In the absence of Nikola Vujcic, Olympiakos rode the wide shoulders of Greek center Ioannis Bourousis, as Olympiakos defeated Real Madrid 78-75 (Discuss/Recap), and advanced into the 2009 Euroleague Final Four.

The 6-11 center hit 9 of 11 shots, and 7 of 9 free throws, to reach his game-high 25 points.  He also grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked 3 shots against Real Madrid. But it was Zoran Erceg, a 6-11 Serbian forward,  that pushed the Reds past Real Madrid.  Erceg scored all 7 of his points in the final 4 minutes of the game.

With the win, Olympiakos ends the series 3-1 over Real Madrid, joining CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague Final Four being held in Berlin, Germany.  This is Olympiakos’ first final four in ten years.

Former U.S. college basketball star Lynn Greer added 12 points, and Yotam Halperin of Israel scored 10 for the Greek club. On Real Madrid’s side, it was Felipe Reyes and Louis Bullock leading the way again.  Reyes recorded his second double-double in as many games with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Bullock contributed 19 points.

In the other two games of the night, Regal Barcelona clubbed Tau Ceramica 84-63 (Discuss/Recap) to tie up the series at 2-2.  Barcelona had five players in double figures led by Jaka Lakovic’s 15 points and 5 assists and Gianluca Basile’s 13 points.  Juan Carlos Navarro, David Andersen, and Ersan IIlyasova all contributed 11 points a piece for Barcelona.  Tau was led by Igor Rakocevic’s 23 points and 4 assists.  Pete Mickael added 14 points and 6 rebounds.    Tau and Regal will battle it out in the fifth and deciding game a week from today, Thursday, April 9th, 2009.

Panathinaikos beats Montepaschi Siena 91-84 (Discuss/Recap) Panathinaikos was able to overcome Siena’s Terrell McIntyre’s 35 points, to defeat Montepaschi 91-84 Euroleague playoff leading scorer.  With the win Pana advances to the Euroleague Final Four defeating Montepaschi 3-1 in the best of five series.  Pana used a balance scoring attack with six players scoring 10+ points, led by Americans Drew Nicholas (19 points) and Mike Batiste (15 points).  Nikola Pekovic added 14 points and 5 rebounds and Vassilis Spanoulis had 11 points and 10 assists.  For Siena,  Rimantas Kaukenas scored 15 points, but also had 8 turnovers.

Links and Resources: Euroleague Playoffs Game 4 (Interbasket), CSKA Moscow advances to 2009 Final Four, sweeps Partizan Belgrade (Interbasket), Euroleague Quarterfinals Game 2: Recap (Interbasket)