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Basketball-Plaudits for evergreen Olympiakos playmaker Spanoulis

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.