Olympiakos players celebrate a championship after beating CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague Final Four at the Sinan Erdem Arena in Istanbul. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

It wasn’t suppose to end this way for CSKA Moscow, a team that boasts NBA starters Andrei Kirilenko and Nenad Krstic and European star Milos Teodosic and could compete in the NBA.

CSKA led for most of Sunday’s Euroleague Final in Istanbul, Turkey. But one dramatic comeback by Olympiakos Piraeus foiled CSKA’s championship aspirations. Trailing CSKA 53-34 midway through the third quarter, Olympiakos dug deep and completed a stunning comeback after Gergios Printezis scored late in the fourth to give the Greek club a 62-61 win to capture its second Euro title.

Having had their budget cut by the economic crisis in Greece, Olympiakos first defied the odds to reach the playoffs and the arrived to the Final Four as the least heralded team to win the showpiece event in Istanbul.

Led by their Serbian coach Dusan Ivkovic, a trophy-laden tactical maestro in his second spell in charge of Olympiakos, the Greek outfit upset 2010 winners Barcelona in the semis before overpowering six-time winners CSKA.

“I have to thank my players, the staff and our incredible fans who stuck with us through the thick and thin, this victory is a result of tremendous will-power and a monumental effort to achieve the impossible,” Ivkovic told reporters.

Cutting an incredibly calm figure after the most dramatic of wins, the 68-year-old coach added: “CSKA were the obvious favorites not just today but throughout the season and it was our iron-clad defense that turned the match.

“Of course it helped that I coach CSKA’s fellow Serbs Milos Teodosic and Nenad Krstic in the national team, the former got off to a great start and was their best player but we staged a hardly explicable fourth quarter fightback.”

CSKA romped to a 25-13 lead thanks to its defense and three-pointers by Teodosic, who was a second-team All-Euroleague selection in 2012. His teammates Kirilenko and Krstic were first-team selections, and Kirilenko — who played for the Utah Jazz for a decade — was named the regular season MVP. The team looked in complete control against a club it had defeated handily during the regular season, winning one game by a whopping 32-point margin in Moscow.

But the CSKA offense came to a screeching halt at crunch time while Vassilis Spanoulis, named the tournament’s most valuable player, started hitting jump-shots and dishing out assists to his teammates that led to easy baskets. For those who may recall, Spanoulis was on Greece’s men’s national team that scored a stunning upset over a United States team led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony in the 2006 FIBA World Championships, so the Greek guard is no stranger to slaying basketball giants.

After forward Ramunas Siskauskas missed two foul shots with 10 seconds left, Spanoulis notched his final assist in the game’s most important moment when he found an unmarked Printezis on the baseline to beat the buzzer and throw 5,000 ecstatic Olympiakos fans into a frenzy.

“Spanoulis was our driving force throughout the Final Four but it was our team spirit and die-hard attitude that turned the match on its head,” Olympiakos center Pero Antic told Reuters.

“We never stopped believing in ourselves even when we were 19 points down, we knew we could get back into the game if we carried on playing strong defense and we got our reward.”

For Ivkovic, it was a gratifying finale as he won the second Euroleague title with Olympiakos after guiding them to their first success in Europe’s elite competition in 1997. “Now we will party, have a few days’ rest and prepare for the Greek league’s final series against Panathinaikos, it will be like another Final Four,” said Antic.

“With a bit of luck, we will repeat the trick and give Ivkovic the same kind of joy he tasted 15 years ago.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

Utah Jazz forward and Russian national team standout Andrei Kirilenko (right) is making a huge impact in the Euroleague for CSKA Moscow. (REUTERS)

If not for the NBA lockout, Andrei Kirilenko would be in the United States preparing for his 11th season with the Utah Jazz. But with the NBA calendar wiped out through the month of November and labor negotiations continue to drag on, Kirilenko and other pros have made the trek to Europe to regain their fame and grab a little fortune as well.

The biggest beneficiary of Kirilenko’s European arrival has been CSKA Moscow. The top team in Russia currently is undefeated in the Euroleague standings and as long as the lockout persists, meaning Kirilenko will stay on the team, CSKA could have the most talented team in Europe.

With Kirilenko (nicknamed AK47) back in the CSKA starting lineup where his pro career began to blossom, CSKA is extremely long and athletic. The club also boasts Boston Celtics center Nenad Krstic, former Euroleague MVP Milos Teodosic, former Chicago Bulls forward Viktor Khryapa, and highly touted guard Alexey Shved.

Kirilenko and Khryapa are 6-foot-9 forwards, while Krstic is listed at 7 feet. In the backcourt, CSKA features Shved and Teodosic, who captured Euroleague’s top honor in 2010 and that same year was named to the FIBA World Championship all-tournament team while playing for Serbia. Teodosic can play point or shooting guard, while Shved is a 6-6, 22-year-old phenom who has been compared to Penny Hardaway. Watch his alley-oop dunk in EuroBasket 2011 against Finland off a feed from Khryapa.

Want more length? How about a couple of 6-11 centers in Darjus Lavrinovic and Sasha Kaun and 6-9 Andrey Vorontsevich. Kaun won a national championship at Kansas in 2008 and is only 26, while Lavrinovic, 31, was signed by CSKA in the summer after spending one season with Fenerbahce Ulker in the Turkish League. Vorontsevich is a member of the Russian national team who had 13 points in a 94-74 win over Brose Baskets.

Former Mississippi State standout Jamont Gordon, who signed with CSKA last year after a stint with Cibona Zagreb, gives CSKA another capable scorer in the backcourt. Forward Ramunas Siskauskas is a talented 6-6 forward who is averaging 11 points per game in three VTB United League games.

The terms of Kirilenko’s contract with CSKA is a three-year deal with an option to return to the NBA as soon as the lockout is over. So, as long as the NBA season is on hold, Kirilenko will remain in Moscow and that’s bad news for the rest of the clubs in the Euroleague.

Milos Teodosic's game-winning 3-pointer against Spain advances Serbia to the semifinals. (FIBA)

With one incredible long shot, Milos Teodosic lifted Serbia into the semifinals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship and ended Spain’s reign as world champions.

After Spain tied the game at 89 with 25.8 seconds left in the game on Marc Gasol’s dunk, Serbia put the ball in the hands of its playmaker, Teodosic, and the Euroleague’s 2010 MVP delivered one of the most dramatic game-winning shots in FIBA history.

As the shot clock and the game clock wound down, Teodosic calmly walked the ball up the middle of the court, launched a shot from almost seven feet behind the 3-point line over the outstretched arms of 6-foot-9 forward Jorge Garbajosa and swished it with three seconds remaining to give Serbia a stunning 92-89 victory in Istanbul, Turkey.

It was Teodosic’s only 3-point basket of the game. He was 0-f0r-6 until Serbia’s last possession.

“He’s a great player and he has a great feeling for the big shot,” Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said of Teodosic, who thoroughly outplayed Spain’s Ricky Rubio in a battle of Europe’s top point guards.

Spain had one last chance to tie the game, but inexplicably ran a very awkward and low-percentage play for Garbajosa near halfcourt and the Real Madrid forward dribbled the ball off his leg and couldn’t even get a shot attempt as time ran out.

[Watch the video]

The victory was extra sweet for Serbia because just a year ago it was embarrassed by Spain at the 2009 European final. Serbia waited a year to exact revenge on the Spaniards, and it certainly made the most of its opportunity Wednesday night.

Six players scored in double figures for Serbia and the team converted 15 of 30 shots from 3-point range. “We were not able to stop them on the long shots,” Spain guard Juan Carlos Navarro told the Associated Press. “That’s why we lost and I believe that’s why they deserved to win.”

Navarro did his best to keep Spain in the game, leading all scorers with 27 points. Garbajosa finished with 18 and Rudy Fernandez had 15 points, but was 0-for-5 from behind the arc. Rubio, who was in foul trouble in the second half, made just one of four shots and recorded only three assists.

Marko Keselj and Novica Velickovic led a very balanced attack for Serbia, scoring 17 points apiece. Dusko Savanovic added 15 and Nemanja Bjelica had 14. Keselj and Bjelica were a combined 8-for-9 on 3-point shots.

“I think it was a very, very tough game. Maybe the best one until now in Istanbul,” said Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic, whose team will take on either Turkey or Slovenia in the semifinals.

“It’s very difficult to forget this kind of game, but we have to try to forget everything that happened tonight because in two days we will play in the semifinals,” said Teodosic, who finished with 12 points, eight assists and five rebounds. He played most of the fourth quarter with four fouls.

It was sweet redemption for Teodosic, who took his share of shots from the media after being suspended two games for taking part in an ugly brawl during an exhibition game against Greece prior to the start of the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Teodosic said he was sorry for the incident and regretted the embarrassing melee ever happened. He and teammate Nenad Krstic were both suspended at the start of the tournament. Krstic, who plays for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, battled Spain’s Marc Gasol for much of the game. Both players had 13 points, but Krstic outrebounded the Spaniard, 9-5.

It was a near-perfect game for the Serbians, who entered the tournament as a middle-of-the-pack squad and wasn’t considered a serious threat to medal.

Even though the Spaniards entered the World Championship without star players Pau Gasol and Jose Calderon, they were still considered heavy favorites along with the United States and Greece because of their talent and depth (nine Spanish players have NBA ties).

The 2010 World Championship wasn’t very kind to Spain. The 2006 champs lost twice in the preliminary round and capped its tournament with a heartbreaking loss to Serbia.

Having Pau Gasol and a healthy Calderon could have changed Spain’s fortunes at the worlds. But you can’t take anything away from Serbia, who took advantage of Spain’s porous zone defense, some lack of consistency on offense and questionable decisions by Scariolo.

Spain’s players didn’t have a good run, but they certainly didn’t get any help from their head coach. Scariolo couldn’t find a way to get Marc Gasol the ball in key situations, and he also didn’t have his team prepared against France.

There were times when Scariolo felt obligated to play all his players, which hurt the flow of the offense. Having too much talent on one team can be a negative. But more importantly, the high expectations contributed greatly to Spain’s early exit.

Olympiacos point guard Milos Teodosic was voted the 2009-10 Euroleague MVP after a breakout season. Teodosic, who led Olympiacos to the Euroleague Final against Regal FC Barcelona, was joined on the 2009-10 All-Euroleague First Team by Olympiacos teammate Linas Kleiza at forward, Regal FC Barcelona guard Juan Carlos Navarro, CSKA Moscow forward Viktor Khryapa and Partizan Belgrade center Aleks Maric.

It is a first-time honor for all but Navarro, the 2009 Euroleague MVP and 2010 Euroleague Final MVP, who was named All-Euroleague First Team for the fourth time. Kleiza, who played for the Denver Nuggets last season, won the Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy. Khryapa received the Euroleague Best Defender Trophy and the Rising Star Trophy went to Ricky Rubio, 19, of Barcelona, the youngest winner of an end-of-season award ever in the Euroleague.

Ricky Rubio led Regal FC Barcelona to victory in the 2010 Euroleague Final.

Rubio was the fifth overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft, but opted to play in Europe. The Minnesota Timberwolves hold his draft rights. Rubio and Navarro, teammates on Spain’s national team, recently led Barcelona to a victory in the Euroleague Final over Olympiacos.

The 2009-10 All-Euroleague second team featured Bo McCalebb of Partizan at point guard, CSKA forward Ramunas Siskauskas, forward Josh Childress of Olympiacos, forward Erazem Lorbek of Barcelona and center Tiago Splitter of Caja Laboral. Siskauskas, the 2008 MVP, is a second-team selection for the third time. He was also on the first team and was MVP in 2008.

Lorbek, the 2005 Rising Star, is on the second team for the second time. Splitter is also on the Second Team for the second time and was a member of the 2008 All-Euroleague First Team. Childress, who played for the Atlanta Hawks for four seasons, and McCalebb, a Euroleague rookie, are both first-time honorees.

Euroleague.net contributed to this report.