Thirteen Years of Pain Vanish in 40 Minutes

It's strange how in EuroLeague basketball, an entire season can ultimately come down to a few key moments. Teams play thirty-eight games, then another grueling playoff series, only for everything to be decided in just two matches. The better team doesn't always win; sometimes, the luckier one walks away with the title.

On the other hand, for some, this is precisely what makes the competition so appealing. As long as the EuroLeague insists on maintaining its tradition and the Final Four format, we will continue to see these kinds of season finales. However, the final itself is often a high-quality clash between two well-prepared teams, making it easy to forget the calls for a conventional playoff format.

The match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, which decided the new European champion in the year of our Lord 2026, was one such game. We saw it all in these forty minutes of basketball—brilliant plays, questionable decisions, sparks flying, and controversial calls.

The first quarter opened at a furious pace, from an angle we might not have expected. Before Olympiacos could even rub the sleep out of their eyes, the scoreboard showed a significant lead for Real, who were scoring from every position through an inspired Trey Lyles. Nominally "freed" from a traditional center, Sergio Scariolo deployed a hybrid lineup reminiscent of the '97 Phoenix Suns. As a reminder, in the playoffs against the Sonics, that Arizona team featured a lineup of Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson, Rex Chapman, Wesley Person, and Danny Manning—four guards and one forward.

Real's (forced) version of the Suns in Athens last night featured Facundo Campazzo, Mario Hezonja, Alberto Abalde, Chuma Okeke, and Lyles. The latter was particularly lethal from the "stretch five" position. The Canadian international scored from two, from three, and contributed on the boards as much as he could. I say as much as he could because Olympiacos, logically, quickly managed to establish dominance in the paint. How could they not, considering their roster includes Nikola Milutinov, Tyrique Jones, Donta Hall, and others.

Georgios Bartzokas took a long time to adjust, searching for a lineup that could match Real's rhythm, and he eventually found it. The introduction of Evan Fournier got things moving—the Frenchman broke free from his defenders a couple of times to hit two three-pointers. Meanwhile, the team figured out how to hurt the Spanish side where they were most vulnerable. After a very disjointed first ten minutes in which the Reds recorded only two team assists (and I can't overstate how crucial this element is to their game), the backcourt substitution of Fournier and Cory Joseph brought the desired turnaround.

It's no surprise that Alec Peters also made his presence felt during this period. After a perfect semifinal performance, Bartzokas's wild card quickly scored nine points with just one miss from the field, thus "confirming his price" on the free-agent market. Whenever Vezenkov seemed hesitant or inefficient, Peters was there to spice things up. His performance underscored the effective tactical shift initiated by Joseph and Fournier.

And yet, Real had built enough of a cushion to go into halftime trailing by only two points. Lyles's twenty-one points kept the score close and gave hope that we would see an exciting game until the end. That premonition was confirmed at the start of the second half, as Olympiacos struggled to pull away to a safe distance and secure a calmer finish.

Lyles, as expected, took a breather, which allowed Hezonja and Andrés Feliz to step up. The Croatian international, who played a bit too conventionally for my taste in the first half, stepped on the gas and hit several shots. Feliz, on the other hand, created complete chaos on both ends of the court with his manic energy.

As the third period wore on, Real found a better and better rhythm. With maximum defensive aggression and a strategy of doubling and helping on Olympiacos's big men under the basket, they also received some unintentional help from the opposing coach. Bartzokas, somewhat inexplicably, insisted on a sterile offensive lineup without Joseph, Fournier, and Peters, making things much easier for Madrid, whose speed effectively exposed all the flaws of this maneuver.

It's no wonder, then, that the Greeks made their comeback when Joseph and Fournier returned to the court. Their mini-run of two three-pointers flipped the score once again, Théo Maledon answered, and then... well, then things got wild.

From that point on, it was a tough, crazy battle to the very end. You watched the game, so we don't need to go into every little detail, but the real drama began just before the finish. A questionable refereeing decision—and the officiating, by the way, hadn't been particularly biased up to that point, in fact, it was quite decent with a lot of tolerance for contact—created a gap for Olympiacos. I'm referring to the foul called on Campazzo during an inbound play when, in my opinion at least, the Argentine managed to outsmart Thomas Walkup and force a steal.

The officiating crew had a different interpretation, leading to free throws and a "comfortable" eight-point lead. That would have broken many teams, but not Real Madrid, who, despite everything, managed to create a dramatic finish. The new European champions lost their focus on the fundamentals, committed a few cheap turnovers, and Feliz even had a shot to tie the game. However, that shot hit the back of the rim, and it ended the way it ended.

I don't like to view finals or any sport through the lens of officiating. I've stated my opinion on that aspect, so you can judge for yourselves whether it was a foul or not. But from a purely basketball perspective, a few things should be noted. To start, the moment Bartzokas stopped banging his head against a wall, the game was decided on the court. Pairing Peters and Vezenkov—who again played a bit timidly for a player of his reputation—yielded results, and the ace up the sleeve was former Partizan center Tyrique Jones, who was uncharacteristically calm from the free-throw line when it mattered most.

Evan Fournier was named Final Four MVP, a completely deserved recognition. His twenty points were a significant scoring contribution, but even more importantly, he was the one who repeatedly broke his team's offensive lethargy. If Bartzokas had used him more when things were stalling, instead of being stubborn as only he can be, this final might have been decided before the dramatic finish. But who knows now.

As for Real Madrid, I have nothing but praise. My colleague Darko Plavšić said at the end of the broadcast that the Madrid players "showed whose jersey they wear," and that's a fitting comment for the game they played. Already handicapped by the absence of Valter Tavares and Aleks Len, and then further weakened by the loss of Usman Garuba, Madrid executed Scariolo's schemes almost to perfection and bravely pushed the game into a nail-biting conclusion. I doubt they are satisfied with second place, but they can certainly leave Athens with their heads held high. They did not disgrace themselves in the fight for another European gold.

Olympiacos won its fourth EuroLeague title after a thirteen-year drought. The first two times, they were led to the promised land by Dušan Ivković from the bench, and on the court by stars like David Rivers, Dragan Tarlać, Georgios Sigalas, Vassilis Spanoulis, Georgios Printezis, Kyle Hines, and many others.

Bartzokas was the head coach for the other two EuroLeague rings, but if the first one was de facto just an extension of Ivković's success, then this second one is entirely his. The coaching stamp of the former Maroussi power forward is clearly visible in every segment of the Reds' game. Yes, as we've said, he could have loosened up a bit at times. But this week, he realized that just in time.

And so, we've reached the end of another EuroLeague season. What memories we ultimately take from it depends strictly on your subjective experience. Sometimes I truly regret that we no longer have the "old" EuroLeague, where teams like AEK, Tofaş, and their peers could shine. At other times, I think it doesn't get any better than this right now, which makes it all easier to accept.

While the basketball players were deciding the champion on the court, in the background, the current leaders of the competition were grappling with the "threat" coming from America. I say "threat" because, as the season progressed, it turned out that the "aliens" from across the Atlantic would be more interested in collaboration than a hostile takeover. What the two camps will agree on is still unknown, but it's quite possible we are witnessing the end of an era of elite basketball on the old continent.

And whether this new era will include us or not, well, that's another solid mystery. But that's a matter for the distant future, and we'll talk about it when the time comes. For now, let's underline it one more time—Olympiacos is the new champion of Europe, and their title defense begins in four months. See you then, at least as far as the EuroLeague is concerned.

VIDEO: Olympiacos Conquers Europe!