Panathinaikos’s current season’s winning streak was interrupted at the Vistalegre indoor arena. The team was defeated in Spain, downed 80-70 by home-team Real Madrid for day 3 of the Euroleague, coming off 15 wins straight in games from the beginning of preparation period up to date.
Minutes facing tip-off painted picture perfect in the clash for the clover. It seemed to be in control of every department on court. Vassilis Spanoulis broke the game wide open, breached opposing defense thus providing lanes to be exploited ideally by his teammates (let it be noted that he had gathered 5 assists in the first half of the match-up), rebounding was functioning superbly and backcourt rotations was covered, allowing the greens to a steady lead on the floor. It got game from beyond the arc, Dimitris Diamantidis spearheading the attack, Milenko Tepic adding to the advance, Antonis Fotsis chipping in so as to cruise Panathinaikos to a cozy +11 cushion (12-23, 10’30’’).
At this point the hosts decided to step-up. They sought for more immediate solutions, enforced greater pressure in defense sending a second guy to help out- especially on the dribble- on big man Nikola Pekovic, they gathered boards more efficiently and through this got not only to cut the trail by actually lead behind an effort of Novica Velickovic (24-23, 14’45’’). But they did not rest at this. Boarder line to fouling defense from the Spaniards alongside ample eroding on behalf of their guests allowed Real Madrid to a sweet 20-0 run, score flexing from 12-23 (10’30’’) to 32-23 (18’25’’) before Giorgi Shermadini sunk a pair of charity shots to cut the draught and Drew Nicholas drained a three to save face for the infertile second quarter clover (32-28, 19’10’’). Intermission found teams at a 6 point distance, Darjus Lavrinovic scoring twice from the line for the home-team.
Real made the most out of 7 steals in first half, got points off Panathinaikos’s 12 turnovers (whilst it showed only 4 in the respective category) but furthermore got to the line in greater abundance than the greens, who took only 2 trips when the Spanish shot 7 for 10 free throws.
Ettore Messina chose to base his offense on Lavrinovic, a choice that proved to pay-off game recommencing after the break. Panathinaikos managed to pick up the slack (38-36, 23’) praise to Nicholas, the aforementioned Lithuanian nevertheless alongside Prigioni providing his team with offensive resources and jogging it to lead by 46-37 at 24’40’’, Velickovic and Kaukenas sharing triples to up the ante to +12 in favor of the Spanish team(54-42, 26’40’’). First foul of third quarter for the clover was committed late, 1’37’’ before the period’s buzzer, a fact that got coach Obradovic to applaud the culprit Nicolas. The American guard was also the team’s go-to-guy of the hour as he got plentiful range from long distance, actually marking the 59-51 score that closed the quarter, accumulating 16 points behind 4-for-4 trifectas.
Final quarter begun with bad news for the guests, who were charged with an unsportsmanlike foul in the face of Nikola Pekovic on Lavrinovic; a situation however that provided Real with only a single point (60-51, 30’20’’). Panathinaikos cut its trail down to 7 (60-53, 30’50’’) but the hosts were not eager to let go of their lead coming up with an answer for every green effort presented on court in views of closing the gap. Although the root to feed Lavrinovic in the key was blocked, triples were as good an option, Prigioni for example sinking one at 35’20’’ to 71-61, Llull a minute later copying him to 74-63. All that remained in the encounter was Fotsis’s buzzer beater long distance dial to fix the score at 80-70, official game standings.
Referees: Brazauskas (LTU), Rhyzhyk (UKR), Viator (FRA)
Quarters: 12-21, 34-28, 59-51, 80-70
Real Madrid (Messina): Prigioni 11, Hansen 3, Lavrinovic 15, Kaukenas 17, Velickovic 7, Garbajosa 6, Vidal, Bullock 9, Llull 12
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 6, Spanoulis 4, Perperoglou, Fotsis 8, Golemac, Nicholas 16, Diamantidis 7, Pekovic 22, Calathes 1, Shermadini 6
Millennium basket barrier
Dimitris Diamantidis at 6’10’’ of the encounter, on his first ball possession pulled a triple to break the 1000 point barrier in his Euroleague career; every single point sunk competing for the clover form 2004 up to today.
Old acquaintances
Members of both teams of the clash are bonded in many ways. Coach Zeljko Obradovic has sat on Real Madrid’s bench from 1994 until 1997, leading it to a Euroleague crown in 1995 in Saragossa and to a Saporta Cup back in 1997. Antonis Fotsis was teammates with Travis Hansen in Dynamo Moscow and with Reyes and Bullock in Real Madrid. Milenko Tepic and Nikola Pekovic were teammates with Novica Velickovic in Partizan Belgrade. Pekovic and Vladimir Dasic are of the same nationality and compete together in the National Team of Monte Negro.
Warm round of applaud
The Real Madrid fans proved not to be disrespectful to their club’s history and welcomed Zeljko Obradovic with a warm round of applaud as he was officially presented to the team’s line up, while Antonis Fotsis snatched a bit of the action also being honored by the crowd’s applaud.
Game quotes
Zeljko Obradovic, Panathinaikos, head coach: “It was a game that presented us with a great opportunity to see where we are and what must be done from now on. We stepped on court in good form but Real’s offensive defense led us to many mistakes, our greatest problem. That is the reason of our defeat; the large number of committed turnovers. It is a good thing it happened at this moment in time, so we can see what must be changed and to understand what must be done now. We have the time ahead of us to do as we please. This is why I say that it is a good thing that defeat came now, in this game” coach Obradovic stressed only to add: “Congratulations to Real for winning. I was not surprised by its performance. I have watched, if not all, but almost all of its encounters this season and it did not surprise me. It is a team built to reach the F4. It is no secret that it is viewed as one of this year’s favorites. I think it is something everyone knows”.
Ettore Messina, Real Madrid, head coach: “Maybe we went into the game showing Panathinaikos a little more respect than we should have. First quarter was exceptionally bad for us, but what came next was clearly better. It is certainly the best game we have committed with me in the team. The pace we found in the encounter, the steals and the effectiveness in defense led us to a positive result. Lavrinovic and our shooting guards did a superb job
