Panathinaikos nailed yet another victory in its preparation period, behind the win against APOEL at the indoor stadium “Tasos Papadopoulos – Eleftheria” where the “Love Cyprus Basketball Tournament” is taking place.
Tip-off for the “greens” featured Calathes, Diamantidis, Tepic, Perperoglou and Bogris, Zeljko Obradovic obviously opting to try out many different team formations and also compensate for given absences from his competing roster. Panathinaikos featured only 10 players on its official line-up.
APOEL started out as the better opponent on court, making the most of Lewis Sims and Jeron Roberts’s combined validity at shooting, deriving offensive solutions from this situation even when attempts where committed under pressure. The Cypriots mounted to a +10 cushion (7-17, 5’15’’), Panathinaikos closed the gap down to 1 (16-17, 7’40’’) hosting Nikola Pekovic currently on court alongside Spanoulis, Nicholas, Tepic. The counter-attack though failed to follow through, resulting in APOEL finishing up the first quarter up by 7 (18-25).
Next quarter also begun with APOEL holding the superlative, all the way down to minute 16’, upping the ante to a double digit margin (26-36, 16’). From that minute forward and up to intermission matters in court were a Panathinaikos deal. It started to cut its trail gradually but steadily, drew with Drew (Nicholas) at 36-36 (17’40’’). Obradovic continued to swap players, used Calathes, Diamantidis, Tepic, Fotsis, Bogris, zone defense and Panathinaikos having picked up the pace found itself in possession of the game reigns. APOEL led for the last time in the match-up (36-38) at 18’05’’ as Panathinaikos set out for a 9-0 run to fly ahead by 45-38 as the buzzer sent the game into intermission.
Recess did not interrupt Panathinaikos’s rhythm. Coach Obradovic enjoyed his players “misfortune” at erring, they enforced effective defense and chose wiser in frontcourt. The result surfaced on the floor as a new 11-0 streak set the score at 56-38 (23’10’’), seeing on to a trifecta by Nicholas that expanded the gap to a 19 point distance (59-40, 23’30’’). The aforementioned was the culprit who provided his team with the +20 edge (66-46, 28’45’’) in which standing the third quarter concluded. Panathinaikos drifted even further ahead (69-46, 31’). Opponents stood at similar distances all the way down the stretch to final buzzer , final game score 86-68. Obradovic tried out many combinations, Perperoglou competing as a power forward for quite some time, Yorgos Bogris and Nick Calathes getting a good deal of action, all 10 players at hand being cleared off the bench in the encounter.
Referees: Santos, Christodoulou, Konstantinidis
Quarters: 18-25, 45-38, 66-46, 86-68
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 11 (4 as), Spanoulis (5rbs, 7 as), Perperoglou 7, Fotsis 6 (6rbs), Nicholas 9, Diamantidis 3 (7 as), Pekovic 17 (5rbs), Calathes 17, Verginis 3, Bogris 13 (4rbs)
APOEL (Stylianidis): Van Dorpe 4, Sims 19, Ionov, Fowlkes, Heath 12, Roberts 12, Anastasiadis, Phillips 2, Tamir 7, Pittakas, King 12
Game quotes
Zeljko Obradovic: “It was yet another friendly game. The team was great after the first quarter. I believe will competed very maturely. We are not in the best state due to injuries on our roster. We are here with 10 players, only 3 tall guys and rotation is an important thing to bear in mind. We tried to find methods of competing and in the second quarter we became more aggressive. We got 15 points off fast-breaks during this time. Everything starts form defense. It is a great issue for us. We managed to find our space in offence, we kept the ball alive and corrected mistakes committed in the first quarter. The game against Khinki is a tough friendly game. As for the three new faces (Bogris, Calathes, Tepic)… They are still adjusting. We have had only few practices all together and it is impossible for matters to function all at once. We shall see, there is still work ahead of us. Khinki is also a straight opponent in our Euroleague group thus it is all the more an important encounter for us. Concluding, I would like to express my gratitude to the Panathinaikos fans present at the stadium, for the support and for honoring us both literary and metaphorically”.
*Tonight at 20:00 (LT) Panathinaikos will be facing Khimki whilst at 18:00 APOEL will be facing Keravnos Strovolou.
