Maccabi does it again!!!

[B. Goren.]

Very happy evening here in Tel-Aviv.

From the Euroleague website:

For the first time in a generation, Europe has a repeat champion, and it goes by the name of Maccabi Tel Aviv!! Maccabi Tel Aviv downed Tau Ceramica 90-78 in the 2005 Euroleague Final on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 13,300 on Sunday at Olympiysky Arena in Moscow, Russia. The champs had to suffer some this time. A year after breaking records for scoring and point difference, Maccabi led early but had to face down a Tau rally in the second half. Maccabi becomes the first European champion to win consecutive titles since Jugoplastika Split took three in a row from 1989 to 1991. The victory gave Maccabi its fourth exclusive title in Euroleague history, not including the 2001 Suproleague title. The first two Maccabi titles came in 1977 and 1981. Sarunas Jasikevicius, who was named MVP, led Maccabi with 22 points and whole lot of floor leadership. Maceo Baston added 16 points for the winners, who got a big boost off the bench in 13 first-half points from Nestoras Kommatos.

Nikola Vujcic added 11 for Maccabi, which did a great defensive job on Tau sharpshooter Arydas Macijauskas, who had to get most of his 13 points at the foul line. Luis Scola led Tau with 18 points. Jasikevicius becomes one of the few players of the Final Four era to reach three titles. The fans at Olympisky have already seen one great game today. The pride of finishing third in the Euroleague final standings produced a double-overtime thriller that Panathinaikos finally won 91-94 thanks to a late steal and layup by Dimitris Diamantidis. Mike Batiste had 24 of his 28 points after halftime for the Greens. Earlier Sunday, the local fans had something to cheer as CSKA won the Kamkabel Junior Tournament for the second consecutive year, 97-64 over Zalgiris Kaunas. After the third-place game, comes the showdown of the year, Maccabi vs. Tau. Follow live coverage of the Euroleague Final right here on Euroleague.net!