It was all about rhythm and good spirits; Panathinaikos had both. It craved to win and perform a pleasing appearance and when it pace itself it was impossible for Kavala to stop it. It prevailed in the OAKA arena 96-69 for day 25 in the Greek League.
The guests showed their intentions early in the game. They were determent to challenge anything Panathinaikos would offer them. Valid from beyond the arc and dominating in rebounds they managed to lead by 5 (12-17, 6’10’’).
Things were balanced on the floor shortly after 13’, Kavala having first say behind a net by Daniels that made the score 29-30. From then on the game’s reigns switched hands and came into “clover” possession. The goal from the beginning was to get the ball fed into the paint , Zeljko Obradovic requested that his player pick up the pace, long range shots found their way through the net after a 0/3 opening for the Greens (Kavala had 3/4 in the first quarter, 1/5 for the hosts) and the gap started to expand. Teams headed to the locker rooms score at 50-39.
Obradovic saw his boys step on court for part two with a conviction. And at these first minutes in the second quarter the game ended unofficially. Rhythm, velocity and eagerness in backcourt for defending and rebounding and Panathinaikos got to +26 (71-45, 29’) before third period buzzer concluded at 73-49. The technical staff of the “clover” got the chance to experiment formations but also give the opportunity to certain players to rest, sharing playing time amongst all 12 players at dispose. Sermadini and Verginis got slightly over 11 and 15 minutes respectively all the way down to the final 96-69.
Interesting numbers are that 3 players scored higher than 1 on the index system (Batiste 1.387, Pekovic 1.061, Sermadini 1.212) whilst Vassilis Spanoulis with his first hoop in the game broke the 1000 points barrier competing in the Panathinaikos jersey in the Greek League and left David Stergakos behind him, establishing himself in the 22nd position of the list. Ranking at position 21 is Antonis Fotsis behind 1028 points and at spot number 20 poses Memos Ioannou (1037 points).
Referees: Afentoulidis, Manos, Macherianakis
Quarters: 22-21, 50-39, 73-49, 96-69
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman 5, Spanoulis 5, Perperoglou 3, Batiste 10, Fotsis 9, Hatzivrettas 5, Nicholas 14, Pekovic 16, Sakota 6, Sermadini 13, Verginis 4, Jasikevicius 6
Kavala (Pilafidis): Vugadinov 19, Daniels 6, Kekelis 2, Lolas, Pentazidis, Tsiakos 8, Amagou 7, Kouvelas 6, Angelakopoulos 8, Goustas 13
*The official roster did not include Fragiskos ALvertis and the injured Dimitris Diamantidis and Kostas Tsartsaris
F4 schedule
Euroleague announced the F4 schedule.
Semifinals -FridayMay 1st
19:00h Barcelona – CCKA Moscow (1)
22:00h Olympiakos - Panathinaikos (2)
Finals – Sunday May 3rd
Position 3-4: 18:00h Loser (1)-Loser (2)
Positions 1-2: 21:00h Winner (1)-Winner (2)
