Panathinaikos entered 2010 home-court games behind a victorious encounter. It downed Asseco Prokom 74-66 for game 9 in the Euroleague championship.
Panathinaikos needed to start off grand and so it did. Reaching a 9 point cushion “at hello” (11-2, 4’)it swiftly reached a double digit advantage on its opponent (16-6, 5’25’’), Prokom nevertheless not ready to give up the arms quite yet in the battle and sticking to its game, exactly as Dimitris Itoudis and Zeljko Obradovic had predicted in their pre-game statements. Mike Batiste added to 28-18 (12’45’’) and green dominance was more that apparent on the floor. However, the tables turned in the second half of the first quarter, during which, the Polish got to second attempts, found unguarded lanes to penetrate and also got some range hence gradually managed to pick up the slack and even get to fly ahead at the completion of the first half (36-38) on an attempt from Burrell.
Game recommencing after intermission, Prokom muscled its way up to a +5 edge (39-44, 22’20’’), as coach Obradovic swapped player for player searching for the best combination to present his team with dearly sought for solutions, granted all given problems the squad is frequently up against in the injury department. Panathinaikos heaved its way back on top as 30 minutes elapsed on court, Vassilis Spanoulis conjuring-up a sweet three-point-play, Kostas Tsartsaris having sounded the horn in the last few minutes leading the clover on to a counter-attack.
Burrell marked 51-52 (30’20’’)while Stratos Perperoglou brought the greens up to 56-53 (32’15’’) next, essentially providing the home-team with the means to ultimately prevail. At 35’30’’ Drew Nicholas drained a crucial triple to jog the hosts to 62-56, Panathinaikos bringing its guests within 8 points (64-56, 34’45’’), lead that kept the clover up all the way down the stretch even from this early hour, as the clash finally ended at 74-66, in favor of the greens.
Referees: Hierrezuelo(ESP), Dozai(CRO), Krause(GER)
Quarters: 23-18, 36-38, 51-50, 74-66
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 6, Spanoulis 6, Perperoglou 5, Batiste 13, Fotsis 5, Nicholas 13, Tsartsaris 4, Pekovic 10, Shermadini 2, Jasikevicius 7, Calathes 2
Asseco Prokom (Pacesas): Varda 4, Harrington, Logan 6, Kostrzewski, Jagla 4, Lapeta 3, Szczotka, Woods 16, Seweryn, Burrell 12, Ewing 19, Hrycaniuk 2
