Panathinaikos met another set goal. Prevailing over Unicaja Malaga at a home game by 103-95, in an encounter that went into over-time it established itself on its familiar favorite spot, the top, proceeding to Euroleague play-offs holding home-court advantage. Its rival is now known to be Montepaschi Siena which it will have to defeat thrice in order to make it to Berlin F4.
On two occasion of a measurable duration of time in the game Panathinaikos owned both ends of the court in part 1, on these respective occasions it easily managed to create a cozy double digit cushion. The first edge came minutes after the beginning of the second quarter, when at 11’50’’ the score became 29-19. Malaga gallop onto a come-back and through mostly exploiting its opponent’s mishaps it cut its trail down to 32-30 (14’40’’), though from this minute onwards and all the way down the stretch to intermission the game was clearly “clover” business, partial score frequently at 16-5.
Zeljko Obradovic had already made life difficult for “opposing council”, not only switching players continuously but also mixing up formations. The Serbian coach witnessed his “thievery corporation” function supremely since his boys got to a 5-to-0 steal fest and mounted to a 13 point distance from their guests ((48-35) after 20 minutes game-time. Collaborations had started to kick-in, Mike Batiste got game investing on his teammates passes but also taking advantage of miss-matches that made the root towards the hole a done-deal situation. Jasikevicius had chipped in 5 perfect passes; Pekovic had drawn 5 fouls on his body. The Monte Negron center, the Lithuanian guard and Batiste had already accumulated double-digit sums of points half way through the encounter. At a point where the Spaniards had 5-out of-14 twos, 5-out of-14 threes, had committed 8 turnovers ,8 was the respective number of steals Panathinaikos tallied and had only half(4) against it.
Returning on court the “clover” picked-up where it had left-off. It had found its pace, collegiality continued behind Spanoulis’ lead this time dishing game and all the guys did a superb job in backcourt reaching 12 overall steals at minute 25! No bad deed goes unpunished, something that the Spaniards could immensely read on the score-board which at minute 24 read 62-40, a 22 point home-team lead. A relaxation on behalf of the “Greens” alongside a call by official Brazauskas, an offensive foul charged to Drew Nicholas across from a three-pointer sunk by Gabriel brought Malaga backed in the game, allowing it to close the gap to 11 points (65-54, 27’) and then some down to 6 (65-59, 29’) behind a trifecta unleashed by Cortaberia plus a lay-up from Carlos Jimenez. This Spanish 14-0 run was interrupted thanks to two charity shots from Pekovic that defined third quarter final score at 66-59.
Malaga, although it had nothing to gain came up feisty and competitive got Panathinaikos caught-up in its momentum and got a single point behind its opponent (70-69, 33’). Two consecutive three-point-plays signed by Antonis Fotsis and Mike Batiste gave the hosts a breathing distance from their guests (76-69, 34’40’’) the crowd everything but actually playing on court to support their team’s resist to the ongoing Spanish seize, team that showed passion at every play. And all this even though news from Italy had already provided Panathinaikos with top spot in the group, since Lottomatica although confronted with three major absences had totally dominated Partizan eventually beating the Serbians 88-72. Aito Reneses on the other hand saw his team remain especially lucky at three-point scoring shots, actually getting even to lead by 83-82 (39’15’’) just before final buzzer for the first time in the game after the initial 0-3 at 1’, 2-3 at 2’10’’ and 4-5 at 3’20’’. Diamantidis drove to tie 5 seconds left on the clock score 86-86 sending the game into over-time.
The leading role of the extra 5 minutes in the game was all Drew Nicholas. He jogged his team to a 5-0 streak at the begging of OT and his teammates did not fail to ride him while he was hot thus OT became a Nicholas affair as far as offense went. He personally got behind 11 points and Mike Batiste roared his dominance notoriously securing victory for the “clover”, getting sent-off by the entire stadium when coach Obradovic withdrew him from the floor for the last time in the game. Final score rested at 103-95 to the home-team’s delight.
Referees: Brazauskas(LTU), Muhvic(CRO), Taurino(ITA)
Brazauskas(LTU), Muhvic(CRO), Taurino(ITA)Quarters: 21-16, 48-35, 66-59, 86-86(F), 103-95(OT)
21-16, 48-35, 66-59, 86-86(F), 103-95(OT)Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Spanoulis 8, Perperoglou 12, Batiste 22(9rbs), Fotsis 9, Hatzivrettas 2, Nicholas 15(3/5 threes), Tsartsaris 1, Diamantidis 9(5rbs, 5stl), Pekovic 13, Sakota, Jasikevicius 12(5as)
Spanoulis 8, Perperoglou 12, Batiste 22(9rbs), Fotsis 9, Hatzivrettas 2, Nicholas 15(3/5 threes), Tsartsaris 1, Diamantidis 9(5rbs, 5stl), Pekovic 13, Sakota, Jasikevicius 12(5as)Unicaja Malaga (Reneses): Cook, Gomis 16, Rodriguez 13, Cortaberria 5, Welsch 21, Ndong 1, Gabriel 17, Jimenez 10, Archibald 2, Kelati 4, Haislip 6
Cook, Gomis 16, Rodriguez 13, Cortaberria 5, Welsch 21, Ndong 1, Gabriel 17, Jimenez 10, Archibald 2, Kelati 4, Haislip 6
