Spanoulis leads another comeback to send Olympiacos to title game

Olympiacos Piraeus will play for its fourth EuroLeague title after erasing a 13-point deficit to beat CSKA Moscow 78-82 in a thrilling first semifinal at the 2017 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four at Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday. The game was tied entering the final minute after Vassilis Spanoulis fueled a patented Olympiacos comeback with 10 fourth-quarter points. Erick Green came through with a big go-ahead three, which was one of 14 the Reds made to tie a Final Four record. And CSKA did not make another basket. Spanoulis, who also dished a game-high 6 assists, was joined by Georgios Printezis and Kostas Papanikolaou as the team’s top scorers with 14 points apiece. Vangelis Mantzaris added 12 on 4-of-9 three-point shooting. That foursome was all on the Reds’ squad that came from behind to defeat CSKA in the 2012 championship game in the very same arena. Milos Teodosic led CSKA with 23 points, which moved him into eighth place on the Final Four all-time list of scorers with 148 points. Nando De Colo added 16 and Aaron Jackson had 12, while Victor Khryapa collected 8 rebounds to become the first man with more than 100 career boards in Final Four history. The Reds outrebounded CSKA 35-43, including 19 offensive rebounds, which helped make up for its poor 11-of-35 two-point shooting (31.4%). Olympiacos also dished 15 assists compared to 7 for CSKA.