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 countries, culminated in the 2008–09 Euroleague Final Four at the new O2 World arena in Berlin, Germany.EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL, AEG ANNOUNCE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT, May 3, 2008 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 LC: 3-year licence Country (League) Teams Teams (ranking in 2007-08 national championship) Spain (ACB) 5 Tau Cerámica (1)LC FC Barcelona (2)LC DKV Joventut (3)UC Unicaja Málaga (4)LC Real Madrid (QF)LC Italy (Lega A) 4 Montepaschi Siena (1)LC Lottomatica Roma (2) Air Avellino (3) Armani Jeans Milano (4) Greece (ESAKE A1) 3 Panathinaikos (1)LC Olympiacos (2)LC Panionios Forthnet (3) Turkey (TBL) 2 Fenerbahçe Ülker (1)LC Efes Pilsen (4)LC France (LNB Pro A) 2 Nancy (1) Le Mans (SF)LC Lithuania (LKL) 1 Žalgiris (1) Germany (BBL) 1 Alba Berlin (1) Croatia (A1 Liga) 1 Cibona (3)LC Russia (Superleague A) 1 CSKA Moscow (1) Israel (BSL) 1 Maccabi Electra (2)LC Slovenia (SKL) 1 Union Olimpija (1)LC Serbia (KLS) 1 Partizan (1) Poland (PLK) 1 Asseco Prokom Sopot (1)
uc: 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: Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs Overall point difference in all group matches Points scored in all group matches Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match
Games were played from October 22, 2008 to January 15, 2009.New competition system for 2008-09 Euroleague
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 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 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 VIP 10 5 5 760 772 -12 5. Air Avellino 10 3 7 754 814 -60 6. Le Mans 10 2 8 747 819 -72Group B TeamPldWLPFPADiff 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 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 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 -93Group D TeamPldWLPFPADiff 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 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 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 -58Group F TeamPldWLPFPADiff 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 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 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 -84Group H TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. CSKA Moscow 6 5 1 454 377 +77 2. Montepaschi Siena 6 4 2 472 456 +16 3. Cibona VIP 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 1Agg.Team 21st leg2nd leg3rd leg4th leg5th legOlympiacos 3–1 Real Madrid88–7979–7363–7178–75 Regal FC Barcelona 3–2 Tau Cerámica75–8485–6262–6984–6378–62Panathinaikos 3–1 Montepaschi Siena90–8579–8472–5391–84CSKA Moscow 3–0 Partizan56–4777–5067–56
Final four
The Final Four was played on May 1 and on May 3. Semifinal games were played on Friday, while the third-place playoff and Final were played on Sunday. The event was hosted at the O2 World in Berlin. It was the first time the event was held in Berlin.
Individual statistics Rating RankNameTeamGamesRatingPIR1. D'or Fischer Maccabi Electra1327921.462. Terrell McIntyre Montepaschi Siena1937719.843. Mirsad Türkcan Fenerbahçe Ülker1427119.36
Points RankNameTeamGamesRatingPPG1. Igor Rakočević Tau Cerámica2137717.952. Terrell McIntyre Montepaschi Siena1932817.263. David Logan Asseco Prokom Sopot1525316.87
Rebounds RankNameTeamGamesRatingRPG1. Mirsad Türkcan Fenerbahçe Ülker141218.642. D'or Fischer Maccabi Electra13997.623. Ioannis Bourousis Olympiacos221627.36
Assists RankNameTeamGamesRatingAPG1. Theodoros Papaloukas Olympiacos221145.182. Omar Cook Unicaja Málaga16825.133. Terrell McIntyre Montepaschi Siena19844.42
Other Stats CategoryNameTeamGamesStatSteals per game David Logan Asseco Prokom Sopot152.67Blocks per game Fran Vázquez FC Barcelona231.74Turnovers per game David Logan Asseco Prokom Sopot152.93Fouls drawn per game Sani Bečirović Lottomatica Roma136.23Minutes per game David Logan Asseco Prokom Sopot1534:182FG% Luboš Bartoň FC Barcelona230.8003FG% Marco Mordente Armani Jeans Milano120.555FT% Louis Bullock Real Madrid200.953
Game highs CategoryNameTeamStatRating Lior Eliyahu Maccabi Electra42Points Terrell McIntyre Montepaschi Siena35Rebounds Pat Burke Asseco Prokom Sopot20Assists Theodoros Papaloukas Olympiacos13Steals 7 occasions 6Blocks Loren Woods Žalgiris7Turnovers 3 occasions 8Fouls Drawn Sani Bečirović Lottomatica Roma12
Awards Euroleague 2008–09 MVP Juan Carlos Navarro ( FC Barcelona)
Euroleague 2008–09 Final Four MVP Vassilis Spanoulis ( Panathinaikos)
All-Euroleague Team 2008–09
Position All-Euroleague First Team Club team All-Euroleague Second Team Club team Terrell McIntyre Montepaschi Siena Theodoros Papaloukas Olympiacos Igor Rakočević Tau Cerámica Ramūnas Šiškauskas CSKA Moscow Juan Carlos Navarro FC Barcelona Vassilis Spanoulis Panathinaikos Ioannis Bourousis Olympiacos Erazem Lorbek CSKA Moscow 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 GamePlayerTeamRating1 Will McDonald Tau Cerámica322 Pops Mensah-Bonsu Joventut Badalona373 Igor Rakočević Tau Cerámica344 Mike Hall Armani Jeans Milano285 Edu Hernandez-Sonseca Joventut Badalona386 Lior Eliyahu Maccabi Electra427 Rawle Marshall Cibona348 Sani Bečirović Lottomatica Roma389 Immanuel McElroy Alba Berlin3810 Oğuz Savaş Fenerbahçe Ülker41
Top 16 GamePlayerTeam1 Nikola Peković Panathinaikos28 D'or Fischer Maccabi Electra28 Lior Eliyahu (2) Maccabi Electra282 Novica Veličković Partizan293 Ersan İlyasova FC Barcelona394 Tiago Splitter Tau Cerámica285 Charles Gaines Maccabi Electra33 Mike Hall (2) Armani Jeans Milano336 Mike Batiste Panathinaikos35
Quarter-finals GamePlayerTeam1 Romain Sato Montepaschi Siena362 Erazem Lorbek CSKA Moscow333 Ramūnas Šiškauskas CSKA Moscow30 Matjaž Smodiš CSKA Moscow304 Terrell McIntyre Montepaschi Siena375 Ersan İlyasova (2) FC Barcelona26
MVP of the Month
MonthPlayerTeamOctober 2008 Ersan İlyasova FC BarcelonaNovember 2008 Sani Bečirović Lottomatica RomaDecember 2008 Lior Eliyahu Maccabi ElectraJanuary 2009 Igor Rakočević Tau CerámicaFebruary 2009 Novica Veličković PartizanMarch 2009 Erazem Lorbek CSKA Moscow
See also ULEB Eurocup 2008–09 EuroChallenge 2008–09
References and notes
External links Euroleague official site