Panathinaikos matched up all that Olympiakos had in store for it and was the one who decided to up the ante and leave as the winner from the floor. A 2 point bucket away from its opponent was enough to offer it the ticket to the Berlin F4 final on Sunday since in the semi-final game it prevailed over its local bitter rival by 84-82. It now proceeds to face the winner of the other semi-final CSKA Moscow opting to snatch its fifth Euroleague trophy. Zeljko Obradovic’s team was in possession of the game’s reigns for almost the entire encounter, the boys played their hearts out, had the answers to all questions even when the ball was literary on fire, adrenaline levels going off the chart and came into a great victory that offers them a spot in the Euroleague final, 2 years after the team’s last participation.
Panathinaikos stepped on court determent and set out to pace the encounter to its own advantage. Tip-off hosted Spanoulis-Perperoglou-Pekovic-Fotsis-Nicholas across from Childress-Halperin-Pargo-Printezis-Vujcic. Playing feisty defense and led by an amazing Vassilis Spanoulis in both organizing and executing and also having Nikola Pekovic on a very pleasing night, since he ruled the paint out-beating Vujcic at his own game, the “clover” led the encounter from minute 1 and had mounted early on a sweet 7 point cushion, unanswered by its opponent. The score from 0-7 then became 9-15 and at 5’30’’ it lay at 11-19 in favor of the “Greens”.
At this point Greer and Bourousis were thrown into battle, defense offered solutions to Olympiakos and at 9’ it trailed only by 1, 21-22. Spanoulis stopped and popped a three-pointer at first quarter buzzer to fix the score at 21-27, verifying his nickname “Kill Bill”. Although the “reds” issued pressure on their opponents, Panathinaikos continued to be in control of the game behind an unstoppable Nikola Pekovic and got away by 7 (28-35, 13’). Nevertheless Greer kept his team alive in the game and up to 18’ the score had tied 39-39, Papaloukas being the culprit of the equalizer. Teams headed to the locker rooms, half-time score at 41-43, somewhat revealing what was to follow.
Part 2 did not start out in the best possible manner for the “clover”. A fast 5-0 run from its rival left it trailing for the first time in the game (46-43) but response came with absolute punctuality on Fotsis behalf who unleashed a decisive trifecta to put his team back on top (46-50, 23’). Olympiakos though, was not ready to give up and with Vujcic in the driver’s seat fought back (54-50, 25’30’’). Mike Batiste now got down to business for the Greens’ next say in the encounter the score balanced out to 56-56 at 26’ and the court was set on fire. Jasikevicius made 2 for 2 three pointers and jogged his team to a +4 advantage (60-64) whilst Batiste continued his contribution to 60-66. Third quarter rested at 63-66. Panathinaikos stepped on the floor to seal the game with a triumph Batiste being the one starting to pave the way to victory. At 32’30’’ Saras Jasikevicius poured in a triple to help the Greens sail to an 8 point lead (65-73). Olympiakos determent not to surrender the arms ran a 6-0 streak to creep up on the “Greens” to 71-73 at 34’03’ thanks to a net from Printezis. Spanoulis dialed long distance to interrupt the monologue, only to be copied moments later by Jasikevicius, Panathinaikos getting to +5 at 37’30’’ (76-81). Vujcic closed the gap down to 1 (80-81 at 38’) while Bourousis made the tie hoop to 82-82 from the charity line, 1’10’’ left on the game clock. Pekovic drove to 82-84, Vujcic missed a three and Pekovic copied his misfortune at a two, 10’’ only before the final buzzer. Bourousis was the fatal player that took his team’s final attempt to the basket but Panathinaikos’ defense did not fail to input a last minute response and the attempt was squandered. Panathinaikos won a righteous berth to the final.
Referees: Brazauskas (LTU) – Arteaga (ESP) – Rocha (POR)
Quarters: 21-27, 41-43, 63-66, 82-84
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman, Spanoulis 18, Perperoglou 4, Batiste 19 (6rbs), Fotsis 5 (6rbs), Nicholas, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis, Pekovic 20 (6df), Jasikevicius 18 (5as)
Olympiakos (Giannakis): Papaloukas 9, Childress 11, Vujcic 14, Bourousis 10, Halperin 4, Greer 18, Printezis 9, Erceg 4, Pargo, Vougioukas, Teodosic 3
