After what he did in “Alexander Gomelsky Cup” in Moscow, sealing the victory with a steal and a lay up, Vassilis Spanoulis was the go to guy again in a game against Maccabi Tel Aviv. He was on the spot with his last shot, leading Panathinaikos to the victory (80-79) against the Israeli in the first day of Olimpija Ljubljana Tournament.
The guard from Larissa made it happens for Panathinaikos in a game that was breathtaking in the end, as Omri Kasspi put Maccabi ahead in the score 77-73 (37’). Diamantidis and Fotsis scored handing the lead back the greens, Kasspi was there again with two free throws (78-79, 39’32’’), but Kill Bill was the last to speak. Beside winning Panathinaikos had another reason to smile, as Nikola Pekovic and Dusan Kecman were present and played for the first time with the team. Pekovic was positive in his debut recording 11 points and 5 rebounds in 21’.
Panathinaikos: Kecman 2, Spanoulis 15 (2), Perperoglou 2, Batiste 12, Fotsis 7, Hatzivrettas 3, Nicholas 10 (3), Tsartsaris 9 (1), Diamantidis 6 (1), Pekovic 11, Jasikevicius 3 (1)
Maccabi TA: Arroyo 18 (4), Eliyahu 3, Green, Burstein 11 (1), Simmons 2, Williams 7, Casspi 12 (2), White 11 (1), Batista 11, Fisher 4
Obradovic: My players demonstrated,
that they wanted the victory
After the end of the game, Zeljko Obradovic stated: “Both our games against Maccabi Tel Aviv looked alike. It was a very tough game and the truth is that we need this kind of games. We cannot talk about friendly games anymore, because all teams just want to win. We didn’t start out well in the game and we gave the opportunity to Maccabi to score a lot of easy points. We got better and we reacted well, especially when we fell behind eight points. We managed to get back in the game and to lead by five, but our own turnovers allowed our opponents to find their way back into the game. I believe that will get better game by game. It’s very important for us that at this time of the season we have so strong games in our schedule, against Euroleague teams”.
Regarding the presence of Dusan Kecman and Nikola Pekovic, Obradovic added: “Both of them demonstrated their will for the victory. The whole team demonstrated the same will. They fought and this is something I really liked. It’s never easy to play for the first time in a team. Especially for those two guys that are with us just one day. I liked the attitude of my players in general, when we fell back in the game. They demonstrated that they wanted the victory and it’s something very important for the whole team”.
Spanoulis: The main thing is for the team to win
Vassilis Spanoulis was the executor of Maccabi Tel Aviv for the second time in five days time: “It doesn’t matter who will score the last basket. The one think that matters is the result: We want our team to be the winner. Maccabi scored 30 points on us in the first 10 minutes, but just 50 more to the end of the game. It is something that we have to keep in mind. It is something that we have to mend. We want to see these “dead” periods to disappear. We are on the right path, we know that. It was really positive that the newcomers helped us, given the fact that it was their first game with the team”.
