Tweet @SportandoBasket

EUROLEAGUE 12.05.2012, 22:06 Redazione Sportando - E. Carchia 0

Andrei Kirilenko named the 2011-12 Euroleague MVP

Spanoulis, Diamantidis, Kirilenko, Lorbek e Krstic nel primo quintetto

The stars of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague were honored at a ceremony fit for a king on Saturday night at the annual EFES Euroleague Awards Ceremony held at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. On the eve of the coronation of a new champion, the best players from both finalists took part in the celebrations together with the rest of the global basketball elite attending the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four. CSKA Moscow’s Andrei Kirilenko walked away with the biggest haul. The star forward was named the 2011-12 Euroleague MVP and also trotted up to the podium to pick up his trophies as the Best Defender Award winner and a member of the All-Euroleague First Team. In all the championship game will feature three-fifth of the All-Euroleague First Team with Kirilenko’s CSKA teammate Nenad Krstic and their opponent, Vassilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos, also getting called up. Panathinaikos’s Dimitris Diamantidis, the 2011 MVP and until Kirilenko the only player to take home three end-of-the-season awards, and Erazem Lorbek of FC Barcelona Regal, rounded out the first team. It was the first such honor for Kirilenko and Krstic. Diamantidis was named to the First Team for the third time, while Spanoulis received First Team honors for the first time after three previous Second Team selections. Lorbek was named to the First Team after two previous Second Team selections. The All-Euroleague Second Team for 2011-12 consists of Bo McCalebb of Montepaschi, Milos Teodosic of CSKA, Henry Domercant of Unics Kazan, Juan Carlos Navarro of FC Barcelona Regal and Mike Batiste of Panathinaikos. Navarro is a member of the All-Euroleague team for a record sixth time, though this is his first time on the Second Team. Batiste, McCalebb and Teodosic are all named for the second time. Both Teodosic and Batiste were previous First Team members – Batiste as recently as last season. McCalebb also took home the Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy and Real Madrid forward Nikola Mirotic nabbed the Rising Star Award.