A good three months after his farewell from NBA, world champion Daniel Theis missed the triumph in the basketball euroleague.
In the final of the Final Four in Abu Dhabi, the center lost 70:81 (33:35) against Fenerbahce Istanbul with the AS Monaco, for the Principality club it would have been the first title win in the most important European club competition.
Theis in the Starting Five
Theis, who had left North America after eight years in February, could have won the crown as the third German after record national player Patrick Femerling (2003 with Barcelona) and Tibor Pleiß (2021 and 2022 with Anadolu Istanbul). Pleiß failed with defending champion Panathinaikos Athens in his fourth participation in the final tournament in the semi -finals at the Turkish club Fenerbahce.
At the Abu-Dhabi premiere of the event, Theis for Monaco stood in the Starting Five, and AS initially dominated numerous stars from sports and show business. Especially Mike James, best scorer in Euroleague history, ran hot quickly, hit the triple line safely.
Finale at eye level
Fener around the former Munich Wade Baldwin held against it. No team was able to break away at eye level, the leadership changed again and again in the Etihad Arena. It was only at the beginning of the last quarter that the picture changed, Monaco now had problems in the offense, Istanbul around top scorer Nigel Hayes-Davis (23 points) pulled away in the double digits (62: 51/34. Minute). In the final phase, Monaco was unsuccessful against the impending bankruptcy, Fenerbahce won his second title after 2017.
Feners Marko Guduric (left) in the final against Monaco.
The German clubs had missed the Final Four this season. Master FC Bayern failed in the Play-in tournament, Alba Berlin became the main round and will play in the Champions League in the future.