Takeaways from the 2022 Final Four

The 2002 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four provided non-stop drama. Here's a look at some takeaways from the games in Belgrade.

Efes, a low-scoring champ

Anadolu Efes Istanbul won the title, downing Real Madrid 58-57 in the championship game. It was the lowest-scoring win for any team in the 2021-22 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The previous lowest-scoring victory came when FC Bayern Munich defeated FC Barcelona 59-52 in Game 4 of the playoffs. It also matched the lowest score by a winning team in the championship game. Kinder Bologna also scored 58 points in the 1998 championship game when it bested AEK Athens 58-44 in Barcelona, Spain to claim its first continental crown. Efes has been critically acclaimed as a high-scoring team but proved it could win championships with strong defense, too.

Regular-season champ curse

Since the EuroLeague's current format was adopted, no team that has finished atop the regular-season standings has been able to lift the EuroLeague trophy. In the first season under the format, 2016-17, Real Madrid finished first with a 23-7 record and went on to reach the championship game where it lost against fifth-ranked Fenerbahce Istanbul. CSKA Moscow (24-6) and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (25-5) lost in the semifinals in 2018 and 2019, respectively. FC Barcelona has topped the regular season in the last two seasons (24-10 in 2020-21, 21-7 in 2021-22) but lost in the 2021 championship game and the 2022 semifinals.

Close series, close games

Barca and Olympiacos Piraeus needed to play all five playoff games to make it to the Final Four. Barca eliminated FC Bayern Munich and Olympiacos ousted AS Monaco in Game 5 of their respective series. Both teams went from very close playoffs series to semifinal thrillers - and both teams lost. Olympiacos tied its game against Efes, 74-74, with 19.5 seconds left. Then Vasilije Micic took matters into his own hands by downing the game-winning three-pointer right in the last second. Barca suffered an 83-86 loss against Real despite leading 54-43 midway through the third quarter. Unlike in the playoffs, small details went the other way for Olympiacos and Barca in the semifinals.

Efes protected the boards

Efes needed just 58 points to beat Real, but that didn't mean it was a slow-paced game. In fact, Efes finished the game with 44 rebounds, the most boards in a non-overtime EuroLeague Championship Game in the Final Four era. Elijah Bryant was its biggest contributor under the boards with 8 rebounds. Four other players - Chris Singleton, Tibor Pleiss, Shane Larkin and Adrien Moerman - grabbed at least 6 rebounds in a true team-oriented effort. Of course, none was more important than Singleton's offensive rebound in the next-to-last minute, which allowed Pleiss to score his team's last basket, which proved to be decisive.

Mirotic came close to Final Four record

Nikola Mirotic was chosen as the 2021-22 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague MVP and proved his worth at the Final Four with stellar performances in both games. Despite his team's 83-86 loss in the semifinals, Mirotic led Barca with 26 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and a PIR of 39. He then shined in the Third Place Game against Olympiacos with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and a PIR of 27. He had a combined Final Four MVP of 66, which was the second-highest for any player this century. Shane Larkin had a combined PIR of 67 at the 2019 Final Four; he posted 43 against Fenerbahce in the semifinals and 24 against CSKA in the championship game.

The 'Clasico' curse lives on

Real and Barca have faced each other four times in the EuroLeague semifinals - and the winner has never lifted the trophy. In the first-ever Final Four 'Clasico', Barca topped Real 76-66 in the semifinals but lost against Panathinaikos Athens in the championship game, 67-66. Real took the 'Clasico' in the 2013 and 2014 semifinals but went on to lose against Olympiacos and Maccabi Tel Aviv, respectively. This season was no different: Real survived a tough 'Clasico' battle in the semifinals but Efes stood on its way to its 11th EuroLeague crown. The last team to beat a team from its own country in a Final Four and win the title was CSKA in 2016 when it bested Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in the semifinals.

Efes wins with (and without) free throws

Efes did not need to go to the foul line a lot to win its second EuroLeague title. Efes only attempted 9 free throws and made 6 of them. It is a record for the fewest free throws attempts in a championship game in the Final Four era. Olympiacos had 12 free throw attempts against Fenerbahce in the 2017 championship game. The picture was very different from last season in which Efes took 30 free throw attempts against CSKA in the 2021 championship game. Larkin hit all of his 12 free-throw attempts - twice as many as his entire team a year later!