Panathinaikos made a lucky entrance into 2009 with not simply a great win but also an impressive appearance as it overcame Kavala on a road game by 94-55 for day 12 in the Greek League.
Panathinaikos paced the game from minute one, raising its performance as time went by praise to Mike Batiste’s ideal executions and dishing excellence by Diamantidis-Spanoulis, as they left the first half of the encounter behind 4 and 5 perfect passes respectively, having 13 assist in all as a team across from Kavala’s slim 4 in the according category. The hosts furthermore were facing Pantic and Tomas’ absences, two players who are now history for coach Pilafidis’ team.
Same situation in score matters. Panathinaikos was …in the mood, it ran, exploited its rival’s every mistake and snatched every rebound; it broke the game open wide and flew ahead in the score. From the initial 0-4 formulated by Batiste early on in the encounter (2’), to the 16-24 of the first quarter, all the way up to the double score mid-way of the second quarter (18-36) and the +26 lead (18-44, 17’20’’ and 22-48, 19’), shortly before both teams headed to the locker rooms for intermission score resting at 25-50, in the “packed to the rim” indoors stadium of Kalamitsa featuring many “Green” fans amongst the viewers. The partial score of the second quarter was 11-28, after a 17-0 run from 18-27 (11’30’’) up to 18-44(17’20’’).
Kavala tried to resist game recommencing , got up to a 20 point distance (38-58 at 20’) but Panathinaikos’ superlative was a granted fact and only too apparent on the floor. A basket-plus-bonus signed by Nikola Pekovic upped the ante for the Greens and led to a +27 advantage (38-65, 27’20’’), leading to the final score for the third quarter 43-68. A new streak in the game 14-to-0 for the “three-leaf-clover” team got the score round to 46-82 behind a shot beyond the arc from Dusan Kecman (his second long distance all-league hoop after the one that he made back in game 4 in an away game against Panionios). The final say was a last minute input quite astoundingly by Dusan Sakota who stole the show cramming 11 points in the 9 crunch time minutes of the game!
As far as numbers are concerned the most phantasmagoric element was Panathinaikos’ 25 assists (8 for Diamantidis, 5 for Spanoulis), rebounds (38-to-22, Batiste 10/Diamantidis 6/Spanoulis 5), double score in steals (8-to-4) and 10-out of-17 three pointers. Mike Batiste’s stats stood out as he tallied 20 points with 9/11 two-pointers and 10 rebounds. The American’s tendex was 1.244 but it was out-staged by Sakota’s 1.336! Zeljko Obradovic used all 12 players on his official roster; all got their names on the score board, whilst all but two gave at least one final pass.
Referees: Gontas-Papapetrou-Panagiotou
Quarters: 14-22, 25-50, 43-68, 55-94
Kavala (Pilafidis): Digbeu 8, Daniels 16, Kekelis 4, Lolas 5, Pentazidis, Gagaloudis 10, Amagou 6, Kavaliauskas 2, Kouvelas 4, Angelakopoulos
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman 5, Spanoulis 9, Perperoglou 4, Batiste 20, Fotsis 8, Hatzivrettas 4, Nicholas 5, Tsartsaris 5, Diamantidis 8, Pekovic 11, Sakota 11, Jasikevicius 4
*Panathinaikos had quite a hard time trying to reach Kavala, since the flight to Xrisoupoly never took place; the team flew to Thessaloniki and from there reached Kavala by coach.
Quotes:
Zeljko Obradovic (Coach, Panathinaikos): “It was our first official game after a long time. We knew that we had to respect Kavala, since it’s a serious team, with a very serious technical staff and an experienced group of players. We also knew that Kavala would miss two of its players. Playing the way we played we respected ourselves, all the work we have done the previous days on the court and also our opponent. We want to thank the fans of Panathinaikos for being here next to us and also the fans of Kavala, since they altogether created a great atmosphere. Now we have to focus on our next game against Siena”.
Stratos Perperoglou (player, Panathinaikos): “We had a mature game; we won easily in a game that we also wanted to check some things glancing to our next target, the Euroleague game against Siena in Italy. I want to congratulate Kavala for its effort and I wish them to achieve their goal, to remain in the A1 league”.
Nikos Hatzivrettas (player, Panathinaikos): “We had a rough time getting here but we stepped on the court determent and got the result we were after. The encounter against Siena is up next. We hope for a good game and eventually the win so as to resident at second spot in our group. It will surely be an intense test across from a very strong adversary. Anyway we all know that every game from now on is both hard and important. Hopefully 2009 will present us with the results we seek”.
Kostas Pilafidis (Coach, Kavala): “I want to congratulate Panathinaikos and I wish them all the best in the Greek League and also in Euroleague, since we all know that we are talking about a really good team. I want to thank the fans that came here and filled the stands of the gym. It’s something that makes us feel even more the responsibility towards them. About the game? No comment… Truly…”
Pape Amagou (Player, Kavala): “We knew that this was going to be a tough game. It’s something our coaches had told us about, although we knew already what a team Panathinaikos is. We tried for the best possible, but Panathinaikos got away with an easy win. It’s not bad that we lost, playing against such a great opponent. We tried to enjoy the game and we believe the same goes for the fans that came to watch the game”.
* The win with 39 points is the only one with this margin against any opponent for Panathinaikos in the A1 Division. It’s also the 8th time that Panathinaikos holds an opponent to 55 points.
* A lot of children waited patiently after the game for an autograph or a photo with the players and the technical staff of Panathinaikos.
