt with Bo McCalebb and Kaukenas. Mirotic showed his potential with a smooth left-handed jump hook and you can hear Madrid fans for the first time tonight. Kaukenas and McCalebb help Montepaschi keep an 11-19 lead after 10 minutes.

Welcome to the Third Place game blog! Montepaschi is without Shaun Stonerook and Deji Akindele. It is a special game for former Madrid players Marko Jaric and Rimas Kaukenas. Jaric and Malik Hairston score in penetration to give Montepaschi an early lead, 2-4. All Montepaschi fans are here cheering for their team and singing non-stop, including the team's anthem before the opening tip. Both team struggle to score early, as it is always difficult to regroup after a disappointing semifinal loss. David Moss scores and Montepaschi leads 2-6 before the game's first timeout.