2003–04 Euroleague

2003–04 Euroleague
The Final Four was held at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv
Teams	24
Finals
Champions	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv (4th title)
Runners-up	Skipper Bologna
Third place	CSKA Moscow
Fourth place	Montepaschi Siena
Awards
Regular Season MVP	Arvydas Sabonis
Top 16 MVP	Arvydas Sabonis
Final Four MVP	Anthony Parker
Statistical leaders
Points Lynn Greer 25.1 Rebounds Arvydas Sabonis 10.7 Assists Ed Cota 5.7 Index Rating Arvydas Sabonis 26.3
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 Euroleague was the fourth season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 47th season of the premier competition for European men's clubs overall. The 2003–04 season featured 24 competing teams from 13 countries. The final of the competition was held in Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv, Israel, with hosts Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv,^[1] defeating Skipper Bologna, by a score of 118-74.

The table below shows the default access list.

	Teams entering in this round
Regular season (24 teams)	4 best-placed teams from: Italy 3 best-placed teams from: Spain 2 best-placed teams from: Greece France Turkey Slovenia The champion teams from: Croatia Germany Israel Lithuania Poland Russia Yugoslavia 2 Wild Cards
Top 16 (16 teams)	3 group winners from the regular season 3 group runners-up from the regular season 3 group third-placed teams from the regular season 3 group fourth-placed teams from the regular season 3 group fifth-placed teams from the regular season 1 group sixth-placed team from the regular season
Final four (4 teams)	4 group winners from the top 16

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round (TH: EuroLeague title holders)

• 1st, 2nd, etc.: League position after Playoffs
• WC: Wild card

Regular season
Benetton Treviso (1st)	Unicaja Málaga (3rd)	Adecco ASVEL (2nd)	ALBA Berlin (1st)
Skipper Bologna (2nd)	Tau Cerámica (6th)WC	Krka (1st)	Maccabi Elite (1st)
Lottomatica Roma (3rd)	Panathinaikos (1st)	Union Olimpija (2nd)	Žalgiris (1st)
Montepaschi Siena (4th)	AEK (2nd)	Efes Pilsen (1st)	Idea Śląsk (3rd)WC
FC Barcelona (1st)TH	Olympiacos (4th)WC	Ülker (2nd)	CSKA Moscow (1st)
Pamesa Valencia (2nd)	Pau-Orthez (1st)	Cibona VIP (2nd)WC	Partizan Mobtel (1st)

The first phase was a regular season, in which the competing teams were drawn into three groups, each containing eight teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 14 games for each team in the first stage. The top 5 teams in each group and the best sixth-placed team advanced to the next round. The complete list of tiebreakers was provided in the lead-in to the Regular Season results.

If one or more clubs were level on won-lost record, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:

1. Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
2. Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
3. Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs were not in the same group)
4. Points scored in all group matches
5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

Key to colors

Top five places in each group, plus highest-ranked sixth-place team, advanced to Top 16

Group A [edit] Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. FC Barcelona 14 12 2 1086 937 +149 2. Cibona VIP 14 8 6 1122 1101 +21 3. Ülker 14 8 6 1023 1050 -27 4. Union Olimpija 14 6 8 1093 1123 -30 5. Pau-Orthez 14 6 8 1141 1130 +11 6. AEK 14 6 8 1066 1099 -33 7. Partizan Mobtel 14 6 8 1081 1078 +3 8. Lottomatica Roma 14 4 10 997 1091 -94

Group B [edit] Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. CSKA Moscow 14 11 3 1118 984 +134 2. Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 14 11 3 1261 1169 +92 3. Skipper Bologna 14 8 6 1206 1173 +33 4. Montepaschi Siena 14 8 6 1142 1142 0 5. Panathinaikos 14 7 7 1141 1113 +28 6. Žalgiris 14 6 8 1083 1068 +15 7. Unicaja Málaga 14 4 10 1051 1111 -60 8. Krka 14 2 12 947 1189 -242

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Efes Pilsen	14	10	4	1066	1002	+64
2.	Benetton Treviso	14	10	4	1185	1067	+118
3.	Pamesa Valencia	14	9	5	1149	1089	+60
4.	Tau Cerámica	14	9	5	1183	1127	+56
5.	Olympiacos	14	7	7	1109	1108	+1
6.	Idea Śląsk Wrocław	14	6	8	1110	1163	-53
7.	Alba Berlin	14	3	11	1075	1170	-95
8.	Adecco ASVEL	14	2	12	982	1133	-151

The surviving teams were divided into four groups of four teams each, and again a round robin system was adopted resulting in 6 games each, with the top team advancing to the Final Four. Tiebreakers were identical to those used in the Regular Season.

This was the last season in which teams advanced directly from the Top 16 to the Final Four. A quarterfinal round was introduced in the 2004–05 season.

The draw was held in accordance with Euroleague rules.

The teams were placed into four pools, as follows:

Level 1: The three group winners, plus the top-ranked second-place team

• CSKA Moscow, FC Barcelona, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, Efes Pilsen

Level 2: The remaining second-place teams, plus the top two third-place teams

• Skipper Bologna, Pamesa Valencia, Benetton Treviso, Cibona

Level 3: The remaining third-place team, plus the three fourth-place teams

• Union Olimpija, Ülker, Montepaschi Siena, Tau Cerámica

Level 4: The fifth-place teams, plus the top ranked sixth-place team

• Pau-Orthez, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Žalgiris

Each Top 16 group included one team from each pool. The draw was conducted under the following restrictions:

1. No more than two teams from the same Regular Season group could be placed in the same Top 16 group.
2. No more than two teams from the same country could be placed in the same Top 16 group.
3. If there is a conflict between these two restrictions, (1) would receive priority.

Another draw was held to determine the order of fixtures. In the case of two teams from the same city in the Top 16 (Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, Efes Pilsen and Ülker) they were scheduled so that every week only one team would be at home.

Key to colors

Top place in each group advanced to Final four

Group D [edit] Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. CSKA Moscow 6 5 1 477 436 +41 2. Tau Cerámica 6 4 2 505 477 +28 3. Cibona VIP 6 2 4 422 449 -27 4. Olympiacos 6 1 5 436 477 -41

Group E [edit] Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Skipper Bologna 6 5 1 484 457 +27 2. Efes Pilsen 6 4 2 427 390 +37 3. Pau-Orthez 6 2 4 452 486 −34 4. Union Olimpija 6 1 5 438 468 −30

Group F [edit] Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Montepaschi Siena 6 4 2 498 461 +37 2. Benetton Treviso 6 4 2 510 494 +16 3. FC Barcelona 6 2 4 445 452 −7 4. Panathinaikos 6 2 4 460 506 −46

Group G [edit] Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 6 4 2 452 406 +46 2. Pamesa Valencia 6 4 2 418 421 -3 3. Žalgiris 6 3 3 520 507 +13 4. Ülker 6 1 5 449 505 −56 Main article: Euroleague 2003-04 Top 16 Group G

April 29, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Montepaschi Siena	102–103	Skipper Bologna
Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	93–85	CSKA Moscow

May 1, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Montepaschi Siena	94–97	CSKA Moscow

May 1, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	118–74	Skipper Bologna

2003–04 Euroleague Champions
Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 4th Title

	Team
	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv
	Skipper Bologna
	CSKA Moscow
	Montepaschi Siena

• Lynn Greer ( Śląsk Wrocław )

• Arvydas Sabonis ( Žalgiris )

• Arvydas Sabonis ( Žalgiris )

• Anthony Parker ( Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv )

• Anthony Parker ( Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv ) & Miloš Vujanić ( Skipper Bologna )

• Šarūnas Jasikevičius ( Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv )
• Marcus Brown ( CSKA Moscow )
• Dejan Bodiroga ( FC Barcelona )
• Mirsad Türkcan ( CSKA Moscow )
• Arvydas Sabonis ( Žalgiris )

• Miloš Vujanić ( Skipper Bologna )
• Lynn Greer ( Śląsk Wrocław )
• David Vanterpool ( Montepaschi Siena )
• Andrés Nocioni ( Tau Cerámica )
• Nikola Vujčić ( Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv )

• Euroleague.net - Official Euroleague homepage.
• Eurobasket.com - Popular basketball news site.
• TalkBasket.net - Basketball forum.