Celtics Receive Unexpected Title Challenge from Overseas

We call the winners of the NBA Finals the World Champions, but a European team is pushing back on that title, which currently belongs to the Boston Celtics.

Ergin Ataman, head coach of the Greek team Panathinaikos BC has called out the Celtics, according to Eurohoops, saying "If you want the world champion title, come and beat us in OAKA."

Panathinaikos are the current holders of the EuroLeague title, a similar competition to the UEFA Champions League, which their sister squad, Panathinaikos Football Club, competes in. In fact, many European organizations have identically named teams in several sports, including FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, who Panathinaikos defeated in this year's EuroLeague title game.

Founded in 1919, the Greek basketball squad is one of the oldest and most successful in Europe, having won 7 EuroLeague titles and an incredible 40 Greek League crowns.

The OAKA mentioned by Ataman refers to the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, the home stadium of Panathinaikos. It was opened in 1994 and renovated for the 2004 Summer Olympics, with a capacity of 18,300. TD Garden, the home arena of the Celtics, seats 19,156 fans for basketball games.

A showdown between the NBA champions and the European champions has happened three times, including once with Panathinakos involved. The first was in 1997, when the Chicago Bulls defeated another Greek squad, Olympiacos Piraeus, by a score of 104-78 at a neutral site in Paris.

After Panathinaikos won the 2007 EuroLeague title, they travelled to San Antonio to play the NBA Champion Spurs at the AT&T Center, with the Spurs winning 113-91.

Most recently, FC Barcelona hosted the 2010 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers and earned the first win for Europe in the series. The EuroLeague champions defeated Kobe Bryant's squad 92-88 at the Palau Sant Jordi.

There is a long history of NBA and European teams meeting up in exhibition games. NBA teams were 23-4 in those contests during the FIBA era (1978-99). Since 2003, in the EuroLeague era, NBA teams are 52-14, including 36-4 when playing at home.

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