101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
who went on to win those titles – but also against Tau
Ceramica in 2005, which hurt the most as that Final
Four was played in Moscow.
Finally, in his fifth attempt, Papaloukas went all the
way. In the 2005-06 season, with Ettore Messina now
on the bench, CSKA Moscow won its first EuroLeague
title in 35 years by defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final
73-69 at the Sazka Arena in Prague. Papaloukas shined
in the game with his 18 points and 7 assists. He was also
chosen as Final Four MVP with a scoring average for the
weekend of 18.5 points, way above his season average.
Crowned MVP in his hometown
A year later, in Papaloukas’ native city, CSKA lost the
EuroLeague title game against Panathinaikos, 93-91, in
one of the greatest finals ever played, an electric night of
back-and-forth brilliance between the dominant teams
of the moment. The night before that loss, however,
something unique in basketball history happened as
Papaloukas was voted the MVP for the EuroLeague season.
He had started only three EuroLeague games that
season and just four of his 134 EuroLeague games in a
CSKA uniform until that night. He would be a starter in
just three more EuroLeague games in six more seasons
after that.
As such, Papaloukas was the first nearly full-time
substitute to be voted MVP of an elite competition like
the EuroLeague. Some might have wondered why, when
his averages that season were a more-than-solid but
not spectacular 9.8 points, 5.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds
and 1.7 steals. They were not wondering 24 hours later,
however, as Papaloukas had a brilliant game on the biggest
stage of all: 23 points and 8 assists while missing
just 2 shots – a two-pointer and free throw – as a visiting
player on one of the hottest courts in history, with
18,500 Panathinaikos fans making more noise than
you could imagine. His performance index rating in that
game, the same 28 he had while being named MVP the
year before, is the second-best by a losing player in a
title game, behind only Manu Ginobili of Kinder Bologna
(34) in 2002.
One year later, however, CSKA and Papaloukas got
their title back. As the EuroLeague celebrated the 50
Years of European club competitions in Madrid, they
climbed to the top of the podium again with a 91-77 win
in the title game, again over Maccabi, with 12 points
and 4 assists by Papaloukas. Together, Papaloukas and
CSKA had come one three-point shot short of three
EuroLeague titles in a row.
Homeward bound
After seven great seasons in CSKA, Papaloukas returned
to Greece and Olympiacos, but he didn’t drop
the habit of being in the Final Four. In Berlin 2009, Panathinaikos
was better in the semis than Olympiacos,
while in Paris 2010, Barcelona was better in the title
game. Papaloukas would miss his first date with a Final
Four in nine years in 2011, when Panathinaikos won
in Barcelona. Olympiacos had fallen in the playoffs to
Montepaschi Siena 3-1 despite having won their first
game 89-41! That’s basketball.
If at the beginning of his career he had to play in
humble teams, at the peak of his career Papaloukas
wore only the jerseys of the great teams. He played
the 2011-12 season with Maccabi and won the Israeli
League, Israeli Cup and the Adriatic League, but the
team was eliminated in the EuroLeague Playoffs by
Panathinaikos in a dramatic series that ended 3-2 for
the Greens and 86-85 in the fifth game.
Semi-retired, Papaloukas didn’t start the 2012-13
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