Champions no more: EuroLeague's Top 3 biggest upsets / News - Basketnews.com

Throughout the history of the modern EuroLeague, defending champions have only failed to make the playoffs on three occasions.

Credit: EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImages Credit EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImages

Anadolu Efes Istanbul's early elimination from the 2022-23 EuroLeague season wasn't just shocking, it was historic.

Panathinaikos Athens / Schedule

Panathinaikos Athens ALBA Berlin84-88 Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade Panathinaikos AthensFri18:30

They became the first team in the new regular season format era to fail to reach the Final Four as defending champions.

On top of that, they're the first EuroLeague champion since the 2009-10 season to miss the playoffs the following year.

In fact, since the start of the modern EuroLeague era in the 2000-01 season, there have only been three occasions when title defenders missed the playoffs.

Efes had a disappointing campaign this year, especially considering their back-to-back titles and the talk of a potential best EuroLeague dynasty in the making.

They went all-in on a three-peat quest, adding Will Clyburn to a lineup that already boasted two potential All-EuroLeague players.

Despite having one of the biggest budgets in the EuroLeague, they fell short of expectations. It's definitely one of the biggest upsets that EuroLeague champions have ever faced in 23 years.

But Efes isn't the only team to have suffered such a fate.

BasketNews reminds you of the two other seasons when the title defenders failed badly.

Panathinaikos Athens, 2009-10

Panathinaikos, for example, experienced a similar downfall in the 2009-10 season.

The title defenders had a solid regular season, losing only two games against Real Madrid.

However, things didn't go as planned in the Top 16 stage.

Despite having a comfortable 9-point lead in the third quarter of a low-scoring Top 16 opener against Partizan Belgrade, Panathinaikos ended up losing the battle 59-64 after a 2-13 run in the closing minutes of the game. Jan Vesely had his early career-high 13 points that night.

Points this season

49%82,9Points made:82,9Accuracy:49,4%Place in standings:8Record max:111Record min:64Best scorer:Will ClyburnTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

In the following round, Nikola Pekovic led Panathinaikos with 19 first-half points vs. Maroussi Athens. However, they blew their double-digit lead, as Nick Calathes' brother Pat and Billy Keys combined for 17 fourth-quarter points to secure the win for Maroussi 80-78.

Things didn't get any easier for Panathinaikos, as they lost two games in a row to the future EuroLeague champions FC Barcelona and dropped to 0-4. Defending champions managed to win their last two games, but it wasn't enough to reach the quarterfinals. Instead, Barcelona and Partizan advanced to the playoffs.

GM MIN 2P M/A 3P M/A REB AS PTS EFF Jurica Golemac 5 6:48 2/2(100%) 1/3(33.3%) 0.60.4/0.2 0.8 1.8 1.4 Milenko Tepic 15 15:52 15/32(46.9%) 5/23(21.7%) 2.11.8/0.3 1 3.5 2.5 Vassilis Spanoulis 14 25:21 28/56(50%) 13/47(27.7%) 1.51.3/0.2 3.6 10.3 10.4 Stratos Perperoglou 15 20:36 18/34(52.9%) 15/30(50%) 1.91.7/0.2 1.2 6.1 7.2 Mike Batiste 11 23:16 66/103(64.1%) 1/6(16.7%) 5.74.3/1.5 0.8 15.5 18 Antonios Fotsis 16 23:18 25/37(67.6%) 10/32(31.3%) 5.53.8/1.7 0.6 6.2 10.7 Marcus Haislip 6 17:40 11/22(50%) 1/8(12.5%) 3.31.8/1.5 0 5.7 4.3 Drew Nicholas 16 27:37 29/63(46%) 32/78(41%) 1.81.6/0.1 2.2 10.5 8 Kostas Tsartsaris 6 13:10 4/11(36.4%) 1/3(33.3%) 2.72.2/0.5 0.8 2.7 3.5 Dimitrios Diamantidis 12 26:35 17/28(60.7%) 16/31(51.6%) 2.92.4/0.5 3.3 9.4 13.8 Nikola Pekovic 13 21:50 68/112(60.7%) 0/0 3.51.9/1.6 0.5 14.8 16 Nick Calathes 14 13:47 12/22(54.5%) 5/22(22.7%) 1.91.4/0.5 1.7 3.5 4.4 Giorgio Shermadini 12 9:10 18/26(69.2%) 0/1(0%) 2.20.8/1.3 0 4.5 4.8 Dimitrios Verginis 2 4:30 0/0 1/2(50%) 0.50.5/0 0 1.5 1 Giorgos Bogris 1 3:00 1/1(100%) 0/0 11/0 0 4 4 Šarūnas Jasikevičius 7 15:51 12/22(54.5%) 0/8(0%) 1.11/0.1 2.1 4.4 3

Panathinaikos Athens, 2007-08

The 2007-08 season was running smoothly for Panathinaikos, with the Green clinching the first seed in the regular season group with Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and five other teams. However, the direction of the season unexpectedly changed in the Top 16 stage.

Drew Nicholas scored 23 of his 29 points in the first half, tying his career best, as Efes upset Panathinaikos in the Top 16 stage opener.

As it turned out later, it was the only Efes win in the Top 16. Panathinaikos dropped another game in Siena and was pushed to the ropes with a do-or-die game in Belgrade for the playoff qualification.

Panathinaikos contained Partizan's star Nikola Pekovic to 9 points, but veterans boosted the home team. Milt Palacio scored 24, including a clutch shot in the final minute, Dusan Kecman added 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists, and Partizan upset Panathinaikos.

The morning after their devastating loss, Zeljko Obradovic wasted no time and called up his star players - Dimitris Diamantidis, Vassilis Spanoulis, Mike Batiste, and Sarunas Jasikevicius - to review the game footage and address their mistakes in the crucial fourth quarter.

"You impact the outcome of Panathinaikos games. You must be ready every time," Zeljko challenged his leaders.

GM MIN 2P M/A 3P M/A REB AS PTS EFF Nikola Prkacin 4 4:30 3/7(42.9%) 0/0 0.80/0.8 0.5 3.8 3.8 Fragiskos Alvertis 12 8:10 3/8(37.5%) 7/27(25.9%) 0.80.6/0.2 0.3 3 1.6 Stratos Perperoglou 9 9:53 14/25(56%) 2/8(25%) 1.41/0.4 0.7 3.9 3.3 Vassilis Spanoulis 20 27:45 54/109(49.5%) 22/62(35.5%) 2.72.5/0.2 2.7 11.3 11.8 Sani Becirovic 18 17:16 22/48(45.8%) 13/36(36.1%) 1.71.4/0.3 1.3 6.8 7.1 Mike Batiste 19 24:28 91/139(65.5%) 0/7(0%) 5.34.1/1.3 0.7 11.9 14.1 Andrija Zizic 18 14:00 36/62(58.1%) 0/1(0%) 1.70.9/0.8 0.4 5.2 2.4 Nikolaos Hatzivrettas 19 15:22 16/24(66.7%) 14/27(51.9%) 1.21/0.2 0.6 4.6 4.2 Dimos Dikoudis 20 14:36 41/65(63.1%) 7/17(41.2%) 2.51.6/0.9 0.2 6 5.3 Kostas Tsartsaris 12 16:20 19/29(65.5%) 12/27(44.4%) 3.42.4/1 0.9 8 10 Dimitrios Diamantidis 19 31:03 20/35(57.1%) 27/62(43.5%) 5.34.8/0.4 3.3 8.5 15.1 Kennedy Winston 19 18:06 31/61(50.8%) 6/22(27.3%) 2.31.9/0.4 0.6 5 5.3 Dejan Tomasevic 4 9:00 3/5(60%) 0/0 1.51/0.5 1.3 1.5 1.5 Aris Tatarounis 1 4:00 0/0 0/0 00/0 0 0 -3 Milos Vujanic 2 7:00 1/2(50%) 1/1(100%) 00/0 0 3 1.5 Šarūnas Jasikevičius 20 23:36 50/92(54.3%) 29/71(40.8%) 1.71.4/0.3 2.9 13.2 13.1

However, he admitted it was not the end of the world and asked them to focus on goals in the domestic league.

Panathinaikos went on to win the Greek Cup and the Greek championship and even regained the EuroLeague title the following season.

During their rollercoaster ride from 2007 to 2011, Panathinaikos won three EuroLeague titles but missed the playoffs in the other two seasons.

On both occasions, Panathinaikos continued under the guidance of Zeljko Obradovic and only made minor tweaks to their roster.

Now, the question remains: can Efes follow in Panathinaikos' footsteps and overcome this setback?

URBONUS podcast:

Subscribe to BN+ and get access to exclusive content.