Back to the wins for Panathinaikos in Europe, behind the victorious 75-65 against Asseco Prokom in Poland, for Euroleague day 4.
Tip-off produced Panathinaikos as the better opponent on court, the greens enforcing their pace from minute one in the clash. What it did come upon problem wise, was an inability to maintain an insurmountable distance from its rival plus control offensive boards thus allowing Prokom to stay alive in the match-up. Score breaker bucket was all home-team but from that minute forward the game was a Zeljko & Co affair. The gap gradually expanded, touched double digits as Dimitris Diamantidis drained a sweet three (10-21, 8’10’’), stretched even further to +15, the clover doubling its host’s scored points (15-30, 12’15’’), however certain turnovers, second chances in offense (8 in all in the first half) aided the Polish in picking up the slack and cutting the trail down to 7 (26-33, 14’30’’), shortly prior to intermission, score resting for half-time at 33-45. First half Panathinaikos offensive game seemed to be “based on a Drew story” seeing that it was Nicholas posing as “go-to-guy” of the hour, the American guard having chipped in 17 points behind 5 for 8 threes, many of which quite spectacular… and then some!
Part 2 ball-game substantially hosted only one team on the floor. Panathinaikos matched any trick Tomas Pacesas, Prokom head-coach pulled out from under his sleeve to face the defending champs, the clover posting its tall guards towards the hoop or feeding the ball more frequently inside the paint, controlling board collection, eventually managing to essentially elude its opponent. It climbed all the way up to +21 for the first time at 28’45’’ (42-63), standings at which third quarter concluded (44-65).
The greens cruised to a +23 edge (44-67) off their first fourth quarter attempt, only for Prokom to embark on a mini come-back getting score from Jagla and Woods (49-67, 32’50’’). The hosts reached 50 points at 35’ (50-69), Shermadini sent Panathiniakos back up to +21 (50-71, 36’) before the Polish struck again to reintroduce themselves on the battle field, exploiting the clover’s every mistake up to 58-71 (38’25’’). Slightly later they gained on their guests to a 10 point distance (63-73, 39’15’’) but it was all they mounted to since game buzzer rang to find final score featured at 65-75.
Referees: Facchini (ITA), Muhvic (CRO), Lottermoser (GER)
Quarters: 13-25, 33-45, 44-65, 65-75
Asseco Prokom (Pacesas): Sow 3, Harrington, logan 12, Jagla 17, Szczotka, Lapeta, Woods 15, Burrell 2, Ewing 16, Hrycaniuk
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 4, Spanoulis 5, Perperoglou 3, Fotsis 3, Golemac 4, Nicholas 17, Diamantidis 8, Pekovic 17, Calathes 6, Shermadini 8
“Focused throughout the entire game”
Zeljko Obradovic completely content with his team’s appearance after the end of the encounter versus Prokom statted: “We were focused throughout the entire encounter and performed a great game. We loosened up only towards the end. I am very pleased with my team’s image. We input a great deal of effort in both halves. We enforced our pace and controlled Prokom’s game. We were great offensively. With continuous movement in our game, great and precise ball circulation. Every attempted shot was a good choice. Overall we performed a great appearance and got to a very important victory for the continuation of the championship”.
*Panathinaikos returned immediately after the clash with Asseco Prokom to Athens . According to the Polish team’s people, all tickets for the match-up had vanished two days prior to game day. It was their first sold out battle. The 11th of November is a special date for the Polish, since it is Independence Day (11/11/1918), while concurrently special is it for the Lithuanian coach of Prokom, who celebrates his birthday and was presented with a bouquet of flowers before tip-off.
*Euroleague obligations take a week’s recess since on Tuesday November the 18th (18:45 LT, ERT) a Greek Cup game has been scheduled amongst defending Cup holders Panathinaikos and Panellinios at the OAKA arena, in the frame of the quarterfinal phase.
