2003–04 Euroleague

2003–04 Euroleague
	The Final Four was held at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv
Competition details
Teams	24
Final positions
Champions	Maccabi Elite (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
Index Rating	Arvydas Sabonis 26.3
Points	Lynn Greer 25.1
Rebounds	Arvydas Sabonis 10.7
Assists	Ed Cota 5.7
	← 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 different countries. The final of the competition was held in Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv, Israel, with hosts Maccabi Elite,^[1] defeating Skipper Bologna, by a score of 118-74.

Regular season

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:

Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs were not in the same group)
Points scored in all group matches
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

	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	14	6	8	1081	1078	+3
8.	Lottomatica Roma	14	4	10	997	1091	-94

Group B

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	CSKA Moscow	14	11	3	1118	984	+134
2.	Maccabi Elite	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	7	7	1083	1068	+15
7.	Unicaja Málaga	14	4	10	1051	1111	-60
8.	Krka	14	2	12	947	1189	-242

Group C

	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

Top 16

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, 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:

No more than two teams from the same Regular Season group could be placed in the same Top 16 group.
No more than two teams from the same country could be placed in the same Top 16 group.
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

	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

	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

	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

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Maccabi Elite	6	4	2	452	406	+46
2.	Pamesa Valencia	6	3	3	418	421	-3
3.	Žalgiris	6	3	3	520	507	+13
4.	Ülker	6	1	5	449	505	−56

Final four

Semifinals

April 29, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv

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

3rd place game

May 1, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv

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

Final

May 1, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv

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

2003–04 Euroleague Champions
Maccabi Elite 4th Title

Final standings

	Team
	Maccabi Elite
	Skipper Bologna
	CSKA Moscow
	Montepaschi Siena

Awards

All-Euroleague First Team 2003–04

All-Euroleague Second Team 2003–04

References and notes

↑ The venue for each year's Final Four is determined before the previous year's Final Four, before it can possibly be known who will advance.

External links

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

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[1] The venue for each year's Final Four is determined before the previous year's Final Four, before it can possibly be known who will advance.