The ultimate underdog story

[tasoe]

I'm mostly addressing European members with this, I hope someone here watched the Euroleague final in basketball today!
Olympiacos was down 19 points, 12 minutes from time but still managed to make an otherworldly comeback and win the trophy for the first time after 15 years.

CSKA Moscow, loaded with superstars, bowed today to the passion and effort of young Greek players most basketball fans have never heard of.
I am a big fan of Olympiacos, today was surely the club's biggest win in its history, today even Panathinaikos fans (our historic rivals) express their respect and admiration.

Seems like a pub conversation so I thought I'd share it here.

If someone here watched it, I'd really want to get a comment from a person other than Greek.

[tasoe]

Ok, this may be pointless, but isn't there one European basketball fan in the whole forum?
After one year exactly, Olympiacos returned to the Euroleague final, this time making a comeback from 17 points to retain the Euroleague title.

This may not seem like a big deal as basketball is not as appreciated in Europe as football (soccer) but come on, this is the Champions League equivalent for basketball.

[TMU]

Noup, no interest here in Finland. Though I play football, I'm quite good at basketball. And 185cm

[Sjeng]

I'm not interested in sports at all lol.

[knightkrawler]

OK...
I'm a football tactics nerd. I'm the guy who draws formations he thinks Pep Guardiola will use with Bayern Munich next season.
But I can relate to other sports.
Olympiakos came back from 19 and 17 points in two back-to-back EuroLeague finals? That's pretty awesome.
I can make a comparison here. Everybody knows Manchester United was down 0-1 against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final and went on to win 2-1 after two goals in extra time. But they would have had to do it in 2000's final, too, to be compared with the Olympiakos feat.

There you go, Tasoe. You ruined the greatest football game ever for me! GHAAAAH!
Honestly, I don't know squat from basketball. What I do know is that at this European top level turining around 17/19 points is difficult.
To do it twice in two back to back finals must feel freakin' great for a fan.

[tasoe]

I remember almost everything from the '99 final. Who can forget Jancker's bicycle kick to the bar from inside the box? That would have sealed the victory for Bayern had it gone in.
But while you can be terrinble in a football match and two-three lucky shots can change everything, in basketball you have to be a superhero for a long time to recover from a big difference.
Last night we were down 10-27 in first 10 minutes, to go on to win with 100-88.

Although I'm pretty big football fan, I hate that a referee's call can ruin a game for a team, and it's a sport that it's quite easy to become unsprortsman-like.
Can't remember an Olympiacos-Bayern clash it would be awesome to play them in next season's champions league.

[Big Bene]

Well, I don't understand sports fandom at all - I try to keep myself fit, but I'm not intrested in watching names of teams (wich represent different persons every other year anyway) climbing up or down in the tables of some league.
But then I have very fond memories of basketball, beeing the only sport I was good in in school

[knightkrawler]

Can't remember an Olympiacos-Bayern clash it would be awesome to play them in next season's champions league.

Maybe you're lucky. I don't know if Guardiola will immediately have his imprint, but name-wise, in theory, Bayern will be the best team of the world next season.
They just have to work out a tactics fitting the new players and Pep's philosophy. I'm very excited about wathcing this.

But it's been overshadowed by Sir Alex's slightly overdue replacement by David Moyes. Still a ManU fan, after all...

[tasoe]

Well, our teams might not meet in the champions league but they will clash in the Euroleague groups after all. Today's draw put Bayern in Olympiacos' group although to be honest I didn't even know Bayern had a basketball team! I think it's their first season competing in the Euroleague.

[knightkrawler]

It is. They played for the first time in the German 1st division last season.
Backed up by serious money, they are...