EuroLeague Final 1988: McAdoo leads Milan to win again against Maccabi

With eight teams in the league the regular league went from fourteen games. The already dominant classics Milan and Maccabi, along with Barcelona had all the ballots to be among the top four. But the truth is that from the beginning things began to twist for them when a Partizan full of young values like Divac, Paspalj, Grbovic or Djordjevic surprised with a very dynamic basketball and ended leaders. So there was already one less place but then the Aris of Thessaloniki led by the trident Gannakis, Gallis and Subotic finally moved to second place. With this circumstance one of the big three was going to be left out of the first four final and Barcelona took the worst part to finish fifth.

The first final four in the history of the European Cup was held in the city of Gent in Belgium. On the one hand Aris of Thessaloniki against Olympia of Milan and on the other Partizan against Maccabi.

In the first semi-final, Milan’s Olimpia pulled off an ex officio and veteran to win a disputed match against an Aris of Thessaloniki who sold out their defeat. The key to Italy’s victory (87-82) was the portentous performance of his inner pair McAdoo and Brown, who managed to curb Gallis’ tremendous attacking power in defence to a certain extent.

In the other semi-final more of the same thing happened, Partizan who marveled throughout the season saw how Maccabi’s know-how finally sentenced with a result identical to the other semi-final (87-82). For the yellow Magee was sensational and on the Yugoslavian side the pair Divac and Paspalj were sensational at times but Maccabi knew how to play their tricks and be able to play a final again.

In the first season in which the top European competition was played under the new format of Final Four, li ragazzi di Milano again won the European Cup for the second consecutive year. The «grandparents» D’Antoni, Premier, Brown, McAdoo and Meneghin, supported by youngsters like Pittis and Montecchi, showed again that, despite the years, their heart is still young to win titles. The «old lions» of the Tracer – with an average age of over 33 – thus put the icing on the cake for a dream year in which they had won the Italian League and Cup, two European Cups and an Intercontinental Cup.

The Maccabi was mentally prepared to finally defeat his particular «black beast». Jamchy, who began the match with two consecutive three pointers to bring the score to 2-8 for the Israeli champions within two minutes. After the Maccabi achieved a maximum difference of seven points (6-13), Casalini decided to resort to a zone 2-3 to try to stop the outer throws of the set macabeo. Jamchy – who with the 11-15 had already achieved ten points – lost its effectiveness when Aldi went out to track to deal with its defense. La Tracer showed the highest quality of their squad – all their players had already scored – and in this way managed to first equalise the score (17-17, min. 9), and then get ahead (21-20, min. 10). The Italian side were clearly superior under the hoops, with a Meneghin completely annulling Magee, and when D’Antoni decided to let go of the wrist beyond the 6.25 line the Tracercerc began to take off on the scoreboard to reach a maximum difference of eleven points (48-37, min. 18). To make matters worse, with five seconds to go before the break Magee committed his fourth personal foul as a child, and Maccabi withdrew to the dressing room with a significant deficit on the scoreboard (52-41) and with his inner game seriously compromised.

The set Milan achieved its maximum advantage at the start of the second half (55-41, min. 22), taking advantage of Magee’s absence on track to carry out an aggressive individual defense. However, a spirited reaction from Maccabi, based on a 1-2-2 zone, managed to bring the table macabeo on the scoreboard. Barlow just lost respect for his «idol» McAdoo, Sims marked the tempo of the game and Berkowitz brought his experience. The Israelis – cheered on by their own fans and also by those of Aris – came within two points (69-67), although by then they had already lost Magee (eliminated just a minute after returning to track). D’Antoni abused the triple throw with little success, while Meneghin, with foul problems, could no longer defend as in the first half. After touching the tie on several occasions, Maccabi finally managed to equal the scoreboard in the 34th minute with a psychologically perfect play: Berkowitz basket and additional free kick after Meneghin’s fifth personal foul. However, it was at that moment that the wisdom and experience of the Milan players, who had fought a thousand battles, emerged. Franco Casalini’s men, after gaining a minimum advantage of four points (84-80, min. 38), were dedicated to hurrying their attacks and securing defensive rebounds, against a Maccabi who rushed and missed crucial free throws. With 53 seconds left, with 87-82 on the scoreboard, Brown blocked a shot by Jamchy in a decisive move for the luck of the match, and in the subsequent attack McAdoo certified with a mate Milan victory (89-82).