The second semifinal of the Greek Cup turned into a one “team” show as Panathinaikos snatched the win like candy from a child against guest Iraklis at the OAKA indoor arena by 99-63 only to find itself produced into the final of the tourney for the sixth consecutive time round.
The greens came off tip-off with an 8-0 run (3’30’’), Iraklis broke into the scoreboard at 4’ (8-3), the gap reached double digits at 7’ (15-5) Panathinaikos never looking back hence forward, no matter how many swaps Zeljko Obradovic proceeded on to. First quarter closed at 25-7, Iraklis from minute 8 got to the hoop again at 13’ to mark 33-9, it got to trail even by 32 (54-22, 18’45’’), clover technical staff trying formats, bearing in mind encounters to come.
At 25’ the green bench had been cleared off, distance between rivals remaining at the same standings, even touching +35 at 35’ as Milenko Tepic poured in a pair of free-throws, Panathinaikos even getting up by 37 (91-54, 36’50’’), edge for the clover peeking at 39’10’’ Dimitris Verginis draining a triple from the side, clash finally concluding behind 99-63 game score.
Referees: Somos, Theonas, Tarenidis
Quarters: 25-7, 56-26, 77-44, 99-63
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 11, Spanoulis 3, Perperoglou 4, Batiste 13, Fotsis 6, Diamantidis 9, Pekovic 14, Calathes 7, Verginis 10, Bogris 7, Shermadini 13, Jasikevicius 2
Iraklis (Kakioussis): Castle 3, Akepsimaidis 2, Lampropoulos 18, Lappas 2, Karapostolou 8, Petrovic 20, Tsamatos 4, Bucci 2, Despos 4
*Drew Nicholas (knee tendonitis) and Kostas Tsartsaris (fracture in the left hand) were not included in the official line-up.
Game quotes
Head Coach Zeljko Obradovic was pleased in his players mature image, expressed throughout the entire 40 minutes of game time. After the end of the encounter he stated amongst others: “Today we committed a mature game, from the first until the last second. We passed on to the final for yet another year and we are very satisfied. It was only natural to try to give some game time to everyone. Everyone was motivated. I hope that everyone understands the importance of the upcoming week with the tip-off of the Top16. I also hope that everyone will be in good shape for the encounter with Kolossos on Saturday”.
As far as the prospect of replacing Kostas Tsartsaris, coach Obradovic stressed: “I do not know how everyone came to understand straightaway that Kostas would be off the team and immediately started to send us players. I do not want to make a hasty move. If we find something good for Panathinaikos we shall think about it. There is ample time for everything, although I believe that the most important thing is for us all to be healthy. If I believe that a substitution is necessary we must be 100 percent sure that the player who will come will demonstrate an additional element to what the team already has”.
Lefteris Kakioussis on the other hand stated: “There is no need for any special game analysis of the clash. We reached the semifinal round but were unable to enjoy it, especially after how things turned out at the Ivanofio. Instead of being happy, we paid for it. All that played out at the Ivanofio cost us a 3 closed set game fine. Today’s game was a chance for us to practice, to improve certain aspects of our game. In the second half Panathinaikos stepped on the accelerator. For quite some time now we have been playing Wednesday-Saturday and two games a week is not an easy deal for us. Thankfully Saturday next will be our last game in the line of our “double” weeks” head coach of Iraklis initially stressed only to conclude as follows: “We wanted to make a celebration and present a certain level, so as to offer a enjoying game to all that come to the Ivanofio. I hope that in the future we will be able to create a home-court with sportsmanlike conditions”.
