Panathinaikos held fast throughout the most of the encounter almost clasping victory but eventually Barcelona was the team celebrating the win. The final score 67-70 marked at the indoor OAKA stadium for day 4 in the Top16 round of Euroleague presented the Catalan team with the victory whilst leaving the clover trailing at 0-for-4 wins.
Barcelona broke off tip-off with a two pointer to 0-2 but got to a field goal next only after almost 4 minutes (15-5, 4’10’’). Panathinaikos’s defense set the tone in the reckoning. Same time in frontcourt, good ball circulation and constant feeding of big-man Peko in the paint draw the clash in green aspired colors from the beginning of the matchup. They got all the way up by 14 (19-5, 5’45’’) behind a pair of charity shots from Spanoulis. The Catalans got back up in the encounter hosting Lorbek and Vasquez in PF and C position having replaced fellow-mates Morris and Ndong to cut the trail down to 4 (20-16, 9’45’’).
Second tie after initial 2-2 (0’35’’) in the game was marked at 11’30’’ (20-20), Pekovic scored to 22-20 to see on to Barcelona lead off a triple by Basile (22-23, 11’50’’) only to bring the greens within 7 points at 15’15’’ (24-31) praise to a couple of triples from Grimau. Zeljko Obradovic watched as his boys reacted timely and perform with pure passion. 17’ score, 26-33 flexed to 34-33 at 18’40’’, Panathinaikos going for a partial 8-0 run during this time, actually mounting to 37-33 at the inning of the half time as Drew Nicholas pulled a trifecta from way down town. All these in an amazing atmosphere created in the gum prior to the initial jump-ball.
Nikola Pekovic muscled his way to 39-33 (20’30’’), Dimitris Diamantidis picking up where he left off to drain a three to 42-35 (21’) only for Barcelona to re-introduce itself to the floor through Juan Carlos Navarro and Ricky Rubio (42-40, 22’). Spanoulis got some range beyond the arc to climb back up to 49-42, Haislip and Batiste joined forces to get to 53-42 (26’15’’), Stratos Perperoglou stepping up to fight at every play with immense passion and an unquenchable thirst for prevalence, mainly in defense having contained Mickael superbly. Pekovic getting into fouling trouble with 4 at 28’50’’ was a drag for coach Obradovic’s plans, who was forced to throw Batiste back into battle seeing Perperoglou drill a three to top Panathinaikos’s edge for third quarter at a +11 cushion (55-44). At according standards teams found themselves again at 34’25’’ (61-50), Nicholas getting his first two-pointer of the evening. A couple of Barcelona threes plus a bucket behind Lorbek cut the slack down to 3 (61-58, 36’), a slam from Ndong in one of the rare moments that Panathinaikos allowed its rival to see on to an open field charge set the gap at its meekest price yet (61-60, 36’45’’). Spanoulis scored for a first breather for the clover from the line to 63-60 (36’55’’), Pekovic having been sent to the bench , fouled out by the refs at 36’30’’. Diamantidis heaved the team to +4 (64-60, 37’20’’), Vasquez and Lorbek getting bunny buckets to even things out on the court (64-64, 38’), Navarro topping the desert with a cheery, scoring to lead Barcelona to pole position (64-66, 38’35’’) for the first time after 32-33, 18’20’’ score. A pair of missed triples from Panathinaikos plus a Lorbek drawn foul, 30’’ pending on the game clock allowed the Slovenian big-man to get to the line. He went 0-for-2 , Vasquez snatched the offensive board , 23’’7 left, Navarro getting to the charity stripe next to jog Barcelona to 64-68. Diamantidis heaved a dagger three, 11’’7 left, score 67-68. Nicholas fouled Navarro to stop the clock, 9’’8 left, the Catalan point guard making perfect from the line to 67-70. Nicholas’ final attempt for the tie three missed its goal hence final score was set at the aforementioned 67-70 fashion.
Referees: Brazauskas (LTU), Taurino (ITA), Latisevs (LAT)
Quarters: 20-16, 37-33, 55-44, 67-70
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Spanoulis 7, Perperoglou 4, Batiste 8, Fotsis 6, Haislip 4, Nicholas 5, Diamantidis 13, Pekovic 20, Jasikevicius
Barcelona (Pascual): Basile 3, Rubio 3, Lakovic 8, Navarro 15, Vasquez 6, Ndong 5, Morris, Sada, Lorbek 10, Mickeal 11, Grimau 9
