Panathinaikos returned to the top of Europe after its 2008 absence, prevailing over defending champion CSKA Moscow in an encounter that was to the least down to the wire. It nailed its fifth Euroleague crown by the final close cut score 73-71. Zeljko’s team was in the lead for the greater part of the game, setting the foundations in an unbelievable 2nd quarter in which it was simply out of this world and thanks to its famous tough defense triumphed although it had to earn its wages during the entire second half, bringing all who were rooting for it one stage before a heart attack. CSKA arose from a 23 point trail down to 4 then on to 1 single point in the final minute of the clash, seeming to be also favored by the officials.
Panathinaikos made a num opening in the final and found itself trailing by 6-10 at 3’30’’, Lorbek striking from the paint. At the same time the only offending player on the “Green” side was Spanoulis but since steadily coach Obradovic’s boys picked up the pace and defense kicked in the “clover” sailed ahead at 6’ by 13-12 praise to a net by Nicholas and then at 8’ the lead expanded to 5 (17-12), Pekovic being perfect from the line 4 consecutive times. At 11’ the ‘Greens” led by 23-16 determent to keep their bearings in the encounter and dominating the glass. Zone defense that was applied by Messina did not change much for the Russians seeing that Jasikevicius and Diamantidis where making their shots above the arc as one after the other unleashed trifectas that where followed by a 2 point hoop contributed by Tsartsaris, current advantage for the unstoppable “Greens” soaring to +14 (33-19, 14’). Panathinaikos defense was a huge problem for CSKA that had got only 5 points tallied up to 17’ the minute their opponents dialed freely long distance , charging the bill to Russia with love (8/14 threes in the first part). CSKA was hard to spot on court; the score board in the O2 Arena was proof enough since at the half-time buzzer Nicholas sent the fans to seventh heaven with a three point dagger to the heart of his rivals, 48-28 for the “Greens”!
Saras returned for part 2 eager to copy his teammate and swooshed a triple from down town to up the ante to +23 (51-28). The “clover” could almost taste victory. CSKA though, was not to be taking for granted. It “D”ed up, Langdon became its go-to-guy thus at 27’ the Russians having exploited their opponent’s dry spell (only 8 points in the third quarter and without score from 26’30’’) had gained on the Greens and at 30’ stood only 10 points shy of Panathinaikos (56-46). It was a derby, no doubt about it! Smodis heaved his team within 6 points of the “clover” (56-50 at 31’30’’) only for Fotsis to step up and add to his team’s tab with a sweet three from the top of the key, ending the Green draught of 5 whole minutes to jog the score to 59-50. Stratos Perperoglou had a mini 6 point say in the game, getting his name on the score board for the first time since tip-off , offering an 11 point cushion to his teammates (65-54, 34’30’’). Russians answered back and the finale was destined to turn in to everything it was made out to be all these days (65-60, 37’)! Batiste sunk two charity shots to mark 70-63, 1’30’’ left on the clock, Smodis poured in a triple at 39’ (70-66) and in the next possession the offense was missed by Spanoulis. Khryapa righted Spanoulis wrong by squandering both won free shots (50 seconds before the buzzer) next officials charge an offensive foul out of nowhere to Diamantidis on Siskauskas (31 seconds remaining), only for the latter to send a burning ball from the three point mark to rip the net (70-69, 24 seconds left). Panathinaikos captain capitalizes on both charity shots in the succeeding possession turning the score 72-69, 10 seconds away from conclusion and Siskauskas does exactly the same in the next play (72-71, 8’’5’’’ before the end). Jasikevicius draws a foul from Langdon but makes news, missing one out of two shots (73-71, 5’’8’’’ excruciating seconds left). Siskauskas misses the winning three, Smodis fails to tip in the equalizer and Panathinaikos is crowned Euroleague champion for the 5th time in its club’s history.
Referees: Brazauskas (LTU) – Arteaga (ESP) – Bachar (ISR)
Quarters: 21-16, 48-28, 56-46, 73-71
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Spanoulis 13(3/5threes) , Perperoglou 6, Batiste 6(5df), Fotsis 13(8rbs), Nicholas 7, Tsartsaris 2, Diamantidis 10, Pekovic 6(5df), Jasikevicius 10(4as)
CSKA (Messina): Holden 14, Lorbek 5, Langdon 13, Khryapa 9, Smodis 9, Kaun 5, Morris, Siskauskas 13, Zissis, Planinic 5
*Vassilis Spanoulis was named the final’s MVP.
