Even though Panathinaikos entered the premiere home-court Euroleague encounter facing serious absences from its official roster thus was not put off its familiar game and annihilated Khimki for Euroleague preliminary round game 2 by the cozy 101-66 score.
Three minutes after tip-off was all that Khimki could stand in the clash. It started out aggressively, led by an inch but was not at any sense able to get a hold of the battle’s reigns since Panathinaikos took matters in to its own hands swiftly; two elements that cruised the clover to such an achievement were pressure in defense and good combinations amongst teammates on the floor hence the 15-2 run it committed (7-7 at 3’15’’, 22-9 at 7’20’’). Throw in the groovy state of mind that Zeljko Obradovic’s players seemed to be in and it is no wonder that things turned out as followed on court, the “greens” getting up on every play, fighting at every ball. The result was a first quarter double-score ending (28-14), score which saw on to an even further expanded gap at intermission priced at 26 points (51-25).
Coach Obradovic had almost cleared off the bench, having used all but 2 players at hand (Dimitris Verginis and Yorgos Bogris had yet to see floor time), trying out different formations so much in the perimeter as in the painted area, even though Mike Batiste and Kostas Tsartsaris are still in recuperation session coming off injuries. Diamantidis had 14 points behind 3 for 3 twos, 1 for 1 threes and 5 for 5 free-throws the same time that Spanoulis had already dished 6 perfect passes, having exploited every opportunity presented to him, his big guy penetrating towards the bucket in an ideal-to-be-dished fashion. Collaborations on court for each team individually can be easily noted if one only takes under consideration the 13 to 1 assists ratio for Panathinaikos and Khimki respectively during the entire first half.
Clover dominance shown through in every department of the match-up, which seemed to be made in hell for the guest team; it was a granted issue in second half also. Stratos Perperoglou drained a deep, guarded trifecta to up the ante to +28 (62-34, 24’45’’) as third period closed at 72-50, though it seemed as the boys went and save the best for last as Diamantidis, Shermadini and Tepic needed only a stitch in time to boost the lead even further to an 83-50 score, two minutes having elapsed in fourth quarter. Pekovic heaved his team’s margin into greater standards (92-58, 36’15’’) and a put-back bucket by Yorgos Bogris, his Euroleague career breaker nevertheless sent the edge into a +35 caliber. The kid was copied by fellow-mate Dimitris Verginis in the succeeding offence behind a nothing-but-net-three that jogged the clover to 99-64 (39’). Bogris was the culprit of the centurion bucket for the “greens” as he poured in both awarded charity shots, sealing the deal for Panathinaikos at 101-66, final game-score.
Referees: Bachar (ISR), Dozai (CRO), Perez Pizarro (ESP)
Quarters: 28-14, 51-25, 72-50, 101-66
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 8, Spanoulis 12, Perperoglou 3, Fotsis 4, Golemac 5, Nicholas 9, Diamantidis 22, Pekovic 20, Calathes, Shermadini 10, Verginis 3, Bogris 4
Khimki (Scariolo): Langford 14, Fridzon 5, Toporov 2, Cabezas 6, Dimitriev 5, Jankunas, Gubanov, Javtokas 7, Lopez 9, McCarty 9, Mozgov 9
*Mike Batiste, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Kostas Tsartsaris watched the game in casual attire.
*Robertas Javtokas enjoyed a warm welcome from the Panathinaikos fans when officially presented to Khimki’s line-up, as no one forgets his passing from Panathinaikos.
*Yorgos Bogris and Dimitris Verginis marked their Euroleague debut by participating in the clash.
*Vassilis Spanoulis scored in double figures for the 8th consecutive time in a Euroleague encounter.
*Diamantidis scored a Euroleague personal record of 22 points, plus a Euroleague index rating getting to 33, in an almost perfect game.
