Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv won four European titles, Euroleague 1977, 1981, 2004 and Suproleague 2001, and finished second six
times. In Moscow, their fifth Final Four appearance in the last six years, Maccabi will try to become the first team in
14 years to defend the Euroleague crown they won as hosts last season. The Israeli team beat CSKA Moscow in the semifinals
and thrashed Skipper Bologna in a record-breaking offensive performance, 118-74, to become the 2004 Euroleague champion.
Shooting guard Anthony Parker was voted the Final Four MVP for leading the winners with 21 points. This year, Parker has
won the most valuable player title of the Euroleague's regular season, while Maccabi led the Euroleague in points scored,
assists, blocks, fouls drawn, two and three point field goal percentages.
CSKA Moscow
CSKA Moscow are owners of four European basketball club titles: 1961, 1963, 1969, and their last one came in 1971. In
last five seasons they have the Final Four semifinals 2001, 2003 and 2004. However, with the tournament staged in the
Russian capital, CSKA will have a huge advantage in the 2005 Final Four. They will try to regain the Euroleague title after
one of the finest seasons played by any team in European basketball history. With an impressive 21-1 record this campaign,
coach Dusan Ivkovic and his team deserve all the credit and respect in the basketball world and they are a side that many
believe is the best in Europe. "CSKA Moscow is the dream team of the Euroleague," said Ulker head coach Ergin Ataman after
the quarterfinals, where his team lost to the Russians for the fourth time this season.
Tau Ceramica
Tau Ceramica reached the Final Four for the first time in their history. Last year, in their first Euroleague campaign,
the Basques were pretty close, but CSKA Moscow prevented them from making the Final Four. They lost four times in the last
two seasons to CSKA, but never by a big score. At the start of this season, Tau didn't play very good in the Euroleague
and finished fifth in the group. The Spanish Final Four qualifiers clinched the Top 16 on a tiebreaker point difference
and the Quarterfinal Playoffs in the same way. However, during the competition, they improved a lot, especially in the
quarterfinals. Tau defeated Benetton in Treviso by an amazing 39 points, one of the biggest wins at this stage of the
season in European playoff basketball history, and advanced to the Final Four, producing a brilliant defensive display
again at home in Vitoria.
Panathinaikos
With three continental crowns under their belt over the past nine years, coming in 1996, 2000, and 2002, as well as six
Greek league titles over the past seven years, Panathinaikos ranks as the most successful team of the last decade in
European basketball. In the last two seasons, the Greek team clinched the Euroleague Top 16, despite being in a group with
the likes of CSKA, Maccabi, Montepaschi or Skipper, but they failed to reach the Final Four. So, Panathinaikos had waited
three years, but now they were going back to the Final Four. In their Euroleague quarterfinal best-of-three playoff series
against Turkish club Efes Pilsen, the home-court advantage was very significant. The third and deciding game filled
sold-out Athens's 18,000-capacity OAKA stadium, one of the biggest crowds ever in European basketball history.
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