May 14, 2015 - 2014-15 bwin MVP: Nemanja Bjelica, Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul
Euroleague
Basketball announced the bwin MVP for the 2014-15 Turkish Airlines
Euroleague is Nemanja Bjelica of Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul. Bjelica was
presented the trophy for the top performer of the season by Ronny
Nessim, Regional Manager at bwin.party digital entertainment, at the
EFES Euroleague Awards Ceremony, one of the first official acts of the
Final Four, at Casa de Correos on Thursday. The versatile forward, who
was previously announced as a 2014-15 All-Euroleague First Team member,
received more votes than any other player during the selection process.
Euroleague Basketball conducted the voting among journalists and fans.
Bjelica, who turned 27 last week, ranked fourth in the league in
average performance index rating, but his 18.3 index rating was best
among players on winning teams. It was the best season of Bjelica’s
career as he helped Fenerbahce reach its first ever Final Four. Read
more here.
May 9, 2015 - All-Euroleague First and Second Teams announced
One week before the decisive games of the Turkish
Airlines Euroleague season tip off at the Final Four in Madrid,
Euroleague Basketball congratulates the 10 stars who have earned
selection to the 2014-15 All-Euroleague First and Second Teams. The
selection process for the All-Euroleague teams and the 2015 bwin MVP
saw tens of thousands of fans from around the globe cast votes for
their favorite players, as did media members from each of the countries
with Euroleague teams. The voting is made without regard to player
positions. The 10 players chosen come from seven different Euroleague
teams. Six of them are first-time All-Euroleague selections. The
All-Euroleague First Team is comprised of players from five different
teams: guards Vassilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos Piraeus and Milos
Teodosic of CSKA Moscow; forwards Nemanja Bjelica of Fenerbahce Ulker
Istanbul and Felipe Reyes of Real Madrid; and center Boban Marjanovic
of Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade. Read more here.
May 8, 2015 - Euroleague Rising Star Trophy: Bogdan Bogdanovic, Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul
His
unique combination of basketball skills and scoring ability together
with maturity and poise have led Turkish Airlines Euroleague head
coaches to vote Bogdan Bogdanovic of Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul as the
Euroleague Rising Star Trophy winner for the second season in a row.
The Rising Star Trophy recognizes the best Euroleague player each
season who was under the age of 22 on July 1 of the summer before the
season started. No Fenerbahce player started more games than the
22-year-old Bogdanovic and only one played more minutes than the savvy
guard, whose 289 points scored led all Rising Star Trophy-eligible
players this season. Having won the award also last season, when he
played for Partizan NIS Belgrade, Bogdanovic joins Nikola Mirotic, who
did so in 2011 and 2012 with Real Madrid, as the only players to win
the Rising Star Trophy twice. Bogdanovic is also the first Fenerbahce
player to win the award. Read more here.
May 7, 2015 - 2014-15 Best Defender Trophy winner: Bryant Dunston, Olympiacos Piraeus
For
the second season in a row, Bryant Dunston of Olympiacos Piraeus has
been chosen by Turkish Airlines Euroleague head coaches to win the Best
Defender Trophy. As a shot-blocker, stealer and all-around immovable
force, Dunston anchored an Olympiacos defense that proved the best of
the 2014-15 season. The Olympiacos center becomes the only player
besides six-time winner Dimitris Diamantidis to be voted the
competition's best defender more than once. The Best Defender Trophy is
the second in a string of 2014-15 EFES Euroleague Awards to be revealed
this week. Dunston was among the Euroleague leaders in blocked shots
and altered plenty more with his mobility and athleticism. Dunston's
presence allowed Olympiacos perimeter defenders to play tougher, too,
knowing that that he was backing them up. Read more here.
May 6, 2015 - 2014-15 Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy: Taylor Rochestie, Nizhny Novgorod
The
first of the 2014-15 EFES Euroleague Awards, the Alphonso Ford Top
Scorer Trophy, has been won by Nizhny Novgorod playmaker Taylor
Rochestie, whose scoring exploits this season helped bring a rookie
team all the way to the Top 16. The Ford Trophy is awarded to the
Turkish Airlines Euroleague player who averages the most points over a
minimum number of games. It is the only end-of-season award based
solely on statistics, and by peppering baskets across Europe for 18.9
points over 21 games this season, Rochestie left no doubt about who
deserved it most. Rochestie was a devastating weapon for Nizhny all
season long; he scored in double figures every time he stepped on a
Euroleague court, scored in the 20s eight times and reached 29 points
on his best scoring night. It is the first Ford Trophy for Rochestie in
his third Euroleague season. He had averaged 5.1 points in 14
Euroleague career games prior to this season. Read more here.
April 28, 2015 - MVP for April: Georgios Printezis, Olympiacos Piraeus
Only
one team advanced to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four this
season without the benefit of home-court advantage when the playoffs
started. That same team is the only one that survived after losing Game
1. Both accomplishments are highly unusual, but that team, Olympiacos
Piraeus, had a secret weapon in forward Georgios Printezis, who is
Euroleague Basketball's choice as bwin MVP for April. Printezis, of
course, has made it a habit in his career to come up big in the most
important moments. Already a hero at Olympiacos for hitting the
trophy-winning shot to start his boyhood club's back-to-back Euroleague
titles in 2012 and 2013, Printezis rose to the challenge in these
playoffs, too, to send the Reds back to the Final Four this spring.
With his team's back against the wall, Printezis had the single best
performance of his Euroleague career in the series-changing Game 2 road
win against FC Barcelona, was his team's top scorer in a tense Game 3
thriller at home and outdid himself with an unforgettable
buzzer-beating, series-clinching three-pointer to end an electric Game
4. Read more here.
April 24, 2015 - Playoffs Game 4 bwin MVP: Andrei Kirilenko, CSKA Moscow
Nine
games into his return to the club where first played as a teenager last
century, Andrei Kirilenko put his stamp on CSKA Moscow's march into the
Final Four with a signature performance that made him the bwin MVP for
Game 4 of the playoffs. The former Euroleague MVP contributed heavily
to a series clinching 55-74 victory over Panathinaikos Athens with 13
points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 steal for a performance index
rating of 27, which was Kirilenko’s best this season and the highest of
any player in Playoffs Game 4. It also marked the fifth weekly bwin MVP
award of Kirilenko’s Euroleague career. The second-highest index rating
in Playoffs Game 4 came from Anadolu Efes Istanbul forward Dario Saric
with 9 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists for an index rating of 22 in a
63-76 loss to Real Madrid. Saric’s teammate Nenad Krstic produced a
performance index rating of 19 with 16 points on near-perfect shooting
and 4 rebounds. Read more here.
April 22, 2015 - Game 4
After Games 3 provided with some memorable drama
with each decided on a final possession, and along the way produced the
first Final Four team - Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul - the 2014-15
Euroleague Playoffs continue with Game 4 clashes in three series on
Wednesday and Thursday. Olympiacos Piraeus can claim a playoff berth on
home floor, while the visiting CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid look to
bounce back from dramatic losses and clinch the series with road wins.
Read more here.
Here is the schedule for Game 4:
Playoff A
Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. Real Madrid 63-76
Playoff C
Panathinaikos Athens vs. CSKA Moscow 55-74
Playoff D
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. FC Barcelona 71-68
April 22, 2015 - Playoffs Game 3 bwin MVP: Nikos Pappas, Panathinaikos Athens
Nikos
Pappas delivered a spectacular performance for Panathinaikos Athens on
Monday night, earning himself the bwin MVP award for Game 3 of the
playoffs and – more importantly – keeping his team’s Final Four dreams
alive. Pappas set four personal Euroleague career highs: 25 points, 5
three-pointers made, 4 steals and a performance index rating of 31 –
the best in Game 3 of the playoffs – as the Greens defeated CSKA Moscow
86-85. He also tied career highs with 4 assists and 8 fouls drawn. His
point total matched the third-highest in the club’s long playoff
history of the Greens, a history that was prolonged as Pappas assured
with the biggest night of his Euroleague career that Panathinaikos will
play Game 4. The second-highest performance index of Game 3 was
achieved by power forward Brian Randle of outgoing champion Maccabi
Electra Tel Aviv. Read more here.
April 20, 2015 - Game 3
The on-going excitement of the Turkish Airlines
Euroleague Playoffs continues on Monday and Tuesday with four Game 3
clashes. Three road teams up 2-0 – Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow and
Fenerbahce Ulker – have a first of three chances each to punch their
Final Four tickets, while their respective hosts – Anadolu Efes
Istanbul, Panathinaikos Athens and Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv – hope to
achieve something no other team has done before, which come back from
0-2 down to win a series.
Here is the schedule for Game 3:
Playoff A
Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. Real Madrid 75-72
Playoff B
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv vs. Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul 74-75
Playoff C
Panathinaikos Athens vs. CSKA Moscow 86-85
Playoff D
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. FC Barcelona 73-71
April 18, 2015 - Playoffs Game 2 bwin MVP: Georgios Printezis, Olympiacos Piraeus
To
end a week where road teams suffered one tough defeat after another,
two-time Euroleague champion Georgios Printezis changed that tune
big-time for Olympiacos Piraeus on Friday night with a career-best
performance that more than earned him the bwin MVP honor for Game 2 of
the playoffs. Printezis amassed 22 points and 9 rebounds for a 34
performance index rating, the best of his illustrious career and the
best of any player in the first week of the playoffs. He only missed 3
shots and also collected an assist and a steal in leading the reds over
FC Barcelona 63-76. Game 2’s next-best performance came from Anadolu
Efes Istanbul point guard Thomas Heurtel, who set a Euroleague Playoffs
record with 15 assists while racking up a performance index rating of
31. Despite his effort, Efes fell short 90-85 at Real Madrid. Read more
here.
April 16, 2015 - Game 2
The 2014-15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs
began with wins for the favored, home teams. While Real Madrid and
Fenerbahce Ulker saw off stern challenges from the likes of Anadolu
Efes Istanbul and Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, respectively, CSKA Moscow
and FC Barcelona rolled to more comfortable wins. All four series
feature shot turnarounds with Game 2 tipping off just 48 hours after
Game 1.
Here is the schedule for Game 2:
Playoff A
Real Madrid vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul 90-85
Playoff B
Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul vs. Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv 82-67
Playoff C
CSKA Moscow vs. Panathinaikos Athens 100-80
Playoff D
FC Barcelona vs. Olympiacos Piraeus 63-76
April 16, 2015 - Playoffs Game 1 bwin MVP: Gustavo Ayon, Real Madrid
Picking
the perfect time for his first Turkish Airlines Euroleague
double-double, center Gustavo Ayon led Real Madrid to a
come-from-behind 80-71 victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Game 1 of
their playoffs series in the Spanish capital on Wednesday. His
dominance in the paint against Efes also meant that Ayon has earned the
Game 1 bwin MVP honor. Ayon scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from
the field and made 4 free throws without a miss. He added 10 rebounds,
4 steals and 1 block in amassing a performance index rating of 29,
which was the highest of any player in Game 1 of the playoffs. Jan
Vesely of Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul and Milos Teodosic of CSKA Moscow
also starred in Game 1 victories for their teams and tied for
second-best index rating, 25 each. Vesely scored 23 points on 11-for-14
shooting plus 7 rebounds in Fenerbahce's 83-72 victory over Maccabi
Electra Tel Aviv. Read more here.
April 14, 2015 - Game 1
The 2014-15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs are
upon us. Best-of-five series start with the first of two games on the
floor of the teams that have earned home-court advantage: Real Madrid,
Fenerbahce Ulker, CSKA Moscow and FC Barcelona. Action is split with
two games on Tuesday, followed by two more games on Wednesday.
Here is the schedule for Game 1:
Playoff A:
Real Madrid vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul 80-71
Playoff B:
Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul vs. Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv80-72
Playoff C:
CSKA Moscow vs. Panathinaikos Athens 93-66
Playoff D:
FC Barcelona vs. Olympiacos Piraeus73-57
April 13, 2015 - Inside the Playoffs
Real Madrid vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul
After splitting a pair of regular season games, Real
Madrid and Anadolu Efes Istanbul clash again with a trip to the Turkish
Airlines Euroleague Final Four on the line. Madrid, which reached the
Euroleague Championship Game in each of the past two seasons, may be
the favorite, but Efes cannot be taken lightly with three rising stars
in the rotation ready to take flight.
Different paths
Earlier in the season Madrid and Efes split regular season victories,
and only their head-to-head match in the final week of the regular
season, a 90-70 Madrid victory, decided the Group A winner. However, in
the 14 rounds of the Top 16 that followed, their paths went separate
ways. Madrid finished first in Group E with 11-3, dominating on both
ends of the floor, and finishing the longest stage of the competition
with +192 point difference despite not even having the best overall Top
16 record. Read more here.
FC Barcelona vs. Olympiacos Piraeus
These two storied teams have already met twice in
Euroleague Championship Games and in four Final Fours. Now FC Barcelona
and Olympiacos Piraeus square off with just a single Final Four ticket
available.
Historic results
FC Barcelona and Olympiacos Piraeus have only played 18 times prior to
this season, but a great many of those were games of great
significance. They met in the 1997 Euroleague Championship Game and in
three Final Fours between 2009 and 2012. The overall standings favor
Barcelona: Barca leads the all-time series 13-5 and has won eight of
their last nine meetings. Barcelona is also 7-0 all-time against
Olympiacos at home. Read more here.
Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul vs. Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv
Although it may look like a lop-sided matchup
experience-wise when Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul returns to the playoffs
for the first time in seven years to challenge defending champ Maccabi
Electra Tel Aviv, there is much more going into this series than meets
the eye.
Balancing act
Although the six-time and reigning Euroleague champs from Maccabi face
a team that has never won the title and returns to the playoffs after
seven years, Fenerbahce holds the home-court advantage and a few other
factors that balance out this matchup. Maccabi has debutante head coach
in Guy Goodes, who was an assistant during the championship run last
season, and he has just five players back from that Euroleague-winning
team. On the other hand, Fenerbahce is more playoff-tested than your
average newcomer. Read more here.
CSKA Moscow vs. Panathinaikos Athens
Two teams tied with six Euroleague titles, the
second-most in continental history, CSKA Moscow and Panathinaikos
Athens, bring one of the classic confrontations in world basketball to
the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
The only rematch
CSKA Moscow vs. Panathinaikos Athens is the only rematch from last
season's playoffs. As this year, CSKA had home-court advantage after
winning its Top 16 group last season, while Panathinaikos finished
fourth. The series reached the maximum five games after each team
prevailed twice at home, including CSKA winning the opener in overtime
and Panathinaikos surviving 73-72 in Game 4. The fifth game was
one-sided, however, as CSKA won 77-47. To eight players from last year,
CSKA has added stars like Nando De Colo in the backcourt and Andrei
Kirlienko into the frontcourt. Read more here.
Euroleague
Basketball announced the bwin MVP for the 2014-15 Turkish Airlines
Euroleague is Nemanja Bjelica of Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul. Bjelica was
presented the trophy for the top performer of the season by Ronny
Nessim, Regional Manager at bwin.party digital entertainment, at the
EFES Euroleague Awards Ceremony, one of the first official acts of the
Final Four, at Casa de Correos on Thursday. The versatile forward, who
was previously announced as a 2014-15 All-Euroleague First Team member,
received more votes than any other player during the selection process.
Euroleague Basketball conducted the voting among journalists and fans.
Bjelica, who turned 27 last week, ranked fourth in the league in
average performance index rating, but his 18.3 index rating was best
among players on winning teams. It was the best season of Bjelica’s
career as he helped Fenerbahce reach its first ever Final Four. Read
more 
His
unique combination of basketball skills and scoring ability together
with maturity and poise have led Turkish Airlines Euroleague head
coaches to vote Bogdan Bogdanovic of Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul as the
Euroleague Rising Star Trophy winner for the second season in a row.
The Rising Star Trophy recognizes the best Euroleague player each
season who was under the age of 22 on July 1 of the summer before the
season started. No Fenerbahce player started more games than the
22-year-old Bogdanovic and only one played more minutes than the savvy
guard, whose 289 points scored led all Rising Star Trophy-eligible
players this season. Having won the award also last season, when he
played for Partizan NIS Belgrade, Bogdanovic joins Nikola Mirotic, who
did so in 2011 and 2012 with Real Madrid, as the only players to win
the Rising Star Trophy twice. Bogdanovic is also the first Fenerbahce
player to win the award. Read more 
For
the second season in a row, Bryant Dunston of Olympiacos Piraeus has
been chosen by Turkish Airlines Euroleague head coaches to win the Best
Defender Trophy. As a shot-blocker, stealer and all-around immovable
force, Dunston anchored an Olympiacos defense that proved the best of
the 2014-15 season. The Olympiacos center becomes the only player
besides six-time winner Dimitris Diamantidis to be voted the
competition's best defender more than once. The Best Defender Trophy is
the second in a string of 2014-15 EFES Euroleague Awards to be revealed
this week. Dunston was among the Euroleague leaders in blocked shots
and altered plenty more with his mobility and athleticism. Dunston's
presence allowed Olympiacos perimeter defenders to play tougher, too,
knowing that that he was backing them up. Read more 
The
first of the 2014-15 EFES Euroleague Awards, the Alphonso Ford Top
Scorer Trophy, has been won by Nizhny Novgorod playmaker Taylor
Rochestie, whose scoring exploits this season helped bring a rookie
team all the way to the Top 16. The Ford Trophy is awarded to the
Turkish Airlines Euroleague player who averages the most points over a
minimum number of games. It is the only end-of-season award based
solely on statistics, and by peppering baskets across Europe for 18.9
points over 21 games this season, Rochestie left no doubt about who
deserved it most. Rochestie was a devastating weapon for Nizhny all
season long; he scored in double figures every time he stepped on a
Euroleague court, scored in the 20s eight times and reached 29 points
on his best scoring night. It is the first Ford Trophy for Rochestie in
his third Euroleague season. He had averaged 5.1 points in 14
Euroleague career games prior to this season. Read more 
Only
one team advanced to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four this
season without the benefit of home-court advantage when the playoffs
started. That same team is the only one that survived after losing Game
1. Both accomplishments are highly unusual, but that team, Olympiacos
Piraeus, had a secret weapon in forward Georgios Printezis, who is
Euroleague Basketball's choice as bwin MVP for April. Printezis, of
course, has made it a habit in his career to come up big in the most
important moments. Already a hero at Olympiacos for hitting the
trophy-winning shot to start his boyhood club's back-to-back Euroleague
titles in 2012 and 2013, Printezis rose to the challenge in these
playoffs, too, to send the Reds back to the Final Four this spring.
With his team's back against the wall, Printezis had the single best
performance of his Euroleague career in the series-changing Game 2 road
win against FC Barcelona, was his team's top scorer in a tense Game 3
thriller at home and outdid himself with an unforgettable
buzzer-beating, series-clinching three-pointer to end an electric Game
4. Read more 
Nine
games into his return to the club where first played as a teenager last
century, Andrei Kirilenko put his stamp on CSKA Moscow's march into the
Final Four with a signature performance that made him the bwin MVP for
Game 4 of the playoffs. The former Euroleague MVP contributed heavily
to a series clinching 55-74 victory over Panathinaikos Athens with 13
points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 steal for a performance index
rating of 27, which was Kirilenko’s best this season and the highest of
any player in Playoffs Game 4. It also marked the fifth weekly bwin MVP
award of Kirilenko’s Euroleague career. The second-highest index rating
in Playoffs Game 4 came from Anadolu Efes Istanbul forward Dario Saric
with 9 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists for an index rating of 22 in a
63-76 loss to Real Madrid. Saric’s teammate Nenad Krstic produced a
performance index rating of 19 with 16 points on near-perfect shooting
and 4 rebounds. Read more 
Nikos
Pappas delivered a spectacular performance for Panathinaikos Athens on
Monday night, earning himself the bwin MVP award for Game 3 of the
playoffs and – more importantly – keeping his team’s Final Four dreams
alive. Pappas set four personal Euroleague career highs: 25 points, 5
three-pointers made, 4 steals and a performance index rating of 31 –
the best in Game 3 of the playoffs – as the Greens defeated CSKA Moscow
86-85. He also tied career highs with 4 assists and 8 fouls drawn. His
point total matched the third-highest in the club’s long playoff
history of the Greens, a history that was prolonged as Pappas assured
with the biggest night of his Euroleague career that Panathinaikos will
play Game 4. The second-highest performance index of Game 3 was
achieved by power forward Brian Randle of outgoing champion Maccabi
Electra Tel Aviv. Read more 
Picking
the perfect time for his first Turkish Airlines Euroleague
double-double, center Gustavo Ayon led Real Madrid to a
come-from-behind 80-71 victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Game 1 of
their playoffs series in the Spanish capital on Wednesday. His
dominance in the paint against Efes also meant that Ayon has earned the
Game 1 bwin MVP honor. Ayon scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from
the field and made 4 free throws without a miss. He added 10 rebounds,
4 steals and 1 block in amassing a performance index rating of 29,
which was the highest of any player in Game 1 of the playoffs. Jan
Vesely of Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul and Milos Teodosic of CSKA Moscow
also starred in Game 1 victories for their teams and tied for
second-best index rating, 25 each. Vesely scored 23 points on 11-for-14
shooting plus 7 rebounds in Fenerbahce's 83-72 victory over Maccabi
Electra Tel Aviv. Read more 
