FIBA EuroLeague 1999-2000

FIBA EuroLeague Final: Panathinaikos Athens - Maccabi Elite Tel-Aviv 73-67

Panathinaikos Athens (Zeljko Obradovic):Alvertis 4,Bodiroga 9,Rebraca 20,Rogers 4,Kattache 17,Gentile 3,Burke 7,Fotsis 9,Koch
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Pini Gershon):McDonald 11,Huffman 26,Henefeld,Sheffer 6,Brisker 13,Comegys 3,Sharp 5,Jamchy 3,Popa,Shelef

FIBA EuroLeague Final

Final Four MVP

Top Scorer

Miljan Goljovic (20.2)

The big winner of the night was the Serbian Zeljko Obradovic, who became the first coach to win the Euroleague with four different teams: Partizan (1992), Joventut de Badalona (1994), Real Madrid (1995) and Panathinaikos (2000). The Greek team fulfilled all expectations and won the Final Four in Thessaloniki, their second title in Europe's premier competition. The Obradovic suffered until the last minutes to break a Maccabi who put up a great resistance, just until the personal fouls diminished the game of the Israelis.

The game began crazy, full of inaccuracies and nervousness in most players. Only Rebraca, for Panathinaikos, and Huffman, for Maccabi, saw hoop easily. The first seven points of the Israelis were from the American, who moved at will by the Greek zone. For its part, Rebraca kept the whole of Obradovic within the meeting with their actions. The Panathinaikos did not find the rhythm of party in this first part. Gentile was very pressured by Sharp, which prevented the arrival of frank basketball to the Greek shooters, and especially Bodiroga, very well marked by Henefeld.

In this tessitura, Obradovic chose to move the bench and try to correct the errors. After several minutes of exchange of baskets, in Maccabi woke up McDonald and Sharp, who began to believe that the Greek bear was not as fierce as they painted it. Huffman continued with his sum and remains particular (14 points at the end of the first half), and Pini Gershon's began to dominate on the scoreboard (17-19). The Israeli defence was becoming more and more intense. From the outside, Panathinaikos saw no hoop, and only the contribution of an unstoppable Rebraca (17 points at half-time) and Burke's rebounds kept the Greeks alive. Bodiroga was missing in combat, and Kattash was too heavy to face his ex-team. Brisker and Sharp had become clear threats to the Panathinaikos, without the rival defense were raised solutions to stop them. Thus, Maccabi clearly dominated on the scoreboard with three minutes to go (29-36). The many faults committed by the Maccabees were the only drawback to a first part of luxury on the part of Gershon's side. At that moment, Rebraca decided to pull his team and, with a partial of 7-0, Panathinaikos managed to reach the break with the match tied (36-36), without the great first part of Maccabi had been of any use.

The first minutes of the restart didn't bring anything good for the Maccabi team. Both teams were imprecise in the face of the hoop, but the thing was complicated for the Israelis when, in two consecutive actions, Sharp saw how Brazauskas pitaba the fourth staff and then Huffman received the third and fourth in a row. Gershon had to sit on the bench to the latter, a moment that Bodiroga took advantage to basket his first basket in play and put his team ahead on the scoreboard (40-37). The Panathinaikos began to feel very comfortable on the pitch, in the middle of a hellish atmosphere created by the Greek fans, who began to make themselves really noticeable. Bodiroga returned to the bench, and Obradovi chose to play with two bases, Gentile and Kattash, while Gershon played and gave it back to Huffman, aware of the need for the American in the offensive plane of Maccabi. Rebraca was already owner and lord of the party and the differences increased for Panathinaikos (52-41).

At that moment, a new player came to join the Greek party: Fotsis, the great 'covered' of the final, which broke the match with nine points almost consecutive, which gave a comfortable income of eleven points to Panathinaikos (57-46). Only Huffman scored in the Maccabi team, so the title was getting closer and closer to the Greeks. The Maccabi then decided to die in defense and, thanks to an exhausting pressure throughout the track, reduced the differences (58-52) with four minutes to go, which returned to put him in a very exciting match for the intensity in each of their actions. Brisker and McDonald also began to help Huffman in the offensive aspect. But then Kattash came up with his individual actions to target his ex-team. Bodiroga sentenced the match from the line of free throws to establish a final 73-67 that crowned Panathinaikos as Europe's best team of the year 2000.

Courtesy of Basketfinals

All-Final Four Team
Oded Kattash of Panathinaikos
Hedo Turkoglu of Efes
Dejan Bodiroga of Panathinaikos
Nate Huffman of Maccabi Tel Aviv
Zeljko Rebraca of Panathinaikos (MVP)