Panathinaikos came up with two entirely different halves in the clash across from Oldenburg, leading however to a 96-63 outshine of its German guest at OAKA arena for Euroleague game 5 and conclusion of the first round of phase A’ of the tournament.
Tip-off provided Panathinaikos with an early 7-1 lead, seeing that the clover had deprived its rival of a field goal all the way down to 3’50’’ but it was no tell for what was to follow since it was a long way to final buzzer for the greens and anything but a stroll in the park for the defending European champs. Oldenburg exploited rebounds, mainly offensive ones to get up on its host and to gain the upper hand in the match-up, investing mostly in what it is best at; range from beyond the arc. Numbers came to defend both elements, as the Germans had opted to the three pointer 13 times (4/13) in the first 20 minutes, while in rebounding they enjoyed the superlative to home-team as they showed 21 across form 12 Panathinaikos’s boards. 11 out of 21 rebounds where offensive hence second time attempts to the basket. Leading guy in this department was Marko Scekic having gathered 6 balls of missed shots.
Result was Oldenburg from the trailing 7-1 to fly ahead (10-11, 6’15’’). Panathinaikos muscled its way back to a six point lead (19-13 at 8’, 21-15 at 8’15’’, 27-21 at 11’15’’) but still was unable to maintain its stature. Krunic watched closely as hos players embarked on an 11-0 run, flexing the score to 27-34 (15’25’’) and holding fast all the way down to intermission (36-42).
Game restarting, the Germans climbed to +8 (36-44, 20’20’’) but Panathinaikos touching base in backcourt managed to fight back to draw (44-44, 22’25’’), Diamantidis making perfect use out of three awarded charity shots setting things straight on court to a green lead of 2 (49-47, 23’50’’). Vassilis Spanoulis copied the method to step further away from rival Oldenburg (51-47, 24’45’’). The dynamic guard duo of team captain and Vspan had already been charged with 3 personal fouls a piece until 26’ as Milenko Tepic got his personal 4th at 28’10’’, Panathinaikos though having escaped its opponents pressure at this point (61-52). Fouls embellish for Spanoulis ar 29’15’’ as he saw “4” flickering on the score board in the following column next to his name. oIt was only shortly after that the green edge went into double digits behind a Mike Batiste contribution (65-54, 29’25’’). The home-team had picked up the pace and were not eager to let it slack again. The gap got wider and wider as Batiste emerged as go-to-guy of the hour all the way up to 79-59 (35’30’’), fellow American Drew Nicholas chipping in a trifecta to 82-59 and big man Giorgi Shermadini sealing the deal with a pair of free throws to final 96-63.
Referees: Lamonica (ITA), Ankarali (TUR), Mattioli (ITA)
Quarters: 23-21, 36-42, 66-56, 96-63
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 5, Spanoulis 14, Perperoglou 12, Batiste 25, Fotsis 8, Golemac, Nicholas 8, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis 5, Pekovic 10, Calathes 5, Shermadini 4
Oldenburg (Krunic): Scekic 9, Buljevic 3, Strauch, Foster 3, Njei, Majstorovic 5, Bailey 12, Perkovic 10, Hain, Paulding 9, Carter 12, Boumtje Boumtje
*The clash was Mike Batiste and Kostas Tsartsaris’s first Euroleague game of the season.
*Come first made basket in the match-up Vassilis Spanoulis reached 800 point in Euroleague, the entire accumulation wearing the Panathinaikos jersey.
Special Olympics and Euroleague
OAKA stadium hosted special guests for the game. In the frame of the collaboration of Euroleague with the Special Olympics 120 athletes, children and adults were set in the fans stands to watch the encounter. At half-time they became the protagonists in their own game. The hole event was welcomed by a speech from team captain Dimitris Diamantidis who called upon everyone to take part in the Special Olympics’ activities. “Basket is for everyone” as he precisely and meaningfully stated. After first quarter completion gifts were shared from PAO Shop, Panathinaikos’s boutique on behalf the entire PAO BC and the marketing department.
The Special Olympics mission is to offer, throughout the entire year, the opportunity to train and compete in games to children and adults in many sports. Yanna Despotopoulou, president of Special Olympics, was present in the Game. Greece will host the World Games 2011.
