A great victory and an important step in the Top16 round for Panathinaikos that competing without Romain Sato and facing many issues, managed nevertheless to go for a road win versus Lietuvos Rytas at Vilnius by 80-59, getting to quite a high level of performance especially during the second half of the encounter.
Panathinaikos lined up a never before seen starting 5. Drew Nicholas and Kostas Kaimakoglou in SF position were set next to Dimitris Diamantidis, Antonis Fotsis and Mike Batiste. First minutes breaking away from tip-off were owned solely by the previously mentioned 5, as they went for a 6-0 run (3’) and allowed their hosts to their first field goal only at 4’15’’ (4-6) but also to fly ahead for the first time (9-8, 6’05’’). Response was immediate to 9-12 (7’25’’) as Kaimakoglou joined forces with Batiste. The prior also answered Brajmovic’s triple (14-16, 8’45’’), El Amin running the court for the Lithuanians to 18-16 (9’25’’), only for the first quarter to end 21-18, Milko Bjelica getting range from beyond the arc.
Lietuvos Rytas mounted a +6 cushion at 10’50’’ as Gecevicius drilled a three of his own, game recommencing (24-18), only for the gap to expand even further a little while later behond Brajmovic to +7 (27-20, 13’), as home-team had all five players competing on court, eligible to not only shoot but furthermore make three-point shots. Panathinaikos cut the trail (27-24, 14’20’’) but Simas Jasaitis was lucky to the basket making the score 31-24 (15’10’’), Zeljko Obradovic having already made quite a few substitutions and changes so much as far as players went as did schemes. Nicholas’s first trifecta led to 31-27 (15’30’’), as Kostas Kaimakoglou did an exquisite job at rebounding, tallying 7 out of 11 total green boards. All this before the break arrived, score at 33-29. Mike Batiste was the culprit to lead to 33-35 (22’55’’). Kaimakoglou proved to be in the zone as he drained a three to 37-40 (24’30’’), as Dimitris Diamantidis headed towards the bench having suffered a hit to the face. Nicholas chipped in to +6 (37-43, 25’25’’), Tsartsaris pulled a three-point-play to get the score board reading 41-46, Perperoglou provided a +7 cushion to the clover (41-48, 27’40’’) and Batiste added even further to +9 (41-50, 28’) flushing once again the ball notoriously. Tsartsaris stepped up once more to go for another basket+1, gap currently priced at double digits for the first time in the clash (41-53, 29’14’’), Diamantidis returning back on court having been treated with first aid. The Lithuanians score again after 26’30’’ and 41-43, at 31’ to 44-55 behind Babrauskas, the clover having been allowed to a sweet 12-0 streak. Home-team tried to perform a come-back, but Panathinaikos’s responses were immediate, Tsartsaris go-to-guy in offense, unraveling a few pretty impressive plays all the way up to 46-61 (32’53’’) in a packed to the rim and quite noisy stadium. Gap between the team climbed all the way up to 19 points a distance as Antonis Fotsis swooshed the net for down-town (47-66, 34’25’’), the greens’ defense providing solutions and ball circulation in offense immensely more correct and assists being handed to unguarded players for clean shots. The ante was upped to +20, Kaimakoglou connecting Mike Batiste straight through to the rim, 51-71 (36’45’’), Michalis putting his signature on +22 also (51-73, 37’32’’) and Kaimakoglou more stellar and illustrious than ever still impressing the masses with yet another three to 55-78 (39’) plus a free throw to 55-79 and +24 (39’05’’) before Fotsis marked final bucket of the eve to 59-80, final game score.
Quarters: 21-18, 33-29, 41-53, 59-80
Referees: Lamoni (ITA), Pukl (SLO), Sahin (TUR)
Lietuvos Rytas (Trifunovic): Babrauskas 3, Bjelica 11, Gecevicius 8, Buterlevicius, Valanciunas 6, Newley, Jomantas, Nalga 4, Jasaitis 7, El-Amin 10, Bajramovic 10
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic, Perperoglou 2, Batiste 26 (5df), Fotsis 6, Nicholas 10, Tsartsaris 12, Diamantidis 6 (6as), Vougioukas, Calathes 2, Kaimakoglou 16 (9rbs)
*Panathinaikos was deprived early of Milenko Tepic’s assistance, notwithstanding given absence of Romain Sato, who had remained in Athens, as he felt some discomfort in his lower back in the little (1’57’’) game time Zeljko Obradovic got to use him during the first half.
*Panathinaikos headed back to Athens straight after the end of the encounter.
