Panathinaikos got the result it was after. Facing Zalgiris Kaunas on a road game in Lithuania it prevailed by 80-69, clearly superior in rebound collectivity and enjoying greater shot validation than its opponent, who nevertheless had a warm crowd supporting it.
The upper hand on the game’s pace was the key once more. Panathinaikos was troubled confronting Zalgiris only as long as it could not stabilize its performance and avoid a few bad choices, especially in offense. The Lithuanians chased, took the lead (9-6, 4’30’’) but from that minute on lost track of the score’s reigns. Neither zone defense gave it the solution it sought for. The gap started to expand up to 13-22, first quarter final score and then mounted to a +16 fashion (24-40, 29’20’’), half-time buzzer sounding at 26-40.
Zeljko Obradovic had (as usual) gone red in the face many times up to now but he had also used all 12 players at hand half way through the encounter, seeing his players not quite cutting it when triples where shot for, but being more than effective in rebounding (12-to-20), Zalgiris having picked up only 3 offensive rebounds thus trailing in a category that theoretically is one of its strongest aspects. Panathinaikos’ pressure paid-off many times, it was after all defense that led to easy baskets and good collaborations, no wonder the team had 9 assists after 20 minutes game time (3 for Spanoulis, 2 for each Fotsis and Diamantidis) and an obvious intention for the ball to be fed into the paint. Either by being passed to the big-guys either carried through by the guards’ drives.
The “green” edge reached +18 (32-50, 23’30’’) featuring the Lithuanians in a come-back attempt using as main performer Kalnietis. The gap fell to 11 points (43-54, 27’40), but Zeljko Obradovic’s squad reacted in perfect form. They got their pace back up, played on rebounding supremacy and distanced themselves even further away from their opponents getting to +20(47-67, 31’20’’). Wood’s only second basket of the evening came at 31’40’’ (49-67). Although the remaining game was procedure the fans reacted as if it was a down-to-the-wire encounter. The Lithuanians had decided to fight to the end and gradually managed to reduce their trail hosting Paulius Jankunas as their current protagonist. They were unable though to obtain the win, or even at that threaten Panathinaikos, who left with the final 69-80 score from the arena and its 300th European victory in its records.
Referees: Belosevic, Cicoria, Javor
Quarters: 13-22, 26-40, 47-61, 69-80
Zalgiris Kaunas (Krapikas): Woods 6, Maciulis 10, Kalnietis 10, Janavicius 4, Zukauskas, Klimavicius 2, Jankunas 21, Deane 7, Salenga 3, Milaknis 6
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman 2, Spanoulis 6, Perperoglou 5, Batiste 14, Fotsis 9, Hatzivrettas 2, Nicholas 4, Diamantidis 7, Pekovic 13, Sakota 3, Jasikevicius 15
* Kostas Tsartsaris sat this one out since he experienced annoyances in his collar bone.
*The three-pointer that Dimitris Diamantidis connected on in the first half was his 100th in Euroleague. Moreover it is the 13th Euroleague game in a row in which he gets at least one triple in.
Quotes:
Coach Obradovic expressed his satisfaction so much for his team’s performance as for the fact that it remains on the top spot of its group after the game against Zalgiris. “It was an important game in which we demonstrated patience throughout its entire duration and I would like to congratulate all of my players” the Serbian coach stressed and continued: “It was a game across from a historic team, which is a great example for Euroleague, since its fans did not stop cheering even when their team was trailing by 20 points, whilst the team itself did not give up all the way to the end. Of course we made some unnecessary turnovers, but we played concentrated and maturely. We missed a few shots, but this is not an issue for me, mostly I am interested in these shots been attempted on under good circumstances”. Vassilis Spanoulis on his side stated: “We played well and it was a fair win. A have no problem playing in any position either point guard, either wing-side, after all on this team there is no discrimination of basic and substitution players; all we do is follow coach’s orders. After beating Olympiakos we have been playing with a refreshed confidence, but truth be told there is quite some road left to cover until title-time”.
