Both teams have already qualified to the next round of the Euroleague. All that remains to be determined is who will finish at the top of the group, who will be awarded the home court advantage for the Euroleague play-offs. Partizan was the winner at the packed to the rim Beogradska arena by 63-56, Dimitris Diamantidis though being the leader for the guests behind 21 points. Panathinaikos holds its luck in its own two hands, since victory against Malaga on Wednesday at home will provide it with top-spot since in case of a tie in the group amongst these two teams, the +18 victory from the first game against Partizan is a better edge than this Serbian +7 win.
The first five minutes after tip-off were owned by Panathinaikos; Numbers more than bared justice for its domination on court. It had led Partizan to commit already 7 turnovers across from its respective 1 it had taken 10 shots, whilst the Serbians had only made 2. The score flexed to 2-7, this because although Zeljko Obradovic’ boys had created good shooting conditions for themselves they just weren’t lucky at the basket. Partizan took advantage of its opponent’s misfortune and got to tie through the duration of the encounter, when at 9’ Velickovic unleashed a triple to make the score 12-12 slightly before Vassilis Spanoulis gave a one point advantage to his team being good once from the free through line at completion of the first 10 minutes(12-13) . What the team suffered from was bad rebounding stats (5 for – 10 against in the first quarter), not to mention scoring draught.
The road towards the Partizan basket was easier drove through in the second quarter when better choices in offence kicked-in , defense still remaining effective, combination that jogged Panathinaikos to a +10 lead (17-27, 16’), the Serbians having briefly got to lead (14-13, 10’20’’). The game-clock had much time reading on it still and the hosts did their best to remind their guests of it on the floor, getting to a 3 point distance (22-27, 17’10’’) and yet again before intermission (26-29). The “clover” had evened things out rebound-wise it had led its opponent to 15 mistakes, laying low in its turnover category with 7, but still it couldn’t get to the basket especially as far as two-pointers were concerned, half-time stats at 7-out of-20. Vujosevic had Slavko Vranes already charged with 3 personal fouls by minute 12’, whilst only at 21’45’’ Sarunas Jasikevicius for the “Greens” was benched after being charged with his fourth foul.
Partizan got to lead by 1 (30-29, 22’ and 32-31, 24’45’’), motion answered up to 26’45’’ by the guests to get to 35-40, the Serbians then taking over for their resist that paid off since at conclusion of the third quarter they led by 41-40 and when the game recommenced they got away even further to 45-40 at 31’40’’. The home team had enforced its pace from the first minutes of the fourth quarter capitalizing on their fans support and boost, getting to 55-44 at 34’50’’, Novica Velickovic finally finding his way to the hoop after having been restricted up to now exceptionally by Antonis Fostsis, Tripcovic and Vesely following their teammate’s lead. The gap expanded to +13 for the Serbians (57-44, 35’50’’), Rasic driving to the hole, Partizan run reaching a 14-4 fashion. Panathinaikos gradually fought its way towards the net, reduced its trail (60-55, 39’20’’ and 61-56, 39’25’’), before final score formulated at 63-56 in a festive atmosphere for the Serbs who brought the football team that was present for the encounter on court to be immensely applauded alongside them . The game set a new Euroleague record for attendance, since it was viewed by 22,567 fans.
Referees: Facchini (ITA), Garcia (ESP), Chambon (FRA)
Quarters: 12-13, 26-29, 41-40, 63-56
Partizan (Vujosevic): Tepic 5, Milosevic, Rasic 5, Tripcovic 12, Velickovic 10, Lasme 12, Vitcovac, Bozic, Rakocevic 6, Vesely 9, Vranes 4
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman, Spanoulis 9, Perperoglou, Batiste, Fotsis 10, Hatzivrettas, Nicholas, Tsartsaris 3, Diamantidis 21, Pekovic 10, Jasikevicius 3
