Panathinaikos won a ticket on to the Greek Cup final after the second encounter of the semifinal round of the tournament. +29 from the first game (87-58) had presented it with quite an advantage, defeat by 74-70 at the “Alexandrio” indoor arena not be enough to deprive Panathinaikos from its seventh consecutive participation in the final of the tourney.
At no point of the clash did Panathinaikos manage to create a safety distance or at least manage to hold on fast to the game’s reigns. Aris was the team to lead first (1-0 and 3-2 at 2’), the greens replying rapidly getting up by 9 (14-23 at 12’40’’ and 16-25 at 13’40’’). Home-team competing behind a very tough defense and exploiting second chances to score praise to offensive rebounds, unraveled a come-back, drew (37-37, 24’) and in the ensuing match-up took the lead (44-43, 27’35’’). A 7-0 for the guests flexed the score to 44-50 (29’35’’), but it was around this time that the clover seemed unable to nail the correct choices in offense, whilst in defense was ineffective on many occasions. Result was a partial 23-6 up to 67-56 (35’30’’). Tsartsaris provided a breather with a three pointer (67-59, 35’50’’), Nicholas made a two-pointer in the next offense after a turnover committed by Aris (67-61, 36’10’’). Diamantidis from behind the arc marked 68-64 (37’30’’), the aforementioned pulled a three-point-play to set the score at 71-70, 23’’ pending on the game clock, Aris however draining a few free throws to end the game 74-73
Referees: Anastopoulos, Mitsopoulos, Pafilis
Quarters: 13-21, 30-34, 46-50, 74-70
Aris (Drucker): Boxoridis, Thomas 8, Sloukas 11, Tapoutos 21, Tsairelis, Hatzivrettas 13, Charalabidis 5, Skordilis 2, Borovnjak 12, Chrissikopoulos 2
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 6, Perperoglou 4, Batiste 12, Fotsis 7, Sato, Nicholas 9, Tsartsaris 12, Diamantidis 16, Vougioukas 2, Calathes 2
*Kostas Kaimakoglou was sidelined (pulled hamstring), as was Aleks Maric.
*The Greek Cup final will be held on the 6th of March (18:30 LT).
Press Conference
Obradovic: “The x-factor was the first game’s advantage"
Zeljko Obradovic stressed in the press conference after the clash with Aris: “I would like to congratulate Aris for its fair win. It competed with will and determination. What we lacked was intent and especially from the players coming off the bench. Certainly, the x-factor was the advantage we got from the first game. We prepared the team, spoke of motive, but when a +29 cushion is kept in man, as it was obvious today, it weighs quite eminently. We were aggressive I cannot state anything different… We proceed. We are in the final”.
Panathinaikos’s Head Coach was questioned about the almost empty “Alexandrio”: “What I hope for, is that the next time we come up here for the Greek League game, is for it to be packed to the rim”. When asked if his team’s performance in the game troubles him he answered decisively: “No… it does not trouble me at all”.
Stratos Perperoglou stated: “We did not play as we should have. We committed quite a few turnovers already at half time. We have a hectic schedule ahead. We must focus towards that direction, be careful in every game from now on; All the best next for Aris”.
Sharon Drucker, Aris’s Head Coach, stated: “We requested of our players to play as a team, perform as a team, to stick together regardless of what might be taking place competitively. We instrumented will, proved to long for the game and spoke nothing of the first game. We wanted to win for our sake. Yesterday we were unable to even finish practice, there weren’t even 10 players at our disposal, but we made a huge effort, especially in defense. The most important thing is not to underestimate Ilissiakos, the team we are facing here on Saturday. We must play the same way and even better. And I would like to wish Panathinaikos good luck in the final, because it deserves to be there. The message when the team competes as a team is that this is the way to achieve anything. This was the message we received toady. We had two very important players sidelined today but we had to function as a team and so we did”.
Christos Tapoutos, Aris’s top scorer, stressed: “We proved today, for yet another time, in a good sense this time, not to do our selves any justice, neither ourselves nor our team. We proved to all that when we play as a team, when one plays for the other, when we are focused and determined to play defense, we can win any team. We beat Panathinaikos which is the greatest team in Europe. Today’s encounter was a good lesson for us and what’s up next, first stop the clash across form Ilissiakos on Saturday, in which winning is the only option. We must understand that if this team is determined it can play and achieve a great deal. We must bear this in mind for all our games. We unraveled our soul on the floor. If these elements exist next our image will be much different.” As far as the incident with Dimitris Diamantidis, he stressed: “I thought it my duty to protect my teammate, all this ends exactly there, ends on the court. It goes without saying that there is no continuance to the whole matter”.
