1997 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four

Main article: 1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague

The 1997 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four was the 1996–97 season's FIBA EuroLeague Final Four tournament, organized by FIBA Europe.

1997 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four

Tournament details
Arena	Palaeur Rome, Italy
Dates	April 1997
Final positions
Champions	Olympiacos (1st title)
Runners-up	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
Third place	Smelt Olimpija
Fourth place	ASVEL
Awards and statistics
MVP	David Rivers
← 1996 1998 →

Olympiacos won its first title, after defeating FC Barcelona Banca Catalana.

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	Smelt Olimpija	65
	Olympiacos	74
					Olympiacos	73
					FCB Banca Catalana	58
	FCB Banca Catalana	77
	ASVEL	70
					Third place
					Smelt Olimpija	86
					ASVEL	79

Semifinals

Smelt Olimpija – Olympiacos

April 22 18:30

Boxscore

Smelt Olimpija	65–74	Olympiacos
Scoring by half: 32–37, 33–37
Pts: Stepania 12 Rebs: Stepania 10 Asts: four players 2		Pts: Rivers 28 Rebs: Tarlać 13 Asts: Rivers, Sigalas 4

Palaeur, Rome Attendance: 11,700 Referees: Carl Jungebrand (FIN), Gennaro Colucci (ITA)

FC Barcelona Banca Catalana – ASVEL

April 22 20:30

Boxscore

FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	77–70	ASVEL
Scoring by half: 38–36, 39–34
Pts: Djordjević 17 Rebs: Rivas 12 Asts: Djordjević 5		Pts: Howard, Rudd 20 Rebs: Howard 6 Asts: Rudd 6

Palaeur, Rome Attendance: 11,700 Referees: Mikhail Davydov (RUS), Romualdas Brazauskas (LTU)

Third-place game

April 24 18:30

Boxscore

Smelt Olimpija	86–79	ASVEL
Scoring by half: 54–35, 32–44
Pts: Milič 17 Rebs: Jurković 8 Asts: McDonald 5		Pts: Digbeu 22 Rebs: Howard, Nebot 6 Asts: Rudd 5

Palaeur, Rome Attendance: 12,500 Referees: Gennaro Colucci (ITA), Mikhail Davydov (RUS)

Final

April 24 20:30

Boxscore

Olympiacos	73–58	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
Scoring by half: 31–29, 42–29
Pts: Rivers 26 Rebs: Tarlać 14 Asts: Rivers 3		Pts: Jiménez 16 Rebs: Jiménez 9 Asts: Djordjević 7

Palaeur, Rome Attendance: 12,500 Referees: Carl Jungebrand (FIN), Romualdas Brazauskas (LTU)

Olympiacos

FC Barcelona Banca Catalana

Starters: P R A PG 15 David Rivers 26 6 3 SG 5 Giorgos Sigalas 7 4 2 SF 9 Franko Nakić 0 2 0 PF 12 Dragan Tarlać 11 14 1 C 10 Panagiotis Fasoulas 6 4 1 Reserves: P R A PG 4 Efthimis Bakatsias 1 0 0 PF 7 Dimitrios Papanikolaou 11 4 0 SF 8 Nasos Galakteros 0 0 0 PG 11 Milan Tomić 9 4 1 C 12 Chris Welp 2 1 1 Head coach: Dušan Ivković

1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague Champions Olympiacos First Title

Starters: P R A PG 10 Saša Đorđević 6 4 7 SG 9 Xavi Fernández 0 1 0 SF 14 Artūras Karnišovas 14 4 0 PF 4 Andrés Jiménez 16 9 2 C 7 Ramón Rivas 6 4 1 Reserves: P R A PG 5 Rafa Jofresa 9 2 1 SG 6 Roger Esteller 3 0 1 C 8 Enrique Andreu 2 0 0 PF 12 Manel Bosch 0 2 0 C 15 Roberto Dueñas 2 0 0 Head coach: Aíto García Reneses

Awards

FIBA EuroLeague Final Four MVP

• David Rivers ( Olympiacos)

FIBA EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer

• David Rivers ( Olympiacos)

FIBA EuroLeague All-Final Four Team

FIBA EuroLeague All-Final Four Team
Player	Team	Ref.
David Rivers (MVP)	Olympiacos	[1]
Dimitrios Papanikolaou	Olympiacos
Brian Howard	ASVEL
Andrés Jiménez	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
Dragan Tarlać	Olympiacos