in Serbia and Montenegro. After a series of mediocre performances in the first round, he led Greece to a victory over the Russian National Basketball Team in the quarterfinals, and orchestrated a major comeback against the French National Basketball Team in the semifinal, when Greece was down 7 points with 47 seconds left on the clock. In the final against the German National Basketball Team, led by the prodigious NBA All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, Papaloukas scored 22 points, leading Greece comfortably to its second European title, eighteen years after its first win at the EuroBasket 1987. As such, Papaloukas was selected to the All-Tournament Team of the EuroBasket 2005, along with fellow Greek team player Dimitris Diamantidis, Spanish National Basketball Team shooting guard Juan Carlos Navarro, French National Team swingman and NBA player Boris Diaw, and Nowitzki, who also claimed the MVP title. Papaloukas also joined the elite club of players who have achieved the European title at both the national team and club levels during the same year, as he won the EuroLeague title with CSKA at the Final Four in Prague, April 28–30, 2006. Papaloukas climbed to the second position of global basketball as he, along with his fellow Greek team players, drove Greece to the final of the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, losing there in the final to the Spanish National Basketball Team. The win of the Greece national team over Team USA in the semifinal, by a score of 101–95, had Papaloukas with 12 assists, 8 points and 5 rebounds. He also earned a place on the All-Tournament Team, which also included the tournament MVP Pau Gasol of Spain, Gasol's teammate Jorge Garbajosa, Carmelo Anthony of Team USA, and Manu Ginóbili of Argentina. His most formidable personal recognition came on January 26, 2007, when he was voted by fans and journalists as the FIBA Europe Men's Player of the Year for 2006, topping the likes of Nowitzki, Gasol, and Tony Parker. In the summer of 2008, Papaloukas became the captain of Greece's national team for the 2008 Olympic Games. It was also the last time he ever played for Greece's national team. Player profile Papaloukas was a 2.00 m (6 ft 6 in) tall (102 kg (225 lb.) player who could play as either a point guard, shooting guard, or point forward on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court. He was a