Panathinaikos won the first pre-season friendly game against Apollon Patras (58-54), which took place in Karpenissi, Central Greece.
The Greens showed up on the court without Dimitris Diamantidis, who had some minor knee pains, so it was decided that he should rest, and without Yorgos Papayannis, who returned from Athens where he had underwent medical examinations –– they were clear–– due to adductor discomfort, and will go on with individual training.
Score in each period: 17-11, 31-26, 45-36, 58-54
Lineups:
Panathinaikos: Charalambopoulos, 3p. (1 three-pointer), Slaughter 6p., Bochoridis 5p., Jankovic 7p., Fotsis 11p. (2 three-pointers), Nelson 13p., Pappas 2p., Mavrokefalidis 7p., Diamantakos, Batista 4p., Koniaris.
Apollon Patras: Mastroyannopoulos, Argiropoulos 2p., Cohn 3p. (1 three-pointer), Penn 13p., Fitzpatrick 2p., Polidoropoulos, Batis 5p. (1 three-pointer), Spirakis, Pelekoudas, Molfetas 6p. (2 three-pointers), Niforas, Economopoulos, Skordilis 11p., Galloway 12p. (1 three-pointer).
In his post-game comment, Dusko Ivanovic’s assistant, Josep Berrocal, said: “It was a preparation game. After four consecutive training sessions with very high intensity, we wanted to see some things on the court. We played without Diamantidis, who had a knee discomfort and we decided that he should rest. We wanted to put all our players in the game and to see some things, defensively and offensively, on which we’ve worked in training. In the defense we saw some good things as well as some mistakes that are considered normal, while in the offense we tried to play fast. It’s important that we didn’t have any injuries. The overall impression is positive. We played an extra ten-minute period to give the chance to all the players to play, and the younger ones showed that, with our assistance, they can help the team.”
