2008-09Final FourTHIRD PLACE GAME
Olympiacos Piraeus 79
Regal FC Barcelona 95
May 03, 2009 CET: 17:00
Local time: 17:00 O2 WORLD
Jaka Lakovic - Regal FC Barcelona - Final Four Berlin 2009

Regal FC Barcelona finished in third place after cruising to a 79-95 Olympiacos Piraeus

Regal FC Barcelona finished the 2008-09 Euroleague Basketball season in third place after cruising to a 79-95 victory over Olympiacos Piraeus at o2 World in Berlin. In a fast-paced and entertaining game, Barcelona led from start to finish, pulling away with a 0-15 charge that bridged the first and second periods, as it held the Reds without a basket for nearly seven minutes. David Andersen scored 20 to pace Barca, which finished the season with 18 wins – more than any team in the Euroleague this season. Juan Carlos Navarro and Jaka Lakovic added 14 apiece for the winners and Daniel Santiago scored 10. Lakovic also dished 5 steals. Lynn Greer led Olympiacos with 19 points, Ioannis Bourousis posted 17 points and 9 rebounds, Nikola Vujcic finished with 12 and Zoran Erceg had 11.

Santiago got Barcelona going with a layup, but free throws by Vujcic tied it at 2-2. Olympiacos head coach Panagiotis Giannakis opted for an unusual backcourt featuring Milos Teodosic and Michalis Pelekanos, trying to get more defensive intensity. Lubos Barton stepped up with a three-point play and Santiago dunked for a 2-7 Barcelona lead. Vujcic took over with a spin move in the low post, but Navarro followed a layup-plus-foul with free throws to boost his team's margin to 4-12. Andersen buried his trademark turnaround jumper, which Teodosic erased with a floating layup. Lakovic sank free throws before Navarro fed Santiago for an alley-oop dunk-and-foul. Georgios Printezis and Pelekanos kept the Reds within 9-19. Erceg and Santiago traded jump hooks, as Olympiacos adjusted its man-to-man defense. Greer downed 4 free throws in an 8-0 Olympiacos run highlighted by Theo Papaloukas's wild driving layup that brought the Reds back to life at 19-22. Ersan Ilyasova scored in penetration off a Barcelona timeout before Sada made free throws to give his team some fresh air, 19-26, after 10 minutes.

Barcelona dominated the boards with Fran Vazquez and Ilyasova together on court. Both players set the crowd on fire with back-to-back dunks that caused Olympiacos to stop the game at 19-31. Olympiacos tried to slow down the game tempo, but could not find good shots. At the other end, Jordi Trias buried a four-meter jumper that broke the game open, 19-33. Olympiacos had been scoreless for five minutes already while a 'bomba' by Navarro made it a 16-point game. A put-back layup by Trias capped a 0-15 run. Finally Printezis banked in a jump hook. Gianluca Basile immediately answered from downtown to make it 21-40. Greer collected a steal and raced downcourt for an easy layup, but free throws by Andre Barrett and a mid-range jumper by Andersen kept Regal FCB far ahead, 23-44. Greer nailed a three-pointer and Vujcic scored down low in a 7-0 Olympiacos run that Papaloukas capped with a driving layup. Barrett scored in penetration to fix the halftime score at 30-46.

Vujcic hit a jump hook immediately after the break, but Navarro answered from downtown to keep Barca in control. Greer pleased the crowd with a floating layup and a running triple that saw Barcelona call timeout at 37-49. Vujcic and Lakovic traded baskets before Bourousis downed a three-pointer from the top of the key. Papaloukas added a driving layup to get Olympiacos within 44-53. Vujcic made free throws, too. Barcelona tried twin point guards with Sada and Lakovic together on court. Ilyasova took over with a put-back dunk that Bourousis matched with an uncontested layup. Lakovic followed a layup with a big three-pointer and Sada added a stop-and-pop jumper to keep Barcelona out of trouble, 50-63. Erceg made foul shots, but Lakovic buried one from downtown over Bourousis. Roger Grimau joined the three-point shootout for a 52-69 Barcelona margin. Erceg beat the shot clock with a jump hook that Andersen matched with a baseline jumper. Free throws by Papaloukas and a put-back layup by Bourousis brought the Reds within 58-73 after three quarters.

Olympiacos needed a quick comeback to get back in the game and Bourousis tried to ignite it with a quick basket. Andersen immediately answered from downtown and soon hit a free throw for a 60-77 score. Olympiacos could not find its scoring rhythm until Erceg stepped up with a layup-plus-foul. Bourousis added a jump hook to give the Reds some hope at 65-77 with over eight minutes to go. Barton buried a three-pointer, but Pelekanos scored after an Olympiacos timeout. Andersen kept pacing Barcelona and his trademark three-pointer from the key sealed the outcome, 70-85, with four minutes to go. Olympiacos kept trying through an outstanding Bourousis, but everything was said and done already. Barcelona added a prestigious win to finish a fantastic Euroleague season in style while Olympiacos hopes to use this experience to come back even stronger in 2009-10.

Sunday, May 3, 2009
Javier Gancedo, Euroleague.net, Berlin
No results found.
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; PUKL,SASA; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB; ROCHA, FERNANDO
Attendance: 13238
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus19112821
Regal FC Barcelona26202722
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus19305879
Regal FC Barcelona26467395
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 23:28 8 3/7 0/1 2/2       4   3     2 1 3
5 PELEKANOS, MICHALIS 18:13 3 1/2 0/2 1/2         1   1   5 1 -3
7 VUJCIC, NIKOLA 19:38 12 4/8   4/4   3 3 3   1 1   1 2 15
8 MILOSEVIC, IGOR 5:24                 1           1
9 BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS 25:13 17 7/8 1/3 0/2 2 7 9 2         4 4 23
10 HALPERIN, YOTAM 15:39     0/2         1 2       2 1  
11 GREER, LYNN 32:07 19 3/6 2/4 7/8   3 3 2 1 3     2 4 18
14 VOUGIOUKAS, IAN 1:38   0/1                         -1
16 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 10:03 4 2/3               1     4   -2
17 ERCEG, ZORAN 23:28 11 4/6   3/4 2 3 5 1 2     1 3 6 18
18 TEODOSIC, MILOS 25:09 5 1/2 1/2     1 1 2         2 4 8
21 SCHORTSANITIS, SOFOKLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 79 25/43 4/14 17/22 5 17 22 15 7 8 2 1 25 23 81
        58.1% 28.6% 77.3%
Head coach: GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Regal FC Barcelona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 BASILE, GIANLUCA 15:36 3   1/1     2 2   1           6
6 BARRETT, ANDRE 11:06 4 1/2 0/1 2/2   1 1 2   1   1 2 1 2
8 TRIAS, JORDI 13:58 5 2/2   1/2 1 3 4 1   2 1   2 4 10
9 BARTON, LUBOS 15:41 6 1/2 1/1 1/1 2   2             1 8
10 LAKOVIC, JAKA 18:39 14 2/3 2/4 4/4 1 1 2 5   1     4 2 15
11 NAVARRO, JUAN CARLOS 30:03 14 2/6 1/8 7/7   1 1 3   2   1   6 10
13 ANDERSEN, DAVID 25:56 20 5/7 3/5 1/2 1 3 4     2     2 1 16
17 VAZQUEZ, FRAN 12:37 3 1/2   1/2 1 4 5           2 1 5
21 ILYASOVA, ERSAN 10:10 7 3/3 0/1 1/2 1 2 3     1     4 2 5
24 SADA, VICTOR 17:24 4 1/2   2/2 1 3 4 3 2 1     2 2 11
25 SANTIAGO, DANIEL 17:19 10 4/4   2/4   3 3   1       3 4 13
44 GRIMAU, ROGER 11:31 5 1/1 1/1   1 1 2 1         2 1 7
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 95 23/34 9/22 22/28 10 24 34 15 4 10 1 2 23 25 109
        67.6% 40.9% 78.6%
Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI

Head Coaches

GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"I think that it was a game which is difficult to play. In the first half, the players didn't have the concentration to react after the semifinal. In the second half we tried a lot better. Because we had a lot of young players, I think it was a good lesson of how to play in this tournament. For me, I can't say anything about the first half because we didn't play. The second half we played a little better, with more energy, and had a better game. It was a great experience for my players, and we showed that we have the game to make success for the rest of the season, of which we have a lot of games let, and for next year. Thank you and congratulations to Barcelona."

"I think, as I said, my players didn't have the experience, most of them. After the loss on Friday, we didn't have the mentality and concentration we needed to play hard today from the first minute. We played hard in the second half, but it was not enough. It's a good lesson, because we had to play hard all game. This game was not so important for the championship, but it gave us the opportunity to learn for the future. Childress had a small problem with his knee, so in this game it was not necessary for him to play."
PASCUAL, XAVI
Regal FC Barcelona
"We played a serious game from the start with a lot of defensive intensity. That allowed us to get some good early leads, playing nice basketball, fast and dynamic. We broke open the game that way in the first half. In the third quarter, we ran into trouble, in particular with the side pick-'n'-roll that Olympiacos played with Vujcic. They were able to score easily on us, but we were able to maintain decent leads thanks to our offense. It was a little similar to the leads that we had enjoyed in the first half, and those advantages were enough to decide the game for us. It doesn't taste good to finish third, because we came here with every intention of competing to win the title of this competition, the Euroleague trophy. Logically, then, we cannot leave satisfied. We played a good semifinal game, were on a good trajectory for most of it, but it was not enough to win."

Players

GREER, LYNN
Olympiacos Piraeus
“It always feels bad to lose. Personal achievements don’t mean anything right now. We wanted to win. We came here to get two wins and instead we got two losses. Now we gotta go back to Athens and prepare for the Greek playoffs. This lets us know that we’re not as good as we think we are. We have to work harder. We have experience in this locker room. If we had won, we’d be saying we have experience, so it goes either way. Every time I go out there, I play hard. Barcelona played that way as well. Everybody. A total team effort. I don’t even remember [the 0-15 run]. Everything was going so fast. Andersen hit a couple of threes and Navarro got to the basket. Everybody was hitting for them at one point. They have a good team.”
VUJCIC, NIKOLA
Olympiacos Piraeus
"I hope this will be the last time I play in a game for [third] place, that’s what I really hope. It’s really hard to play this game. We really tried, but it’s not a good result. Josh was injured and it was hard. [In the second period,] we were out of it. We tried to score, but couldn’t score. And the difference stayed the same way until the end of the game. We have a great chance to win the Greek championship. We have the home-court advantage. Now we must do that. It’s our bread and butter."
BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"It was a little hard to concentrate out there and we had some bad moments. I was not 100% and we missed some players with injuries. But there are no excuses. The guys that were on the court tried their hardest. I personally won’t take anything positive from Berlin, because I was sick, didn’t help my team much and we lost twice. I motioned to the Panathinaikos fans that we will meet again in the Greek League playoffs."
BARTON, LUBOS
Regal FC Barcelona
"Our season is not finished yet, as we still have the chance to win a big title, the Spanish League. I think we had a pretty good Euroleague season this year, but this is sports, it came down to one game that we didn't win and cost us the title. We had a very good start and kept intensity throughout the entire game. I don't know how Olympiacos played, but of course it was not the semifinals attitude."
ANDERSEN, DAVID
Regal FC Barcelona
"It is disappointing that we were not in the final, but we came out, played hard and finished in third position. It was a good win and now we must go back to focus on the Spanish League. We had a good Euroleague season, winning a lot more games that we lost. This is a new team with a lot of new guys. We have to work hard to bring back home the Euroleague title, there is always next year. We played our game, got our rhythm going, our defense was good. We played our style and did not get caught up in things."
LAKOVIC, JAKA
Regal FC Barcelona
"It was not an important win, but it is always better to go back home with a win than with a loss. We leave Berlin with the third place and most important, the feeling that we are one of the best teams here, if not the best. We lost a game, but it cannot affect us much in the Spanish League playoffs. This win is for the fans, who came a long way and paid a lot of money to be here. We were fully aware of that, they deserved to leave Berlin with some happiness."
SANTIAGO, DANIEL
Regal FC Barcelona
"It was a very good year for us. We put a very good team together and still a pretty young one. We hope to use this experience to help us in the Spanish League playoffs. Hopefully next year we will be able to come back stronger than ever. The main thing was that we were more focused than they were. It is tough to play a second game that does not mean too much. It is tough, but we have to be professional, go out there and play hard for our fans that came a long way to see us play. We had to finish strong because if you don't do it that way, this can affect you in your domestic league as well. You want to leave with a good taste in your mouth."