The single-game Euroleague final should be replaced by an NBA-style series to ensure that the season’s best team is crowned champion, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Russian national team coach David Blatt said Tuesday.
CSKA Moscow, boasting several Russian national team players, had the best regular-season Euroleague record but lost 62-61 to Greek team Olympiacos after a dramatic collapse in the final quarter.
“[CSKA] were the best team in Europe all year. I think that they just got very uncomfortable in that last quarter,” Blatt said.
“That’s why I think there should be a series to determine the champion. If those teams played the best out of five, CSKA wins that series, no doubt in my mind.”
The CSKA players in the Russian squad may need some extra motivation to overcome their disappointment at the defeat as they target Olympic qualification for Russia, Blatt said.
“If the guys are down and disappointed, it could be difficult to lift them up,” he said.
“On the other hand, I think that the CSKA team had a great season. They had a disappointment in the end, and I hope that that feeling will motivate the players to prove that that was just one game.
Blatt's Maccabi team lost out on a place at the Final Four in Istanbul following a 3-2 defeat in a best-of-five quarterfinal series against Greek team Panathinaikos.
The only Euroleague season to feature final series was the 2000-01 competitions, played as a best-of-five, although many of Europe’s best teams opted to play in the rival Suproleague instead.
