Panathinaikos bid a competing farewell to 2009 at the OAKA arena, in which it welcomed Trikala to reach a victorious 83-54 home win for day 9 in the Greek League.
It was a second quarter Panathinaikos outburst that essentially formed the winner’s identity on court. After tip-off Trikala tried to take its host by surprise, led early (0-6, 40’’ and 4-11, 2’45’’) but matters gradually balanced out on the floor. The greens got to the rebounds, presented improvement in backcourt as Stratos Perperoglou offered the lead at 5’20’’ (12-11), actually adding to the clover superlative even further up to 14-11 (6’). Trouble was still lurking around all the way down the stretch to first quarter ending, score tied 20-20. Second quarter however was exclusively clover game.
Great defense, traps that made it almost impossible for the Trikala players to get pass midcourt when in possession of the ball. Trikala synthesis at the time included Tyrell Biggs but lacked Powel and Abrams. Panathinaikos’s patience in offense and opportunities to run the open field quite a few times during this period changed the game image radically. Greens mounted a 10 point cushion initially at 16 behind a Kostas Tsartsaris bucket (34-24) to climb to twice as much a cushion at 19’30’’ (45-25), intermission meeting teams still 20 points apart (47-27), the greens coming off a partial 2nd quarter 27-7 score.
Nikola Pekovic went to the hole validly three consecutive times to up the ante to +23 (53-30, 22’20’’), Sarunas Jasikevicius copied him chipping in with 5 personal points to +25 (61-36, 26’25’’). Zeljko Obradovic watched as his boys did not take their foot off the exhilarator not even through quarter 3, turning their opponents trail into a 30 point business (70-40) at conclusion of its duration. As the distance between rivals approached an insurmountable price (+39, 81-42, 34’45’’), Panathinaikos’s head coach decided to clear off the bench and sent youngsters Bogris and Verginis into action, game clutching at the final 83-54.
Referees: Mouzakis, Panagiotou, Pantelidis
Quarters: 20-20, 47-27, 70-40, 83-54
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Verginis, Tepic 9, Spanoulis 2 (7 as), Perperoglou 4, Batiste 10, Fotsis 7, Bogris, Nicholas 9, Tsartsaris 4, Jasikevicius 14, Pekovic 16, Calathes 8
Trikala (Yaples): Biggs 7, Prodromou 2, Noeas 3, Katsares 10, Apostolidis 6, Simcak 5, Djikanovic 3, Zupan 11, Sakellariou 7
Panathinaikos left behind an entirely successful 2009 in the clash against Trikala, a fact which Zeljko Obradovic had no choice but to refer to. Apart from this he also stressed the special connection with the fans, making his own wish. “We left a very special year behind with this encounter. A year in which we conquered everything possible. I would like to thank the fans for their presence today, their support throughout the entire year and my wish is that they continue to be at our side in 2010 also”. Coach Obradovic spoke also of the game, inputting his complaints. “We started off poorly once again, with no focus and I do not know the reason, however in the ensuing game my players reacted correctly competing well and played good defense in the 2nd quarter. We kept up the pace in the third quarter, during which we presented many positive aspects. Nevertheless in the last quarter we committed many mistakes, something that makes sense if one examines the 5 players we had on court at this time. It was at this point that you noticed I took a time-out and I told them that I am not here in order to please certain players. They must respect the fans, their coach, their selves. I used this game in order to offer time-off to certain players like Spanoulis or Fotsis and Perperoglou but ultimately I had to use Spanoulis for 35’, a player who has gone non-stop was F4 MVP, MVP of the Greek League, played for the National team…. Some must know that in such games they will be up for playing time thus they must be focused and prepared. Today I do not know what exactly they were prepared for”.
Milenko Tepic stated: “We did not start out on the right foot, but we got much better next and got to a fair win in every aspect”.
