Panathinaikos edged home-team Kavala 85-73 for a road victory at the indoor stadium of Kalamitsa for day 7 of the Greek League having the pair of Spanoulis and Perperoglou filling both, their own plus their absent teammates Diamantidis and Nicholas’ sneakers to lead the clover advance.
Zeljko Obradovic got exactly what he sought for off his players in the moments facing tip-off as they cruised to a sweet double score (7-14, 4’10’’). Top notch choices in offence collaborations in defense up to and over par established Panathinaikos’s pure dominance on the floor, even though the charity line did not especially favor the visiting team. Nevertheless Kavala found the way to breach the green camp’s game force. Mainly opting for long range shots but also getting buckets of fast breaks. The clover cushion gradually vanished all the way up to a home-team lead at 9’45’’ into the clash behind Alexis Kiritsis, first quarter ending in the aforementioned fashion as Giedrius Gustas unfolded a 6 second cost to cost lay-in to 25-24.
Spanoulis shared hoops with Tsartsaris game recommencing to present the clover with a three point edge (25-28, 12’). Good circulation resulted in Spanoulis being left wide open to swoosh a nothing but net trifecta from the court wing, close to the base line, then big man Peko being fed the ball supremely and most advantageously in the paint to turn and score of the bank flexed things on court to reset Panathinaikos in pole position once more and with an 8 point shadow on its opponent (27-35 at 14’20’’ and 29-37 at 15’) Perperoglou upping the ante to +9 (30-39, 15’50’’), before Kavala finally found solutions to pick up the slack to a triple a trail (36-39, 17’10’’). However the greens’ aggressiveness and efforts seemed to bare fruits as both elements lead to a double digit gap between rivals (36-46, 19’25’’) for the first time in the match-up.
Perperoglou was armed and ready to fire a three that sent Panathinaikos to +13 (36-49, 20’20’’), Mike Batiste added to +15 (38-53, 22’20’’) but the clover still was unable to contain as Kavala reduced the trail down to 8 off a three form Richard Shields (47-55, 25’25’’) and got back on top as Shields, Collins and Kiritsis score back to back baskets in an host’s crescendo to 58-57 (38’35’’). Perperoglou fought back for the greens, undertook personal attempts and presented Panathinaikos with the game reigns for yet another time round (59-61, 29’30’’), Spanoulis marking 59-63 form the line, third quarter standings. The latter snatched the ball twice and drained a triple to get to 62-68 (32’30’’), was copied by Tepic who drilled a bucket form down town to 64-71 (34’30’’) and then added to 69-78 (37’35’’) as game concluded 73-85.
Referees: Tanatzis, Foufis, Maglogiannis
Quarters: 25-24, 36-46, 59-63, 73-85
Kavala (Pilafidis): Alexander 9, Stefanidis, Angelopoulos 3, Kiritsis 19, Collins 13, Iliadis 3, Shields 7, Rajcevic 1, Sigounas 7, Ceranic 4, Gustas 7
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 10, Spanoulis 18, Perperoglou 20, Batiste 10, Fotsis 4, Tsartsaris 6, Pekovic 16, Calathes, Shermadini, Jasikevicius
*Jasi being on the initial 5 was his first time this season.
Game quotes
Zeljko Obradovic congratulated his players and made a special reference to the pair of Vassilis Spanoulis and Stratos Perperoglou in his statements for the Kavala-Panathinaikos encounter’s press conference.
“I believe it was a game of good quality. Kavala played with passion and eagerness, titled the game and at some point led. Our opponents are always highly motivated to play against us. However today, our motivation was high also. We were aggressive and that is exactly why we won. Lately we have talked quite a lot about the mistake issue and why there are committed, we have analyzed it immensely. In the ratio of steals versus turnovers we are at -1 in this particular game, a good thing. We need time to recognize certain situations. It is what we must work on; we must see were we have quality and effectiveness at certain points, so as to attack within our strengths. Although it something I do not usually do, I would nevertheless like to make a special reference to Spanoulis and Perperoglou who had a great deal of playing time and help the team in ample doses to get to the victory. Congratulations to the entire team, because when we finish up a game behind 19 assists it means we are focused and we search for the open player; also congratulations to the crowd here at Kavala.. The atmosphere was great and it is great to play here”. After asked about the refereeing and if he thinks Kavala was treated unjustly coach Obradovic stated: “I believe the referees were objective and was not ill meant towards either side. Both teams were charged wrongfully at certain points but I do not feel that it had anything to do in determining the final outcome”.
Stratos Perperoglou who was welcomed warmly at the Kalamitsa indoor stadium, was one of the great protagonists of the encounter: “The game unraveled quite hard for us. Kavala is a very aggressive team, especially at home. We chose quite childishly in offense, something that was also jogged by Kavala’s defense. Up ahead we have a difficult game on Thursday for Euroleague and we must work hard to be as ready as possible”.
Kavala’s coach, Kostas Pilafidis stated: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos and may I wish it good luck on its clash against Real Madrid on Thursday. Our motivation was immense this evening. We were up against one of the greatest teams in Europe . We tried to stand up to a team with great automatisms. Numbers speak the truth. They contained us to 20 turnovers, had 19 assists and 11 steals. It was too difficult for us to win. The boys’ effort was humongous. We lack in uniformity. We must get round to realizing what exactly it is that we request out of our game and then try to make it happen. Essentially we are a 2,5 month old team and we have already been forced to make 2-3 substitutions due to bad luck cases that arose. All we can do is try to reduce turnovers and enhance communication during game time on the floor, because only through these factors might we improve our image. Rajcevic suffered a sprain and we must wait until the duration of his mandatory absence is determined”.
Savvas Iliadis stressed: “We knew we were in for a tough match-up. We were playing against a great team. Snaps for effort, we hang on to being close at score however at the most crucial moments Panahinaikos’s experience and quality sounded louder than our eagerness. We have yet another hard game ahead of us next week and we msut prepare in the best possible fashion for it”.
*Panathinaikos returned to Athens straight after the game, since members of the team will be present at the ceremony for the best athletes and teams of the 2009 that will be hosted by the Hellenic Association of Sports Journalists.
