Panathinaikos got the second win in the League in “Venetokleio”. Without facing any problems Panathinaikos beat Kolossos Rhodes 92-66 for the 2nd day of the League, forcing its way of playing.
The intentions of Panathinaikos were obvious After the initial 2-2 that formulated at the beginning of the game, the greens put the pedal to the medal and flew ahead, executing Zeljko Obradovic’s orders right down to the very last word, avoiding mistakes made the days before and enforcing the same passion on both ends of the court, reaching quite early to lead by 27-11 at the end of the first quarter. The margin grew to +28 for Panathinaikos when at 18’ the score was at 50-22, only to conclude to 53-29 at the half time buzzer. At this point Panathinaikos had 6/10 three pointers and 15/18 two pointers, twice the number of rebounds its opponent had(16-8) and more than double the assist of its rival(12-5). By this time only Dimitris Verginis had not been put to use from the given roster, while Jasikevicius and Diamantidis had 11 and 12 points respectively with the latter rapping-up the game with 15 points and perfect shooting stats.
When the second half reconvened, Kolossos tried its best to save face, by reducing its difference to 20 points (45-64, 26’50’’). Featuring Stratos Perperoglou as its “go to guy”, Panathinaikos finished the third quarter leading by 73-49. The gap hitched to a +28 margin (77-49, 31’30’’) and then some in the forth quarter, peeking to +29 (89-60, 38’). At this point curtains fell for Panathinaikos’s game 2, in the Greek League, the final score being 92-66. Come Monday, the team will proceed to getting prepared for its premiere in the Euroleague against Zalgiris Kaunas.
*Panathinaikos was missing injured Vassilis Spanoulis (sole of the foot), Fragiskos Alvertis (knee), Dusan Sakota (knee).
Referees: Spiridonos, Mouzakis, Panagiotou
Quarters: 11-27, 29-53, 49-73, 66-92
Kolossos R. (Sfairopoulos): Harris 2, Panteliadis, Papanikolopoulos 8, Vasiljevic 12, Djoco, Asimakopoulos 9, Smith 10, Harisis 4, Tsamis 12, Ceranic 9
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman 4, Verginis, Perperoglou 15, Batiste 8, Fotsis 7, Hatzivrettas 2, Nicholas 4, Tsartsaris 10, Diamantidis 15, Pekovic 12, Jasikevicius 15
* Zeljko Obradovic: “It was a very important and serious game for us. We played offensively in defense and we acknowledged all the situations in our opponents’ game. One of the most positive things of the game is that we were highly motivated since the first minute of the game. Kolossos is a very competitive team and its players played much better in the second half. My players deserve to be congratulated for their attitude on the floor. And I want to congratulate the fans of both teams and a little bit more the fans of Panathinaikos, because they supported us once more”.
* Kostas Tsartsaris: “Our team is not ready yet. We are still preparing for the season. We wanted to play a serious game since the first minute of the game, we wanted to play and we followed every instruction we have been given by our coach. Kolossos deserves to be congratulated and wish the accomplishment of its goals. My wish is that Kolossos will remain for years to come in A1 Division”.
