Panathinaikos regained first say in matters concerning the Greek League crowning as it downed Olympiakos at home by final score 79-70 thus leading 2-1 in the series, game 4 being held on Sunday at "Peace and Friendship" stadium.
Panathinaikos broke away from tip-off most pleasingly, score board getting to read 7-0 (2’04’’), green defense functioning superbly, the same time that in frontcourt it seemed to have managed to enforce its pace. The clover reached a 10 point cushion (19-9, 7’), Drew Nicholas making his shot “all day”. Second quarter featured a visitor come-back as Olympiakos got ample range from beyond the arc. From second quarter opening and down to 15’ they tallied 5 sunk triples plus had run a partial 19-1 run, messing things up on the floor. 25-17, 1st quarter score rapidly became 26-36 (15’20’’). Panathinaikos musculed its way back in the clash in the same fashion. Pekovic ended the clover scoring draught (26-20 at 11’15’’, 26-36 at 13’45’’), Nicholas and Tsartsaris swapped triples thus 34-36 score, green defensive performance maximizing behind dynamic duo Diamantidis and Perperoglou who seemed to be all over the place. The latter tied making a pair of free throws (36-36, 18’). Vujcic chipped in 4 consecutive points to get to 36-40 (18’40’’), as the game went into recess, the guest up by 5 (38-43 behind 10-for-15 threes), partial score during this period of time being 13-26.
Panathinaikos cut the trail down to 1 (44-45, 23’), but the margin expanded to 14 (46-60, 27’). Defending champ however had not yet decided to give in but stayed at it as the players instrumented their tenacity, their strong will but also the numerous possibilities that this team has. Mike Batiste sounded the horn, only to pass the torch to Vassilis Spanoulis who provided the encounter with an entirely new image, penetrated deep into the rivals paint, expressing pure passion, offering solutions at both ends of the court as the greens all expressed the respective passion, were dynamically present at every play, being boosted by a packed to the rim home-court. 46-60 (27’) became 75-65 (39’), game ending at 79-70. Panathinaikos 2-1, a new green lead in the series of the finals.
Referees: Christodoulou, Tanantzis, Anastopoulos
Quarters: 25-17, 38-43, 51-60, 79-70
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 4, Spanoulis 10 (4/5 twos), Perperoglou 10, Batiste 10, Fotsis, Nichoals 18 (5/10 threes), Tsartsaris 6, Diamantidis 7 (8as), Pekovic 10, Calathes, Jasikevicius 4
Olympiakos (Yannakis): Papaloukas 5, Penn, Childress 15, Vujcic 7, Bourousis 17, Beverly 9, Kleiza 10, Mavrokefalidis, Teodosic 7, Schortsanitis
*The 4th game of the finals series of the HEBA championship is to be held on Sunday the 6th of June at the Stadium of Peace and Friendship (21:45 LT, SKAI).
