FIBA European Champions Cup and Euroleague History - The '90s, The Greek Rise

The '90s, The Greek Rise

The '90s saw two of the most exciting and controversial endings in the history of the competition, which in 1996, became known as the FIBA EuroLeague, using the name, Euroleague, for the first time.

In 1992, Partizan Belgrade's young duo of Sasha Đorđević and Predrag Danilović, led the underdogs to a title, the fourth consecutive for a Yugoslav League club. Danilovic was named the Euroleague Final Four MVP, but it was Djordjevic's last second, coast-to-coast three-pointer, which lifted Partizan to a 71–70 victory against Joventut Badalona.

The following year, saw another underdog take the title, as the French League club Limoges, stunned the Toni Kukoč-led club of Benetton Treviso in the final.

In 1994, Badalona made up for their last second defeat against Partizan two years earlier. This time, it was the Spanish League club's turn to stage a late rally. Against an Olympiacos team with the regular season's best record, Badalona forward Corny Thompson, hit a three-pointer (his fifth of the entire competition), to put his team up by 2-points, with 19 seconds remaining.

Olympiacos had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line, but Yugoslavian national team star Žarko Paspalj, only made one of two free throws, and Badalona held on for the win.

The title stayed in Spain in 1995, but this time with Real Madrid. Arvydas Sabonis, led Real Madrid to victory over Olympiacos in the final, and won the only European club honor that had eluded him, before going to play in the NBA.

1996 proved to be one of the most controversial finals to any European club competition. Greek club Panathinaikos, pulled off the coup of the season, by signing former NBA star Dominique Wilkins, but it was Croatian center Stojko Vranković, who decided the outcome of the Euroleague Final Four.

The 2.18 m (7'2") tall center, ran the length of the court, to block Barcelona's Jose Antonio Montero's lay-up attempt, in the last second, to seal the win for Panathinaikos. Although the block looked like a possible goal-tend, no call was made, and Panathinaikos were the first ever champions from the Greek League. Although this would seem to indicate that a goal tend call should have been made, the situation is less than clear. In fact, numerous violations occurred in the last seconds of the game, none of which were called by the referees. Panathinaikos had possession of the ball, and with 8 seconds remaining on the game clock, Panathinaikos guard Panagiotis Giannakis lost possession of the ball (possibly after being fouled, though no foul call was made). As players from both teams struggled to gain possession of the ball, the shot clock was renewed illegally (since the ball was in possession of neither team, a shot clock violation should have been called against Panathinaikos, meaning that the game clock should have been stopped, and Barcelona should have been given the ball, with an upcoming inbound pass). The situation was further exacerbated, by the fact that the game clock stuck at 4.9 seconds for about 6 seconds, thus allowing Barcelona nearly ten seconds of play.

Olympiacos continued Greek supremacy over the EuroLeague in 1997. After Olympiacos had lost in the final in both 1994 and 1995, their new signing, David Rivers, proved to be the difference in 1997. Rivers averaged 27 points in the two games of the Euroleague Final Four, and Olympiacos beat Barcelona in the final, to win their first ever EuroLeague title.

In the ten years since the Euroleague Final Four format had been introduced, the club with the best regular season record had never won the title. That changed in 1998, when Kinder Bologna romped through the competition.