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Basketball-Plaudits for evergreen Olympiakos playmaker Spanoulis

By Zoran Milosavljevic MADRID, May 15 (Reuters) - Stifled out of the game and with his team on the ropes, playmaker Vassilis Spanoulis again saved the best for last to steer Olympiakos Piraeus to a 70-68 Euroleague semi-final win over old rivals CSKA Moscow on Friday. The 32-year-old netted 11 of his 13 points in the last five minutes of a rip-roaring contest as the Greek side gave CSKA a sense of deja vu, overcoming a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to set up a final with Real Madrid on Sunday. Spanoulis, who ignited a rally in the 2012 final in Istanbul that saw Olympiakos overturn a 19-point deficit to win 62-61 with a buzzer-beater by Georgios Printezis, drew plaudits from CSKA forward Andrei Kirilenko and coach Dimitris Itoudis. "Those shots by Spanoulis were crucial, they were game-winning shots from a great player," Kirilenko told reporters. "You have to give credit to the other players too, they kept their team in the game until Spanoulis took over," added the 34-year-old former Utah Jazz stalwart. Greek Itoudis said: "The big shots by Spanoulis decided the game as well as some tiny details. "The knife is going in and touching the bone but those are the moments when we have to show character." Spanoulis also played an instrumental role when Olympiakos beat CSKA 69-52 in the 2013 semi-final at London's O2 Arena before scoring all his 22 points in the second half of a memorable 100-88 victory over Real in the final. Apart from paying tribute to the players and staff he has worked with during an illustrious trophy-laden career, Spanoulis credited his mum for some of his magic. "Maybe I was born for this, my mother put me here for these moments," he said. "I am lucky I have great team mates and coaches. They still believed in me after I missed my opening 11 shots, they gave me the ball and trusted me." (Editing by Tony Jimenez)