A promise is made to be kept. So, exactly as promised by the players, Panathinaikos came up as the conqueror of the encounter. Clearly supreme on the floor, there where it counts, Panathinaikos overcame its great rival Olympiakos by 86-69 in game 7, praise to team-work, featuring different players in the game’s driver’s seat at all different given periods of time, all the way down to the final buzzer. The brilliance that Panathinaikos seemed to have in the beginning of the game soon showed up on the score-board in its lead to its opponent, as the first half of the encounter cruised towards its fulfillment. Hard defense, feeding the ball into the paint, but also diversity of collaborations that led to orientate unguarded field shots where a few of the ingredients that both teams used to cook things up on the court. Panathinaikos got away by a slim gap, creating a +6 lead (17-11 at 9’), but Olympiakos made a hasty come-back, reduced the difference and took over the game’s reigns (22-24, 13’15’’). Round about this time Zeljko Obradovic saw his guys seek and consequently find solutions, show patience in offense and team-spirit in defense. A lethal combination that allowed them with a 13-to-2 run get to +11 (from 28-28 at 14’30’’ to 41-30 at 18’30’’) with a triple connected by Vassilis Spanoulis and two shots from the line a few moments after, yet again by Spanoulis (43-32 at 18’45’’), half-time score formulating at the final 43-35. After the score turned to 45-35 at 21’, Olympiakos took advantage of rebounds and a slight disorientation from the “Greens” camp, creeping up to 47-44 (23’20’’).
With Nikola Pekovic in the leading role, Panathinaikos’ answer was put in loud and clear in the encounter, then all players joined the party to get their team established at 56-44 (26’). Things started to settle in the game, as the “Greens” galloped to a wholesome +16 margin, striding in their own rhythm (65-49, 28’45’’), third quarter ending at 63-52. The gap returned to its +16 form with a monster dunk by Mike Batiste (68-52, 32’), who then sent the lead into a greater league (+17, 72-55 at 34’30’’) and next it was Saras Jasikevicius’ turn to expand Olympiakos’ trail by unleashing a trifecta and sending the score to 75-57 at 35’10’’, Panathinaikos at +18. Victory was painted green and the “three-leaf clover team” spiced up things offering show-time plays, at every possible chance. Nikola Pekovic tallied the over-impressive personal stat 9-out of-9 two-pointers, minutes before Nicholas got the team to +19 (81-62 at 37’30). The final score came round to 86-69 the buzzer wrung, yet another prevalence of Panathinaikos over Olympiakos was a fact and curtains fell in the” packed to the rim” OAKA stadium.
*The official roster did not include Fragiskos Alvertis and Dimitris Verginis.
Referees: Zavlanos, Christodoulou, Schinas
Quarters: 18-15, 43-35, 63-52, 86-69
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman 2, Spanoulis 5 (4as.), Batiste 9 (7reb), Fotsis 7, Nicholas 15, Tsartsaris 3, Diamantidis 16(4as, 5stl), Pekovic 21, Jasikevicius 8
Olympiakos (Yannakis): Papaloukas 2, Pelekanos, Childress 11, Vujcic 5, Printezis 7, Bourousis 5, Halperin 20, Greer 2, Erceg 7, Vasilopoulos, Teodosic 2, Schortsanitis 8
