In an empty OAKA stadium Panathinaikos displayed great form and overcame Aris as if on a stroll in the park, score resting at 84-59. Next encounter for the “Greens” will be on Thursday against Barcelona, this time with fans present at their side.
The better party and facing a team with important absentees, Panathinaikos had no trouble conveying its superiority to the court in the first half of the game. Aris primarily took the lead 2-5 (3’10’’), input its dynamic presence for 4 minutes more when it flew ahead again (7-8, 7’20’’), but from then on scale started to drop in favor of the “three-leaf-clover” team. A mini 8-to-0 run got the score-board to 15-8 (8’50’’) and just a while before second quarter mid-time, double score was recorded (28-14, 14’10’’). And the gap did not remain at that. It grew even further to grasp a +17 margin (38-21), half time score. Effective defense, exquisite switches and correct choices in offense brought forward the essential solutions for Panathinaikos. The main element though was defense that had restricted both of Aris’ scoring threats, Clark and Marshall to 4 and 7 points respectively, with the prior having only one good field bucket, leading Andrea Mazzon’s team to the “poor” 3-out 0f-13 two-pointers and 3-out of-11 threes. Moreover the “Greens” were prevailing in the battle of the boards (17-to-11), breaking the game wide-open into a high-gear rhythm, pace which seems to suit them quite well.
The pace remained in the same velocity for the remaining of the game. Defense was the basic feature, it was that, that provided the solutions and led Aris to trail by 20 (52-32 at 27’30’’, 54-34 at 28’), a trail which peaked at 38’40’’ (84-56) hosting Nikos Hatzivrettas as “the man of the moment” signing almost all of the final plays in the encounter. Zeljko Obradovic used all twelve players, tried out versatile formations and had the luxury to rest his players, sharing game-time to all, in view of the encounter against Barcelona on Thursday at OAKA, a vital game that will decide the top-spot tenant in Panathinaikos’ Euroleague group. Buzzer beater agreed with Panathinaikos’ eminence throughout the whole game and the victorious 84-59 score kept it in the Greek League pole position.
Referees: Koukoulekidis, Anastopoulos, Pafilis
Quarters: 17-10, 38-21, 57-40, 84-59
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman 2 (5rbs), Spanoulis 9 (4rbs, 4as), Perperoglou 9, Batiste 18 (7rbs), Fotsis 5, Nicholas 1, Tsartsaris 2, Diamantidis 4, Pekovic 8, Sakota 3, Jasikevicius 12
Aris (Mazzon): Clark 7, Marshall 18, Tsaldaris 3, Sekulic 4, Argyropoulos, Mourtos, Gavel 19, Skordilis, Papanikolaou, Agadakos 2, Barlos 6
*Absent from official line-up where Fragiskos Alvertis, Dimitris Verginis and Giorgi Shermadini for Panathinaikos, whilst Aris had Nelson and Iliadis missing due to injuries.
Pekovic injured
Nicola Pekovic was injured at 28’50’’, remaining for quite some time flat-out on the floor, only to exit towards the locker-rooms a few minutes later. The verdict was an ankle-sprain and the next two 24-hours, in which he will follow an intense special treatment session, will be vital in deciding if he will be able to participate in the game against Barcelona or not.
