1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague

The 1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague was the 40th installment of the European top-tier level professional club competition for basketball clubs (now called simply EuroLeague). It was organized by FIBA Europe. It began on September 19, 1996, and ended on April 24, 1997. The competition's Final Four was held at Rome.

1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague
The PalaEUR in Rome hosted the final Four
Season	1996-97
Dates	September 18, 1996 – April 24, 1997
Teams	24
Finals
Champions	Olympiacos (1st title)
Runners-up	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
Third place	Smelt Olimpija
Fourth place	ASVEL
Final Four MVP	David Rivers
Statistical leaders
Points Carlton Myers 22.9 Rebounds Warren Kidd 10.6 Assists Michael Anderson 6.1
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

In the previous 5 seasons of the competition, the competition's official name was FIBA European League, or shortened to FIBA EuroLeague. This season was the first edition of the competition that took the shortened name of FIBA EuroLeague, as the league's official name.

Competition system

• 24 teams (the national domestic league champions from the best leagues, and a variable number of other clubs from the most important national domestic leagues). The competition culminated in a Final Four.

Country ranking

For the 1996–1997 EuroLeague, the countries are allocated places according to their place on the FIBA country rankings, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1993–94 to 1995–96.^[1]

Country ranking for 1996–1997 FIBA EuroLeague

Rank Country Points Teams Notes 1  Spain 321.667 3 2  Greece 299.667 3  Italy 216.667 4  France 123.238 5  Turkey 93.333 2 6  Russia 66 7  Croatia 63 8  Germany 61.389 9  Israel 50.905 1 10  Slovenia 41.333 11  Belgium 29 12  Yugoslavia 26 13  Portugal 24.5 0 14  Lithuania 19 15  Ukraine 15.389 16  Poland 12.111 17 Macedonia 11.778 18  Hungary 10.5 19  Slovakia 8.889

Rank Country Points Teams Notes 20  Czech Republic 8.389 0 21  Austria 6.556 22  Switzerland 6.056 23  England 5.389 24  Cyprus 5 25  Sweden 4.722 26  Bulgaria 4 27  Latvia 3.667 28  Romania 2.778 29  Bosnia and Herzegovina 2.5 30  Luxembourg 2.167 31  Netherlands 1.944 32  Georgia 1.833 33  Finland 1.667 34  Estonia 1.5 35  Albania 1.444 36  Iceland 0.889 37  Belarus 0.278 38  Denmark 0.167

Team allocation

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

• 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.: League position after Playoffs

Regular season
FC Barcelona Banca Catalana (1st)	Stefanel Milano (1st)	Efes Pilsen (1st)	Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1st)
Caja San Fernando (2nd)	Teamsystem Bologna (2nd)	Ülker (2nd)	Alba Berlin (2nd)
Estudiantes Argentaria (3rd)	Kinder Bologna (3rd)	CSKA Moscow (1st)	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv (1st)
Olympiacos (1st)	Pau-Orthez (1st)	Dynamo Moscow (2nd)	Smelt Olimpija (1st)
Panathinaïkos (2nd)	ASVEL (2nd)	Cibona (1st)	Spirou Charleroi (1st)
Panionios Ethniki Asfalistiki (3rd)	Limoges CSP (3rd)	Croatia Osiguranje Split (2nd)	Partizan Inex (1st)

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		MIL	CSK	MAC	ÜLK	LIM	PAN
1	Stefanel Milano	10	7	3	775	727	+48	17	Advance to Group E		—	87–74	85–88	67–65	79–66	90–66
2	CSKA Moscow	10	6	4	761	734	+27	16			70–55	—	89–80	71–76	74–65	96–66
3	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	10	6	4	755	734	+21	16			78–68	77–78	—	71–65	69–77	69–57
4	Ülker	10	4	6	767	766	+1	14	Advance to Group F		67–73	73–76	84–80	—	99–91	87–69
5	Limoges CSP	10	4	6	757	788	−31	14			74–85	83–66	62–69	84–80	—	78–75
6	Panionios Ethniki Asfalistiki	10	3	7	729	795	−66	13			79–86	72–67	69–74	84–71	92–77	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		TSB	EST	CIB	ALB	OLY	SPI
1	Teamsystem Bologna	10	7	3	773	742	+31	17	Advance to Group F		—	100–86	54–66	82–72	81–72	87–78
2	Estudiantes Argentaria	10	6	4	798	821	−23	16			66–75	—	78–71	82–75	87–78	94–72
3	Cibona	10	6	4	713	679	+34	16			64–72	81–66	—	78–68	63–61	75–66
4	Alba Berlin	10	6	4	755	723	+32	16	Advance to Group E		81–64	78–79	79–71	—	62–61	94–73
5	Olympiacos	10	5	5	770	711	+59	15			96–80	110–78	62–61	64–67	—	87–60
6	Spirou Charleroi	10	0	10	699	832	−133	10			61–78	75–82	73–77	69–79	78–79	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		PAO	OLI	ASV	FCB	CRO	BAY
1	Panathinaïkos	10	8	2	736	693	+43	18	Advance to Group G		—	75–67	66–72	79–75	72–50	87–79
2	Smelt Olimpija	10	7	3	753	669	+84	17			74–76	—	73–60	77–65	81–53	86–70
3	ASVEL	10	7	3	738	718	+20	17			74–80	70–69	—	91–90	78–59	72–64
4	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	10	4	6	767	734	+33	14	Advance to Group H		77–58	70–71	78–81	—	68–70	90–71
5	Croatia Osiguranje	10	4	6	630	705	−75	14			58–65	53–66	73–61	65–75	—	86–79
6	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	10	0	10	704	809	−105	10			67–78	77–89	66–79	71–79	60–63	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		EFE	PAR	KIN	PAU	CSF	DYN
1	Efes Pilsen	10	8	2	736	693	+43	18	Advance to Group H		—	93–77	75–60	78–76	69–66	87–84
2	Partizan Inex	10	6	4	753	669	+84	16			76–72	—	78–70	84–75	66–72	97–64
3	Kinder Bologna	10	5	5	738	718	+20	15			75–89	100–83	—	86–74	93–75	89–74
4	Pau-Orthez	10	5	5	767	734	+33	15	Advance to Group G		80–78	73–77	89–83	—	85–79	94–71
5	Caja San Fernando	10	4	6	630	705	−75	14			68–70	72–67	72–64	61–69	—	91–61
6	Dynamo Moscow	10	2	8	704	809	−105	12			73–82	71–72	64–78	70–65	79–75	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Qualification round

(The individual scores and standings of the First stage are accumulated in the Qualification round)

If one or more clubs are level on won-lost record, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

1. Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
2. Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
3. Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs are not in the same group)
4. Points scored in all group matches
5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		MIL	ALB	OLY	MAC	CSK	SPI
1	Stefanel Milano	16	11	5	1234	1175	+59	27	Advance to Play Offs		—	80–91	73–71			73–63
2	Alba Berlin	16	10	6	1193	1167	+26	26			68–78	—		70–65	78–76
3	Olympiacos	16	9	7	1236	1131	+105	25			87–84		—	69–60	82–51
4	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	16	9	7	1209	1173	+36	25				78–62	82–78	—		87–70
5	CSKA Moscow	16	8	8	1177	1175	+2	24				67–69	70–79		—	80–66
6	Spirou Charleroi	16	1	15	1123	1297	−174	17			68–71			90–82	67–72	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		TSB	CIB	EST	LIM	ÜLK	PAN
1	Teamsystem Bologna	16	12	4	1262	1163	+99	28	Advance to Play Offs		—			90–76	69–61	94–58
2	Cibona	16	10	6	1166	1126	+40	26				—		72–66	82–81	85–58
3	Estudiantes Argentaria	16	9	7	1309	1284	+25	25					—	68–70	97–63	92–70
4	Limoges CSP	16	8	8	1226	1234	−8	24			81–70	85–61	91–85	—
5	Ülker	16	5	11	1196	1243	−47	21			73–78	73–77	78–74		—
6	Panionios Ethniki Asfalistiki	16	4	12	1162	1325	−163	20			72–88	84–76	91–95			—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		PAO	ASV	OLI	CSF	PAU	DYN
1	Panathinaikos	16	13	3	1218	1134	+84	29	Advance to Play Offs		—			90–71	75–71	71–67
2	ASVEL	16	12	4	1225	1188	+37	28				—		83–81	67–65	82–52
3	Smelt Olimpija	16	10	6	1219	1119	+100	26					—	67–70	96–86	80–72
4	Caja San Fernando	16	7	9	1203	1194	+9	23			78–87	91–68	81–76	—
5	Pau-Orthez	16	6	10	1240	1251	−11	22			66–78	95–97	77–71		—
6	Dynamo Moscow	16	3	13	1140	1310	−170	19			88–81	86–90	64–76			—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		EFE	PAR	FCB	KIN	CRO	BAY
1	Efes Pilsen	16	12	4	1250	1156	+94	28	Advance to Play Offs		—		96–70		74–64	91–68
2	Partizan Inex	16	9	7	1257	1228	+29	25				—	91–87		71–82	89–76
3	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	16	8	8	1244	1225	+19	24			69–67	75–73	—	73–72
4	Kinder Bologna	16	7	9	1274	1259	+15	23					92–103	—	73–57	90–100
5	Croatia Osiguranje	16	7	9	1055	1124	−69	23			78–56	76–75		68–70	—
6	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	16	2	14	1175	1312	−137	18			72–73	70–81		85–79		—

Source: FIBA Europe

Playoffs

Bracket

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding, the numbers to the right indicate the result of games including result in bold of the team that won in that game, and the numbers furthest to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round.

	Eight-Finals								Quarter-Finals								Semi-Finals					Final
	E1	Stefanel Milano	67	76	78	2
	H4	Kinder Bologna	59	83	76	1
									Stefanel Milano		94	69	61	1
									Smelt Olimpija		90	73	77	2
	F2	Cibona	61	66	61	1
	G3	Smelt Olimpija	58	69	62	2
																	Smelt Olimpija		65
																	Olympiacos		74
	G1	Panathinaikos	68	70		2
	F4	Limoges CSP	67	55		0
									Panathinaikos		49	57		0
									Olympiacos		69	65		2
	H2	Partizan Inex	71	61	69	1
	E3	Olympiacos	81	60	74	2
																						Olympiacos		73
																						FCB Banca Catalana		58
	F1	Teamsystem Bologna	73	79		2
	G4	Caja San Fernando	70	75		0
									Teamsystem Bologna		70	73	62	1
									FCB Banca Catalana		65	75	87	2
	E2	Alba Berlin	77	62		0
	H3	FCB Banca Catalana	95	72		2
																	FCB Banca Catalana		77
																	ASVEL		70
	H1	Efes Pilsen	76	65	84	2																Third Place
	E4	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	67	78	69	1
									Efes Pilsen		87	70	57	1								Smelt Olimpija		86
									ASVEL		71	80	62	2								ASVEL		79
	G2	ASVEL	97	77	75	2
	F3	Estudiantes Argentaria	74	79	71	1

Eight-Final

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
Cibona	1–2	Smelt Olimpija	61–58	66–69	61–62
Stefanel Milano	2–1	Kinder Bologna	67–59	76–83	78–76
Partizan	1–2	Olympiacos	71–81	61–60	69–74
Panathinaikos	2–0	Limoges CSP	68–67	70–55
Alba Berlin	0–2	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	77–95	62–72
Teamsystem Bologna	2–0	Caja San Fernando	73–70	79–75
ASVEL	2–1	Estudiantes Argentaria	97–74	77–79	75–71
Efes Pilsen	2–1	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	76–67	65–78	84–69

Quarter-Final

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
Stefanel Milano	1–2	Smelt Olimpija	94–90	69–73	61–77
Teamsystem Bologna	1–2	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	70–65	73–75	62–87
Efes Pilsen	1–2	ASVEL	87–71	70–80	57–62
Panathinaikos	0–2	Olympiacos	49–69	57–65

Final four

Main article: 1997 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four

Semifinals

April 22, Palaeur, Rome

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Smelt Olimpija	65–74	Olympiacos
FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	77–70	ASVEL

3rd place game

April 24, Palaeur, Rome

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Smelt Olimpija	86–79	ASVEL

Final

April 24, Palaeur, Rome

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Olympiacos	73–58	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana

1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague Champions
Olympiacos 1st Title

Final standings

	Team
	Olympiacos
	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
	Smelt Olimpija
	ASVEL

Awards

All official awards of the 1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague.

FIBA EuroLeague Final Four MVP

• David Rivers ( Olympiacos)

FIBA EuroLeague All-Final Four Team

First Team[2]
David Rivers (MVP)	Olympiacos
Dimitrios Papanikolaou	Olympiacos
Brian Howard	ASVEL
Andrés Jiménez	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
Dragan Tarlać	Olympiacos

FIBA EuroLeague Top Scorer

• Carlton Myers ( Fortitudo Bologna)

Statistics

Individual statistics

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Points	PPG
1.	Carlton Myers	Teamsystem Bologna	19	436	22.9
2.	Arijan Komazec	Kinder Bologna	16	351	21.9
3.	Petar Naumoski	Efes Pilsen	22	453	20.6

Source: FIBAEurope

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rebounds	RPG
1.	Warren Kidd	Stefanel Milano	22	233	10.6
2.	Vitaly Nosov	Dynamo Moscow	16	162	10.1
3.	Hansi Gnad	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	16	147	9.2

Source: FIBAEurope

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Assists	APG
1.	Michael Anderson	Caja San Fernando	17	104	6.1
2.	Delaney Rudd	ASVEL	24	138	5.8
3.	Petar Naumoski	Efes Pilsen	22	98	5.8

Source: FIBAEurope

Other statistics

Category	Player	Team	Games	Average
Steals	Michael Anderson	Caja San Fernando	17	2.7
Turnovers	Michael Anderson	Caja San Fernando	17	4.6
Minutes	Petar Naumoski	Efes Pilsen	22	39.0
FT %	Slaven Rimac	Cibona	19	93.3%
2-Point %	Arijan Komazec	Kinder Bologna	16	67.1%
3-Point %	Miroslav Berić	Partizan	19	47.9%

Individual game highs

Category	Player	Team	Statistic	Opponent
Points	Tony Dawson	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	43	Kinder Bologna (Jan 15, 1997)
Rebounds	Warren Kidd	Stefanel Milano	21	Olympiacos (Jan 16, 1997)
Assists	Delaney Rudd	ASVEL	12	Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Nov 7, 1996)
	Michael Anderson	Caja San Fernando		Dynamo Moscow (Oct 10, 1996)
				ASVEL (Feb 19, 1997)
Steals	Jimmy Nebot	ASVEL	11	Efes Pilsen (Apr 3, 1997)

Team statistics

Category	Team	Average
Points	Estudiantes Argentaria	80.7
Rebounds	Olympiacos	32.3
Assists	Pau-Orthez	16.6
Steals	Estudiantes Argentaria	11.2
Turnovers	Dynamo Moscow	16.9
FT %	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	76.9%
2-Point %	Pau-Orthez	58.6%
3-Point %	Pau-Orthez	40.9%

See also

• 1996–97 FIBA EuroCup
• 1996–97 FIBA Korać Cup