page_title: Olympiacos B.C.
section_title: 2011–2012 season: European and Greek champions
hierarchical_section_title: Olympiacos B.C. / History / 2010s / 2011–2012 season: European and Greek champions
caption_attribution_description: English: Georgios Printezis
context_page_description: Olympiacos B.C., commonly referred to as Olympiacos and Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional basketball club based in Piraeus, part of the major multi-sport club, Olympiacos CFP. The team currently competes only in the EuroLeague, after their decision to withdraw from the 2018–19 games against arch-rival Panathinaikos over long-standing refereeing disputes; thus, the club is represented by a reserve team for the domestic competitions, called Olympiacos B.C. B Development Team. The parent club was founded in 1925, with the basketball team created in 1931, and their home ground is the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus.
  Olympiacos has been established as one of the most successful clubs in Greek basketball history and one of the most successful clubs in European basketball, having won three EuroLeagues, one FIBA Intercontinental Cup, one Triple Crown, twelve Greek League titles and nine Greek Cups. As a traditional European powerhouse, Olympiacos have also been five times EuroLeague runners-up and, having played a total of eight finals, they are the Greek club with the most EuroLeague Final appearances. They have also participated in ten EuroLeague Final Fours.
context_section_description: In the summer of 2011, Olympiacos saw many experienced players leave the team, after a reduction of the team's budget by over 50%. The youthful team under coach Dušan Ivković initially heavily depended on team leader Vassilis Spanoulis, losing games regularly when he wasn't playing. The team that the press thought might not even qualify for the Top 16, improved dramatically over the course of the season, and under the great performances of Vassilis Spanoulis, Georgios Printezis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Kyle Hines, Joey Dorsey, Pero Antić, Acie Law, Kostas Sloukas, and Vangelis Mantzaris, Olympiacos managed to reach the 2011–12 EuroLeague Final Four in Istanbul, after breaking the home-advantage of the Italian champions, Montepaschi Siena, winning with a 75–82 score in the first game of a best-of-five series in Italy, in a reversal of the previous season's quarter-finals. Going to Istanbul as an outsider, Olympiacos upset the odds, and beat the two favourites, FC Barcelona Regal in the semifinal, with a score 68–64, and CSKA Moscow in the final, with a 62–61 score, coming back after trailing by 19 points in the most dramatic final in the history of EuroLeague. Printezis scored a game-winner, off an assist from Spanoulis, with a few tenths of a second left, to complete the epic comeback, and give Olympiacos the win, and the second EuroLeague Championship in their history. Vassilis Spanoulis, the man who provided the assist for Printezis' buzzer-beating hook-shot, was voted Final Four MVP. The most successful season of the Reds since 1997, was completed by seizing the Greek Championship as well. They eliminated PAOK in the quarter-finals, and Panionios in the semi-finals, securing their spot in the Greek Finals undefeated. They entered the Greek Finals having the home-court advantage, after their first place in the regular season, and their impressive 23–1 record. There, Olympiacos faced their arch-rivals Panathinaikos, and won the best-of-five series 3–2 (84–78, 84–72, 82–76), celebrating the tenth Greek Championship in their history, and their first since 1997.
caption: Georgios Printezis
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