Panathinaikos added another victory to its stride through 2010-2011 Euroleague season plus made an important step towards top spot of its tier nailing a road win against Armani Jeans Milano by 81-71 in views of day 5 in the championship.
A recognizing first quarter featuring Panathinaikos committing 6 turnovers and presenting trouble in defense on many occasions prevented it not only from getting game but also not allowing it to create any measurable cushion that could have edged the team into seaming to be in control of the clash; All this even though it managed to maintain the lead from offense one up to the 20 minute marker. The greens were up by 6 at 8’25’’ (14-20) but had to get to second quarter in order to create a safety distance from their hosts. Milenko Tepic chipped in, Sato copied his actions, the torch was passed on to Maric hence gradually Zeljko Obradovic started to feel a bit cozier at the head of the bench. Panathinaikos, even though adding another 6 turnovers to its bill during the second quarter and seeming clustered in its offensive collaborations (only 2 assists in an entire half), got tougher in backcourt, controlled rebounding (10-to-19) and got to double digits a margin behind a pair of free throws off Kostas Tsartsaris, after a technical foul charged to Armani Jeans Milano’s head coach, Piero Bucchi (26-36, 14’15’’). The gap stood at the same stature, Drew Nicholas leading to +12 (34-46) almost at the half time buzzer. Since minute 17, both Perperoglou and Tsartsaris had been charged with 3 fouls a pop, whilst top of scorer list was Dimitris Diamantidis (11pts).
The clover captain upped the ante to +13 (38-51, 22’10’’) behind a sweet three to swoosh the net. The Italians however were all over the place, exploiting to the most every mistake or every unlucky attempt the greens would commit. 42-54 made by Tepic at 24’45’’ flexed to 52-58, Hawkins draining a three (28’), forcing Obradovic to call for a time-out. Milenko Tepic kept up the good work and through making the most of a three-point-play got the score board reading 54-63 (29’15’’), Nicholas “striking back” from beyond the arc to once more beat the buzzer for third quarter, score 55-65. All this with the support of approximately 50 Panathinaikos friends who were in the stands of the “Mediolanum Forum” who not once did they cease to cheer on their team’s efforts. The Italians fought back yet again. Cut the trail down to 3 (64-67, 32’40’’). The greens fed Batiste who scored all the way up to 64-71 (34’10’’) and kept up the same offensive pace tallying 9 consecutive points to 68-76 (36’5’’). Sato reprised his team with its 10 point advantage (68-78, 38’15’’), Fotsis pulled a trifecta from “Death Valley” to put the last nail in his opponents coffin, 30’’ pending on the game clock to make the score 81-71 in favor of the guest and final game score of the evening.
Referees: Garcia Ortiz (ESP), Radovic (CRO), Zamojski (POL)
Quarters: 21-25, 34-46, 55-65, 71-81
Armani Jeans Milano (Bucchi): Macinelli 14, Maciulis 9, Mordente 5, Finley 13, Jaaber 2, Rocca 7, Melli, Petravicius 6, Ganeto, Van Den Spiegel, Hawkins 15
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 13, Maric 8, Perperoglou 2, Batiste 13, Fotsis 7, Sato 8, Nicholas 8, Tsartsaris 6, Diamantidis 14, Vougioukas, Calathes 2, Kaimakoglou
Zeljko Obradovic: “A very important victory”
Zeljko Obradovic was entirely satisfied by his team’s victory after its win versus Armani Jeans Milano.
“It was actually a very important victory. We prepared real hard the last few days since we were facing quite a few injuries” “Zots” stressed only to add: “Maric played without feeling 100% up to it, Batiste and Perperoglou had problems, the same went for Nicholas, who in my opinion was only 50% ready. Despite all this, Drew input a tremendous effort to aid his team and did all he could. So did all the other boys evidently. We reacted correctly when faced with difficulty presented to us by our opponent and this was anything but an easy task. Our only problem today was turnovers, we committed quite a few. Actually many of them were entirely unreasonable. Anyhow, the fact is that we snatched an important win for the ensuing season. And in such a fashion we must continue”.
*At 3’59’’ in the enounter, Dimitris Diamantidis became the fourth player in the history of the Euroleague to get to 250 steals. His is number for in Euroleague’s respective list. The Panathinaikos captain stole the ball and was also awarded an unsportsmanlike foul.
*The one rebound Mike Batiste gathered bumbed him up to spot 5 on the Euroleague rebounder’s board, catching up with Gregor Fucka at 818 boards. Slightly later he left him behind standing alone at 5th position. Top of the list is Mircad Turksan (1175), second place belongs to Nikola Vujcic (998), third to David Andersen (929) and fourth to Denis Marconato (908).
*Drew Nicholas at 19’35’’ scored his second triple of the game. With this shot he caught up with Ibrahim Kutluay at 10th place in the respective all time Euroleague list behing 228 threes. First on the list is Gianluca Basile (381).
