Road to Athens: Tau Ceramica
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Tau Ceramica
's status among the modern elite of European clubs is surer than ever as it heads to its third consecutive Final Four in Athens. After playing in the title game two seasons ago and finishing third last season, Tau will be looking for its biggest prize yet to punctuate a stellar season in which it has tied for the best overall record and broken the all-time mark for consecutive home victories. Never content to rest on previous achievements, Tau went out last summer and added proven pros to a roster anchored by All-Euroleague first-team power forward Luis Scola and single-season assists record holder Pablo Prigioni. Scoring ace Igor Rakocevic and big man Kaya Peker joined Tau, while one-time Opening Tournament MVP Zoran Planinic made his return to the Euroleague after four seasons. Tau's first game of the season, a 19-point road loss at Olympiacos, could not have been more deceptive. From there, Tau strung together a 10-game winning streak in which half the victories were by 6 points or less, proving itself a team made for close games. After a hiccup loss, again on the road, Tau put together another 10-game streak, all but two of those by double-digits, proving it was getting better as the season got tougher. In the middle of it all, Scola became the Euroleague's all-time leading scorer on the same night that Tau set a new record for consecutive home wins, which have now grown to 28 in a row. The last two Tau victories were against Olympiacos in the Quarterfinal Playoffs, avenging the defeat that started the season. Most remarkable was that Tau kept winning despite two coaching changes that eventually left four-time Euroleague winner Boza Maljkovic on the bench to steer the team through the playoffs and into the Final Four. There is no doubt this time that making the Final Four is not good enough for Tau. A small-city club with outsized ambition, Tau has gotten better by leaps and bounds, season after season, and will only consider its journey complete with a Euroleague title!
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Euroleague.net
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