Panathinaikos is in a very familiar predicament. At the top. Defeating Armani Jeans Milano this evening at OAKA by 93-62, emerged it at first place of its group at the finale of the Euroleague regular season.
Tip-off hosted a rather numb Panathinaikos which went hand in hand with Armani Jeans Milano during the first 6 minutes of the clash. 11-6 which it had got to at 3’10’’ had flexed to 11-11 (4’20’’) and 13-13 (5’40’’). At this point however the greens went for a mini outbreak all the way up to 19-13 (7’45’’), then forth to 24-15, fashion in which first quarter came to an end. In second quarter Zeljko Obradovic watched his players up the ante, improving their defense and circulating the ball exquisitely in offense but also exploiting any given chance to run on the fast break. Result was 24-19 (11’43’’) to turn into 36-21 (15’40’’) behind a partial 12-2 run, then proceeding to maintaining a 15 point cushion (44-29, 18’40’’), before teams headed towards the locker rooms, score board reading 46-32. Stats gave 19-to-5 in rebounds, 9-to-4 in assist, 5-to-8 in turnovers, 59-19 in ranking and only dark spot for the host team, free-throws in which Panathinaikos was at 61% (11-for-18).
Panathinaikos stepped back n court determined to wrap-up the game ASAP. It allowed no margin of reaction to the Italians during the first few minutes, reaching to 56-34 (23’40’’, +22). Armani Jeans Milano tried to input a response, picked up the slack to 17 points a distance (58-41, 26’25’’) but three consecutive lay-inns shared between Fotsis-Tepic and Perperoglou cruised the clover back to its 22 point cushion (63-41, 27’20’’) third quarter resting at 67-46. Stratos Perperoglou stepped back on the floor to jog his team to +24 unleashing a nothing-but-net three (70-46, 30’15’’). The Italians made the most out if lack of green focus to run a 7-0 streak to 73-49 (31’) and 73-56 (32’) but the gap was re-priced above its 20 point marker this time Romain Sato making them buckets to tally 4 points to 77-56 (32’25’’), Vougioukas copied to 81-56 (35’), only for the lead to soar to a +30 figure (87-57, 37’), Obradovic a couple of minutes earlier having pulled off the bench youngster duo Bogris and Zoubos to get a piece of the action. The aforementioned two decided to go “small on big screen” as the big-man dished the ball to the guard, switch of roles concluding in a hoop immensely cheered by the fans. The gap just kept expanding and expanding and got all the way up to +33, Milenko Tepic scoring to 93-60 (39’40’’) only for the curtains to drop at final score 93-62.
Referees: Hierrezuelo (ESP), Radovic (CRO), Lottermoser (GER)
Quarters: 24-15, 46-32, 67-46, 93-62
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 6 (11rbs), Perperoglou 14, Fotsis 11, Sato 10 (5rbs), Tsartsaris 9, Diamantidis 9 (5as), Vougioukas 11, Calathes 9, Bogris, Kaimakoglou 12 (10rbs), Zoubos 2
Armani Jeans Milano (Bucchi): Mancinelli 4, Pecherov 5, Maciulis 4, Mordente 3, Finley 13, Jaaber 11, Rocca 4, Melli 6, Hawkins 12
*Mike Batiste and Aleks Maric where the pair that remained sidelined, both facing injuries. Drew Nicholas, although being included in the team roster, was not used by coach Obradovic who chose to offer him some rest since he had been facing annoyances in his lower back the last few days.
