By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
The morning of the championship game found the Olympiacos roster trying to escape the mounting pressure of the impending title game in an unusual setting.
Reflecting on those tense hours before facing CSKA in Istanbul’s Sinan Erdem Dome to decide the champion of the 2011-12 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season, Giorgos Printezis revisited the surreal atmosphere during his appearance on the latest installment of Final Four Stories by Stoiximan.
“We were looking at each other many times, wondering,” he told Eurohoops. “We didn’t fish, but there were some fishing rods, there was some bait, stuff. I mean, what I’m trying to say is that in seven hours we were playing in a European Final.”
Hours later, that culminated in one of the most famous sequences in European basketball history, capped off by Printezis hitting his signature running floater. In the immediate aftermath of the buzzer, team leader Vassilis Spanoulis sprinted straight to him, sparking a chaotic, emotional celebration.
“What you just told me was a beautiful moment that I had with Billy,” he noted. “I remember he came and hugged me so tightly and kept telling me, ‘We won it, you…’ I can’t say the actual word. Anyway, ‘We won it,’ and he had essentially hung onto me, but his entire body was hanging off of me.”
The sheer weight of the moment left the Syros native visibly overwhelmed on the court, initially waving away journalists as he clutched his head in disbelief. Looking back on the immense anxiety that defined those final seconds, he admits how much was truly at stake.
“Look, let’s be honest, there was pressure, and OK, it is a European Final. The team had gone 15 years without a major title, so to speak. And of course, I was anxious too. No question about it. Especially in that last play, when I knew there was a high probability the ball would end up in my hands, there was anxiety because that’s a basket that changes your life, changes the joy of all the fans, changes the history of the club,” he mentioned.
For a player whose shot redefined the team’s legacy, the mental clarity required to execute that final play remains a vivid memory.
“They might not pass through your mind in extreme detail,” Printezis explained, regarding the massive implications of the shot. “But it is in your head that this is a moment where you have to make a difference. Personally, I really loved that I was there at that specific moment. I really loved taking that decision and initiative after Billy’s pass, who had drawn two players onto him, and thankfully, it went in.”
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