It was all a matter of rhythm. When eventually Panathinaikos found it and enforced it on the game, controlling rebounds all the way from the beginning, Panionios was unable to resist. For game 4 in the Greek League, the “Greens” beat Panionios with the final score 91-71.
A match-up derby between the two American centres was the game’s lay out up to minute 5 into the encounter, hosting Mike Batiste and Lonny Baxter as the sole scorers for each team up to 5-8 (5’05’’), Kalampokis intervening in his teammate’s scoring streak (7-8, 5’20’’) and Batiste nevertheless continuing on his behalf (7-10, 5’25’’). Zeljko Obradovic made first substitutions, throwing into battle Jasikevicius – Pekovic and withdrawing Kecman – Batiste, thus leading the centre from Monte Negro to be second in line to get his name on the score board after his fellow player Batiste, being good from the free throw line (9-12, 6’15’’). The gap set at this level featuring Obradovic using up almost all his roster, except Sakota and Verginis but Panionios made a mini come back in the last minutes of the first quarter, only to lead by 19-18, thanks to two free shots from Levon Kendall in the final moments. Panionios had the reigns at 15’ (30-29), but a streak 9-0 by Panathinaikos, controlled offensively mainly by Nikola Pekovic, formulated the 30-38 (17’40’’). Obradovic tried out a few tall-guys experiments, using at first the duo of Fotsis and Tsartsaris only to proceed with Batiste and Pekovic. The margin remained in the same vicinity even until the half time buzzer, the “Greens” headed towards the locker rooms with a +8 advantage, having seemingly taken over the game’s rhythm, prevailing in rebounds (20-to-8) and having two point statistics at 76% (16/21).
The gap rose to a double digit figure for the first time in the game at 22’ (41-51) with two shots from the charity stripe offered by Stratos Perperoglou, only to mount to +16 (48-64 at 28’30’’, 50-66, 29’) and the third quarter commenced at 55-70 with a triple, unleashed by Dusan Kecman. Pekovic tallied 21 points and Batiste tailed at 18 for Panathinaikos in a tensed game. In the forth quarter the “Greens” kept their foot on the exhilarator, hitched a +20 edge (61-83, 36’15’’) created by a shot beyond the arc from Dusan Sakota, shot that was copied exceptionally a few moments after by Drew Nicolas (63-86, 37’30’’). The final say had almost been put in and the final score 71-91 was a matter of time. In this fashion, Panathinaikos overcame Panionios’s obstacle and continued his victorious stride through the Greek League.
Referees: Gontas, Anastopoulos, Foufis
Quarters: 19-18, 36-44, 55-70, 71-91
Panionios (Trifunovic): Ksanthopoulos 4, Cvetkovic 15, Georgalis, Dreliozis, Paragios, Kalampokis 21, Milles 8, Raicevic 2, Kendall 8, Kanonidis 3, Nikolic, Baxter 10
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman 3, Perperoglou 9, Batiste 20, Fotsis 6, Hatzivrettas 3, Nicolas 5, Tsartsaris 4, Diamantidis 4, Pekovic 21, Sakota 7, Verginis 3, Jasikevicius 6
*Missing from the Panathinikos roster were Vassilis Spanoulis and Fragiskos Alvertis
Obradovic: Congratulations to my players
Zeljko Obradovic stated after the game: “We came here after a really bad game for us against Barcelona and we knew that this game against Panionios would be important for us. We wanted a good game. I admit that this difference in our game in just three days is something I cannot explain. It’s something that we must keep in our mind for the rest of the season. We knew that Panionios had a bad game itself against CSKA and that its players would be motivated, but we played very well especially in the first half, marking a big difference for us which we prevailed till the end of the game. We were calm and focused for 40 minutes and I have to congratulate my players for this game. I wish the best for Panionios and for its coach, mr Trifunovic”.
Dusan Sakota stated: “We had a bad game in Barcelona but we had the chance to see what we did wrong and we knew that we had to play with great focus. We controlled the rebounds, especially in the first half and we had a good game. Our coach teaches us to be focused in every game and what happened in Barcelona is something that nobody can explain. We are a big team though and we showed today that that defeat in Barcelona didn’t affect us”.
Trifunovic: We lost our concentration
Alexander Trifunovic stated: “Both teams experienced a bad situation in Euroleague. We knew that Panathinaikos is going to play aggressively and we wanted through our defence to get them out of the game. But we lost our concentration and it was something that was obvious in the battle of the boards. It was difficult for us to survive two so strong games in one week and with the injuries we have (Zoroski and Giannoulis were out). I believe that we can learn a lot from these defeats”.
Levon Kendall stated: “We tried in the first half but Panathinaikos scored some easy baskets, while we had big problems in rebounding. The result was a fair win for Panathinaikos”.
