2014–15 Euroleague Explained

Prevseason:	2013–14
Nextseason:	2015–16
Euroleague
Pixels:	300
T Bg:	EF6D0D
T Color:	white
Season:	2014–15
Champions:	Real Madrid (9th title)
Runners Up:	Olympiacos
Third Place:	CSKA Moscow
Fourth Place:	Fenerbahçe Ülker
Teams:	24
Games:	251
Duration:	16 October 2014 – 17 May 2015
Mvp:	Nemanja Bjelica
Final Four Mvp N:	ARG
Award4:	Best Defender
Award4 N:	USA
Award5:	Rising Star
Award5 N:	SRB
Biggest Home Win:	Valencia 103–65 Neptūnas
Biggest Away Win:	PGE Turów 65–104 Barcelona
Highest Attendance:	18,733
Lowest Attendance:	534
Attendance:	2,013,305
Average Attendance:	8,184
Pir:	25.7
Pir N:	SRB
Ppg:	18.9
Ppg N:	MNE
Rpg:	10.6
Rpg N:	SRB
Apg:	7.0
Apg N:	SRB

The 2014–15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague was the 15th season of the modern era of EuroLeague basketball and the fifth under the title sponsorship of the Turkish Airlines. Including the competition's previous iteration as the FIBA Europe Champions Cup, this was the 58th season of the premier competition for European men's clubs.

The city of Madrid hosted the Final Four from May 15 to 17, 2015.^[1]

Allocation

There were three routes to participation in the Euroleague:

• The 12 teams with an A-Licence from the 2013–14 Euroleague, based on their Euroleague Club Ranking.^[2]
• The 2013–14 Eurocup winner was given a C-Licence.
• The rest of the teams places were allocated from a list of 28 teams given a B-Licence ranked according to their European national basketball league rankings over the last year. 13 teams were given both an A-Licence or C-Licence and a B-Licence. When a country ranking spot had already been assigned to an A-Licence team, the assignation jumped to the next country appearing in the ranking, and their league was not granted an additional place in the competition. At least the first 9 of the remaining 16 teams were given places in the regular-season, and the next 6 were given places in the qualifying competition.
• If the Eurocup champion was qualified by receiving a B licence or some team with it resigned from the competition, a wild card had to be given by the Euroleague.

The Euroleague had the right to cancel an A licence for one of the following reasons:^[3]

• The club had the lowest ranking of all clubs with an A Licence, according to the Club Ranking.
• The club had ranked among the clubs placed in the bottom half of the national championship final standings.
• The club had financial problems.
• In Spanish League, when the champion and/or the runner-up of the league were teams without an A licence. In that case, the A licence club with the lowest position would play in Eurocup in the next season. If that happened three times in five years, the A licence of the club would have been cancelled.

Euroleague allocation criteria

A licences

Classification after the 2013–14 Euroleague, including also the 2011–12 and the 2012–13 seasons.^[4]

Rank Team Points 1. 164 2. 163 3. 154 4. 148 5. 141 6. 139

Rank Team Points 7. 105 8. 100 9. 99 10. 97 11. 95 12. 86

• The A licence of EA7 Milano expired in June 2014, but Euroleague confirmed it as an A licensed team.^[5]
• Montepaschi Siena did not play in the Euroleague, due to financial troubles.^[6]

B licences

B licences could be given to every team without an A licence. If in the allocation appeared a team with A licence, the next team in the criteria would receive the B licence, which qualified directly to the Regular Season.^[7]

Key to colors

	A licensed teams
	B licensed teams
	Wild cards
	Teams qualified for the Qualifying Round

Team 1. FC Barcelona 1st 2. 1st 3. 1st 4. 1st 5. 1st 6. 1st 7. 1st 8. 1st 9. Cibona ^[8] , 22 June 2014 1st 10. 1st 11. 2nd 12. 2nd 13. 2nd 14. 2nd

Team 15. Galatasaray^[9] ^[10] 2nd 16. Neptūnas^[11] 2nd 17. 2nd 18. 2nd 19. 2nd 20. 3rd 21. 1st 22. 1st 23. 1st 24. 1st 25. Levski Sofia ^[12] 1st 26. 1st 27. 1st 28. 2nd

C licence, replacements and wildcards

To the regular season

• Valencia (C licence as 2013–14 Eurocup winner)
• Alba Berlin (one-year wildcard which substituted Asseco Prokom's A-Licence removed in 2013)
• Dinamo Sassari (one-year wildcard which substituted Montepaschi Siena's A-licence, after it resigned in 2014)
• Crvena Zvezda (one-year wildcard which substituted Cibona's B-licence)

To the qualifying rounds

• UNICS (as 2013–14 VTB League best qualified without A or B licence)
• Hapoel Jerusalem (wildcard)
• ASVEL (wildcard)
• VEF Rīga (wildcard after the rejection of Levski Sofia)

Teams

The participating teams for the season were announced on June 25, 2014.^[13] The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round (TH: Euroleague title holders):

• A: Qualified through an A–licence
• 1st, 2nd, etc.: League position after Playoffs
• QR: Qualifying rounds
• WC: Wild card
• EC: Champion of the 2013–14 Eurocup

Regular season
width=210		width=210		width=210		width=210
width=210		width=210		width=210		width=210
width=210		width=210		width=210		width=210
width=210		width=210		width=210		width=210	Maccabi Electra^TH
width=210		width=210		width=210		width=210
width=210		width=210		width=210
Qualifying rounds
width=210		width=210		width=210		width=210
width=210		width=210		width=210		width=210

Qualifying rounds

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague qualifying rounds. Eight teams participated in a single-venue tournament format that took place in Ostend, Belgium, from 23 to 26 September.^[14] The winner advanced to the Euroleague regular season.^[15]

Squads

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague squads.

Draw

Teams were seeded into six pots of four teams in accordance with the Club Ranking, based on their performance in European competitions during a three-year period.

Two teams from the same country or league could not be drawn together in the same Regular Season group. In brackets, the points in the Club Ranking. Following the Eurocup bylaws, the lowest possible position that any club from that country or league could occupy in the draw was calculated by adding the results of the worst performing team from each league.

width=16%	Pot 1	width=16%	Pot 2	width=16%	Pot 3	width=16%	Pot 4	width=16%	Pot 5	width=16%	Pot 6
CSKA Moscow FC Barcelona Olympiacos Real Madrid	Maccabi Electra Panathinaikos Valencia Anadolu Efes	Unicaja Fenerbahçe Ülker Laboral Kutxa Žalgiris	Alba Berlin Galatasaray EA7 Milano Nizhny Novgorod †	Crvena Zvezda Cedevita Bayern Munich Dinamo Sassari	PGE Turów † Neptūnas † Limoges † UNICS ^

Regular season

The regular season was played between October 16 and December 19.

If teams were level on record at the end of the Regular Season, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:

1. Head-to-head record.
2. Head-to-head point differential.
3. Point differential during the Regular Season.
4. Points scored during the regular season.
5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each Regular Season game.

Key to colors

	Top four places in each group advanced to
	Bottom two teams in each group entered 2014–15 Eurocup Last 32 round

Group A

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague Regular Season Group A.

Group B

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague Regular Season Group B.

Group C

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague Regular Season Group C.

Group D

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague Regular Season Group D.

Top 16

The Top 16 began on December 30 and ended on April 10, 2015.

If teams were level on record at the end of the Top 16, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:

1. Head-to-head record between teams still tied.
2. Head-to-head point differential.
3. Point differential during the Top 16.
4. Points scored during the Top 16.
5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each Top 16 game.

Key to colors

	Top four places in each group advanced to Playoffs
bgcolor=ffcccc		Eliminated

See the detailed group stage page for tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points.

Group E

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague Top 16 Group E.

Group F

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague Top 16 Group F.

Quarterfinals

See main article: 2014–15 Euroleague Quarterfinals.

Final Four

See main article: 2015 Euroleague Final Four. The Final Four was the last stage of the Euroleague, consisting of the four winners from the quarterfinals. The semifinal games were played on 15 May, while the third place game and championship game were played on 17 May 2015. The Final Four was hosted by the Barclaycard Center in Madrid, Spain.

Attendances

Average home attendances

width=20	Pos	width=200	Team		width=45		width=45		width=45		width=45
1	Crvena Zvezda	11	159,309	18,733	5,908	14,483
2	Panathinaikos	14	177,418	16,033	8,165	12,672
3	Fenerbahçe	14	164,449	13,013	8,559	11,746
4	Maccabi Electra	13	143,780	11,060	11,060	11,060
5	Alba Berlin	12	123,561	14,133	8,226	10,296
6	Žalgiris	12	121,835	14,382	4,795	10,153
7	Laboral Kutxa	12	117,882	12,619	7,689	9,824
8	Olympiacos	14	125,907	11,653	6,039	8,993
9	Real Madrid	14	123,902	12,662	7,806	8,850
10	EA7 Milano	12	98,703	10,169	6,344	8,225
11	Galatasaray	8	60,512	11,312	3,138	7,564
12	Unicaja	12	87,893	8,891	5,237	7,324
13	FC Barcelona	14	94,103	8,529	5,162	6,721
14	Anadolu Efes	14	85,495	10,174	2,529	6,106
15	Bayern Munich	5	30,135	6,688	5,047	6,027
16	Valencia	5	30,069	8,500	3,005	6,014
17	Neptūnas	5	27,348	5,669	5,309	5,470
18	CSKA Moscow	14	65,509	5,349	4,369	4,679
19	Limoges	5	23,292	5,080	4,356	4,658
20	Dinamo Sassari	5	18,901	4,483	3,068	3,780
21	Cedevita	5	18,811	4,091	3,288	3,762
22	UNICS	5	14,490	3,876	534	2,898
23	Nizhny Novgorod	12	27,740	3,393	1,492	2,312
24	PGE Turów	5	9,744	3,217	709	1,949

Top 10

	Round	Game	Home team	Visitor	Attendance
1	Top 16	1	Crvena Zvezda	Real Madrid	18,733	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=121&seasoncode=E2014
2	Regular Season	4	Crvena Zvezda	Olympiacos	18,732	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=46&seasoncode=E2014
3	Top 16	11	Crvena Zvezda	FC Barcelona	18,450	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=201&seasoncode=E2014
4	Top 16	6	Crvena Zvezda	Žalgiris	18,382	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=161&seasoncode=E2014
5	Top 16	3	Crvena Zvezda	Galatasaray	17,821	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=137&seasoncode=E2014
6	Regular Season	1	Crvena Zvezda	Galatasaray	16,834	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=10&seasoncode=E2014
7	Top 16	9	Panathinaikos	FC Barcelona	16,033	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=186&seasoncode=E2014
8	Play Off	27	Panathinaikos	CSKA Moscow	16,000	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=246&seasoncode=E2014
9	Top 16	11	Panathinaikos	Real Madrid	14,766	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=203&seasoncode=E2014
10	Regular Season	3	Panathinaikos	Fenerbahçe Ülker	14,480	http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=31&seasoncode=E2014

Individual statistics

Rating

Rank	width=200	Name	width=200	Team	Games	width=75	Rating	width=40	PIR
1.	Boban Marjanović	Crvena Zvezda	24	616	25.67
2.	Taylor Rochestie	Nizhny Novgorod	21	442	21.05
3.	Artsiom Parakhouski	Nizhny Novgorod	23	426	18.52

Points

Rank	width=200	Name	width=200	Team	Games	width=75	Points	width=40	PPG
1.	Taylor Rochestie	Nizhny Novgorod	21	397	18.90
2.	Andrew Goudelock	Fenerbahçe Ülker	29	493	17.00
3.	Boban Marjanović	Crvena Zvezda	24	398	16.58

Rebounds

Rank	width=200	Name	width=200	Team	Games	width=75	Rebounds	width=40	RPG
1.	Boban Marjanović	Crvena Zvezda	24	256	10.67
2.	Nemanja Bjelica	Fenerbahçe Ülker	29	246	8.48
3.	Trey Thompkins	Nizhny Novgorod	23	187	8.13

Assists

Rank	width=200	Name	width=200	Team	Games	width=75	Assists	width=40	APG
1.	Miloš Teodosić	CSKA Moscow	24	168	7.00
2.	Thomas Heurtel	Anadolu Efes	28	179	6.39
3.	Marcus Williams	Crvena Zvezda	24	146	6.08

Other statistics

width=100	Category	width=180	Name	width=180	Team	width=40	Games	width=40	Stat
Steals per game	Tarence Kinsey	Nizhny Novgorod	17	1.59
Blocks per game	Artsiom Parakhouski	Nizhny Novgorod	23	1.96
Turnovers per game	Miloš Teodosić	CSKA Moscow	24	3.67
Fouls drawn per game	Jamel McLean	Alba Berlin	21	5.81
Minutes per game	Jeremy Pargo	Maccabi Electra	27	31:59
2FG%	Semih Erden	Fenerbahçe Ülker	25	0.758
3FG%	Demetris Nichols	CSKA Moscow	27	0.575
FT%	Taylor Rochestie	Nizhny Novgorod	21	0.925

Game highs

width=100	Category	width=180	Name	width=180	Team	width=40	Stat
Rating		EA7 Milano	47
Points		EA7 Milano	36
Rebounds	Boban Marjanović	Crvena Zvezda	17
Assists	Marcus Williams	Crvena Zvezda	17
Steals	Yogev Ohayon	Maccabi Electra	8
Blocks	Alex Tyus	Maccabi Electra	6
	Brian Randle
Turnovers	Thomas Heurtel	Anadolu Efes	8
	Taylor Rochestie	Nizhny Novgorod
Fouls Drawn	3 occasions		12

Awards

• Nemanja Bjelica ( Fenerbahçe Ülker)^[16]

• Andrés Nocioni ( Real Madrid)

All-Euroleague Teams

class="wikitable"
First Team^[17]			Second Team
Vassilis Spanoulis	Olympiacos		Nando de Colo	CSKA Moscow
Miloš Teodosić	CSKA Moscow		Andrew Goudelock	Fenerbahçe Ülker
Nemanja Bjelica	Fenerbahçe Ülker		Rudy Fernández	Real Madrid
Felipe Reyes	Real Madrid		Devin Smith	Maccabi Electra
Boban Marjanović	Crvena Zvezda		Ante Tomić	FC Barcelona

Top Scorer (Alphonso Ford Trophy)

• Taylor Rochestie ( Nizhny Novgorod)

Best Defender

• Bryant Dunston (Olympiacos)

Rising Star

• Bogdan Bogdanović ( Fenerbahçe Ülker)

Coach of the Year

• Pablo Laso ( Real Madrid)

MVP of the Week

See main article: EuroLeague MVP of the Week.

Regular season

Game	Player	Team
1	Boban Marjanović	Crvena Zvezda	30
2	Andrew Goudelock	Fenerbahçe Ülker	30
3	Jaycee Carroll	Real Madrid	37
4	James Anderson	Žalgiris	38
5	Andrew Goudelock (2)	Fenerbahçe Ülker	40
6	Zoran Erceg	Galatasaray	41
7	Boban Marjanović (2)	Crvena Zvezda	36
8	D'or Fischer	UNICS	43
9	Duško Savanović	Bayern Munich	37
10	Ioannis Bourousis	Real Madrid	31

Top 16

Game	Player	Team
1	Taylor Rochestie	Nizhny Novgorod	32
2			29
	Brian Randle	Maccabi Electra	29
3	Nando de Colo	CSKA Moscow	34
4	Artsiom Parakhouski	Nizhny Novgorod	37
5	Ante Tomić	FC Barcelona	34
6	Rudy Fernández	Real Madrid	38
7	Nando de Colo (2)	CSKA Moscow	29
8		EA7 Milano	47
9		Alba Berlin	36
10	Ante Tomić (2)	FC Barcelona	35
11	Bogdan Bogdanović		32
12	Alessandro Gentile		30
13			28
14			28
	Boban Marjanović (3)	Crvena Zvezda	28

Quarter-finals

Game	Player	Team
1			29
2			34
3			31
4			27

MVP of the Month

See main article: EuroLeague Monthly MVP Award.

Month	Player	Team
October 2014	Vassilis Spanoulis		^[18]
November 2014	Dario Šarić		^[19]
December 2014	align=left		align=left		^[20]
January 2015	align=left		align=left		^[21]
February 2015	align=left		align=left		^[22]
March 2015	align=left		align=left		^[23]
April 2015			^[24]

See also

• 2014–15 Eurocup Basketball
• 2014–15 EuroChallenge

Notes and References

1. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/137348 Madrid to host 2015 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four
2. Web site: In-The-Game.org Euroleague three-year-ranking. . 2013-08-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121001025745/http://www.in-the-game.org/?page_id=7895 . 2012-10-01 . dead .
3. http://www.euroleague.net/rs/40240/84bd1f8d-134d-42a0-a8ee-cd688d29aaa2/45c/filename/2012-2013-euroleague-bylaws.pdf 2012–13 Euroleague bylaws
4. http://eurokorbo.blogspot.com.es/p/ranking-uleb.html ULEB Ranking
5. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/137917/180 2014–15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague licence allocation criteria
6. http://www.sportando.com/en/italy/serie-a/123010/siena-will-not-play-neither-in-serie-a-nor-in-euroleague-next-season.html Siena will not play neither in Serie A nor in Euroleague next season
7. http://www.euroleague.net/euroleague-basketball/news/i/114696/6330 ECA Shareholders Meeting ushers in new season
8. http://www.b92.net/sport/kosarka/vesti.php?yyyy=2014&mm=06&dd=18&nav_id=863583
9. http://www.3puan.com/content?id=3499
10. http://www.milliyet.com.tr/euroleague/galatasaray-euroleague-de/galatasaray/detay/1900532/default.htm
11. http://www.lrytas.lt/sportas/krepsinis/klaipedos-neptunui-kelias-i-eurolyga-atviras.htm Klaipėdos „Neptūnui“ kelias į Eurolygą - atviras
12. http://www.euroleague.net/euroleague-basketball/news/i/138358 VEF Riga to play Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds
13. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/138175/180 ECA board approves 2014-15 teams, steps toward comprehensive competition model
14. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/138575 Ostend to host Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds in September
15. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/138175/180 ECA board approves 2014-15 teams, steps toward comprehensive competition model
16. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/5ycw47oqktncu4e3 Euroleague.net 2014-15 bwin MVP: Nemanja Bjelica, Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul
17. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/5xtj7vjfuokfw7g8 All-Euroleague First and Second teams announced
18. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/143720/180/bwin-mvp-for-october-vassilis-spanoulis-olympiacos-piraeus bwin MVP for October: Vassilis Spanoulis, Olympiacos Piraeus
19. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/146297/180/bwin-mvp-for-november-dario-saric-anadolu-efes-istanbul bwin MVP for November: Dario Saric, Anadolu Efes Istanbul
20. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/148041 bwin MVP for December: Devin Smith, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv
21. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/5q937cs38wcgtbny bwin MVP for January: Nando de Colo, CSKA Moscow
22. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/5sh6eavm3x8kpmg9 bwin MVP for February: Rudy Fernández, Real Madrid
23. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/5up9fmj3a5ncsf47 bwin MVP for March: Nemanja Bjelica, Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul
24. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/5wxcqn9jryt87p8p bwin MVP for April: Georgios Printezis, Olympiacos Piraeus