Aris' Road to the Korac Cup Finals, 1997

 

by Stojan-Silvij "Nifel" Koshevski, February 2004

 

What a final series these were! Aris, facing many problems in a very difficult season in ESAKE, had managed nevertheless to reach the second European final of its history (the first one being the unforgettable final in Torino against Efes Pilsen).

 

This time, the opponent in the Korac Cup final was another team from Turkey, the rich team Tofas Bursa. There was no clear favourite for the double final (first game in Aris’ arena, the Alexandreio, and the second game at the Ataturk Sport Salonu in the city of Bursa).

 

The way to the final wasn’t easy for the Thessalonikians (Aris). After finishing first in their first round group, they faced the dangerous team Besiktas of Turkey, the talented Beobanka of Serbia, then the strong Peristeri and eventually, in the semi-finals, the powerhouse and absolute favourite for the title, Benetton Treviso. A win with a small margin for Aris in Thessaloniki was on itself a huge upset, but the fact that the Greeks were able to defend that margin at the second game in Italy (against Benetton Treviso) was even more astonishing. Aris was in the Final of the Korac Cup, 1997!

 

The Macedonian team (Aris) was an amalgamation of experienced foreign veterans (Mario Boni, Juan Ortiz, Sackleford), and relatively, young Greek players (Liadelis, Stavrakopoulos, Sioutis). Tofas was the new powerhouse of Turkish basketball, featuring a number of good experienced Turkish shooters (Levent Topsakal, Semsedin Bas), the young Rashad Griffeth, and the, customary for Turkish teams, naturalized Antic, Alanovic and Rogers. 

 

The fist game in Alexandreio was a nightmare for the Aris “Yellows.” Tofas controlled the game from the very beginning, and reached an easy win with a –11 margin (67-78), disappointing the 6000 fans that had swarmed in Alexandreio. Everything seemed to be over. Losing at home by 11 meant that a win with 12 points or more was required in the hot Turkish arena for the cup to end in Greek hands.

 

Nobody really believed that this was possible.

 

The Turkish media were already celebrating the second consecutive Korac Cup for their country (Efes had won the previous one, over the Italian Stefanel, who amazingly lost 3 consecutive Korac Cup finals against PAOK, then Alba and eventually Efes).

The atmosphere in the gym before the second final was celebratory for the Turks. The game during the first half was balanced and it was apparent that Aris had to reach the very best of their performance if they wanted to escape with the cup.

 

Following the beginning of the second half the Yellows took advantage of the fact that Tofas had seriously underestimated them, and in many occasions managed to build small 5-7 point margins.

 

These margins, however, were quickly lost due to the overexcitement of the Greek players who started making silly turnovers.

 

However, 11 minutes and 11 seconds before the end of the game, Tzannis Stavrakopoulos, the player wearing the jersey with the number 11, hit a huge three-pointer (taking a foul too) and brought the margin at +11 for Aris! At that point the Turkish team realized that nothing was over and that Aris was determined to fight for the cup.

 

As the minutes went by, the margin instead of narrowing was becoming bigger in favor of the Aris players, who couldn’t believe what was happening! Two minutes before the end, Liadelis stole the ball, went on to the fast-break, scored a lay-up and took the foul.

 

The Turkish fans were infuriated. They couldn’t believe they had lost the cup. They started throwing coins, flags and even cellular phones on the court! Thanks to the immediate reaction of the Turkish police, the arena was evacuated within 5 minutes and the last 1:30 was played in an empty gym.

 

Aris eventually won the game with a +18 margin (70-88) and brought the cup back to Thessaloniki for the second time (PAOK had won it 1994, too). Needless to say, the celebrations in Thessaloniki and in the whole of Macedonia were beyond imagination. Thousands of fans took over the "Macedonia Airport" the following morning, welcoming back their heroes, who had made all Greek fans proud for yet one more time...