Panathinaikos made Best of Class this season since it conquered the second Triple Crown in its club’s history and coincidently its 30th Greek League ever, the seventh in a row, its 48th title for the basketball team of the “clover”. The final 94-81 against arch rival Olympiakos levitated the maxed-out OAKA arena crowd to proceed on to unstoppable celebrations in the fans’ barracks whilst on court the “Green” players had already got the party started 2 minutes before final buzzer of the year. Spanoulis and Batiste at midcourt, Jasikevicius and Pekovic from the bench and all of Obradovic’s boys were unable to hide the smiles on their faces for triumphantly reaching to the Greek League championship pole position, trophy No 3 for Panathinaikos BC 2008-2009 season. It was certainly the best way fitting for the descending captain-team banner Fragiskos Alvertis to bid farewell, officially withdrawing from action. The sign that read “Thank you for all you have offered” said it all, so much for the entire team, as for Fragki, who went on to “doing it like Berlin” raising this trophy also with his successor Dimitris Diamantidis.
Things were somewhat clear from minute one in the clash, since coach Obradovic’s team had first say in the matter throughout almost the entire battle. Nevertheless rivals followed in each other’s footsteps for quite some time, Panathinaikos try did it may, did not managed to leave the “Reds” trailing through the entire first half with more than 6 points (28-22, 9’55’’). Things started to seem to unravel more in the second quarter, but the hosts just couldn’t seem to stabilize their performance so as to heave their guests within a safe amount of point distance. Lost rebounds and certain offensive bad choices kept Olympiakos alive in the game, opposing parties heading to the locker rooms, score standings at 47-44.
Part 2 tipped off to give the lead to the visitors by 2 (49-51, 22’30’’). Vassilis Spanoulis muscled to 4 unanswered points and Nikos Hatzivrettas chipped in a three to offer Panathinaikos the undeniable upper hand in the match-up. The “Greens” found a productive tempo, from time to time played sensational basketball thus managing to mount double digits margin for the first time at 28’45’’ (67-57), behind a bucket by Mike Batiste.
Final quarter was branded by Zeljko and his guys who climbed all the way up to a +15 edge (85-67, 33’20’’), greatest lead of the evening. A handy-cap Panathinaikos stir towards twice more up to the finale of the encounter, the conclusion of which was sealed by the final 94-81. This in the “Green” field meant Triple Crown No 2 in the history of the “Three-leaf-clover” club.
Nicholas and Spanoulis shared first scorer spot behind 17 points each, Nikos Hatzivrettas stood out being on a roll, even nailing a supreme 4-point- play in the encounter, a high-light of the clash, Diamantidis was all over the place, Pekovic (although being charged quite early with 4 personal fouls) and Batiste stood their ground dominantly and ruled the paint, Fotsis was a full court asset, offering solutions at both ends, as was Tsartsaris.
Referees: Pitsilkas, Zavlanos, Schinas
Quarters: 28-24, 47-44, 67-62, 94-81
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Spanoulis 17, Perperoglou, Batiste 11(7rbs), Fotsis 13(6rbs), Hatzivrettas 7, Nicholas 17(3stl), Tsartsaris 9, Diamantidis 10(5as, 2stl), Pekovic 8, Jasikevicius
Olympiakos (Yannakis): Papaloukas, Pelekanos, Childress 10, Vujcic 4, Bourousis 4, Halperin 8, Greer 21, Printezis 8, Erceg 15, Teodosic 7, Schortsanitis 4
*By winning its 7th consecutive Greek League championship Panathinaikos caught Aris’s record (1984-1991) whilst it has a 5 streak local double and of course its second Triple Crown in the last three years.
Panathinaikos’ titles
Euroleague (5): 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009
Continental (1): 1996
Greek League (30): 1945-46, 1946-47, 1949-50, 1950-51, 1953-54, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1966-67, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1976-77, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2008-09, , 2008-09
Greek Cup (12): 1979, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, , ,
The Golden Bible
1928 Iraklis
1929 Panellinios
1930 Aris
1931-34 did not take place
1935 Iraklis
1936 Near East
1937 University of Athens
1938 did not take place
1939 Panellinios
1940 Panellinios
1941-45 did not take place
1946 Panathinaikos
1947 Panathinaikos
1948 did not take place
1949 Olympiakos
1950 Panathinaikos
1951 Panathinaikos
1952 did not take place
1953 Panellinios
1954 Panathinaikos
1955 Panellinios
1956 did not take place
1957 Panellinios
1958 AEK
1959 PAOK
1960 Olympiakos
1961 Panathinaikos
1962 Panathinaikos
1963 ΑΕΚ
1964 ΑΕΚ
1965 ΑΕΚ
1966 ΑΕΚ
1967 Panathinaikos
1968 ΑΕΚ
1969 Panathinaikos
1970 ΑΕΚ
1971 Panathinaikos
1972 Panathinaikos
1973 Panathinaikos
1974 Panathinaikos
1975 Panathinaikos
1976 Olympiakos
1977 Panathinaikos
1978 Olympiakos
1979 Aris
1980 Panathinaikos
1981 Panathinaikos
1982 Panathinaikos
1983 Aris
1984 Panathinaikos
1985 Aris
1986 Aris
1987 Aris
1988 Aris
1989 Aris
1990 Aris
1991 Aris
1992 PAOK
1993 Olympiakos
1994 Olympiakos
1995 Olympiakos
1996 Olympiakos
1997 Olympiakos
1998 Panathinaikos
1999 Panathinaikos
2000 Panathinaikos
2001 Panathinaikos
2002 ΑΕΚ
2003 Panathinaikos
2004 Panathinaikos
2005 Panathinaikos
2006 Panathinaikos
2007 Panathinaikos
2008 Panathinaikos
2009 Panathinaikos
