This team makes statements inbounds, fact it bared truth to for yet another occasion. In a packed to the limit Palau Blaugrana which enforced pressure towards every possible direction to come back from -13 to nail an enormous victory 71-75. Panathinaikos-Barcelona 1-1 and the series is now transferred to Athens with two encounters at the OAKA arena!
The Catalans were the opponents to enforce their rhythm. The ones who took control over the clash right from tip-off, Panathinaikos presenting its game behind bad range field goals, across from rivals who defended them at the limit of fouling continuously, having on their side the huge advantage of a full house home court which left not a single referee call without a comment. The greens during the entire first half led only once (2-3, 40’’). A 9-0 run off Barcelona got it up by 8 (11-3, 4’40’’). From then on and all the way down the stretch to the break Panathinaikos managed only to cut the trail down to 5 (13-8, 7’46’’ and 15-10, 9’40’’). Turnovers (9 in the first half) and the disappointing 8/23 twos for the clover aided the home-team into getting up 16 points (28-12, 13’50’’). The reaction from the boys of Zeljko Obradovic, who kept requesting greater concentration was a 9-0 run (28-21, 16’45’’), but Barcelona managed to expand the gap again all the way up to +11 (34-23 at 18’40’’, 36-25 at 19’10’’), before the intermission was brought into session, score resting at 38-28.
Barcelona climb all the way up to +13, game recommencing (43-30 at 21’10’’, 46-33 at 22’), but Panathinaikos was never known to be a quitter. Dimitris Diamantidis was yet again the player to sound the horn. Heaving in 14 points of his own during the third quarter, he cruised the greens to 57-56 at the completion of 30 minutes game time, the Palau Blaugrana enforcing pressure on every single referee call, the noise utterly mind-numbing. Sato at a great level of performance jogged Panathinaikos to fly ahead 57-58 (30’45’’). A triple of the aforementioned was the bucket to send the score to 57-61 (32’20’’) off a play entirely his game, since primarily he stole the ball and in the ensuing play requesting the ball from Calathes with adamancy and self-confidence he soared from beyond the arc to drill a three once more. It was behind the equivalent self-confidence that he aimed and scored to 59-64 (33’). A basket +1 behind Rubio, Diamantidis third personal foul that formed 62-64 (33’07’’). However, Rubio also missed his next to three-point attempts, allowing Calathes to get the score board reading 62-66 (34’40’’). Connection between Nicholas and Batiste led to a bucket off the latter to 62-68 (35’) and then off the prior to 62-70 (36’). Tsartsaris received the torch (64-72, 36’35’’). Navarro pulled a triple to pick up the slack to 67-72 (37’30’’). With a minute pending on the game clock Lakovic missed a three proceeding on to fouling Diamantidis. It was only the third foul for Barcelona in the fourth quarter! Nicholas got a two point shot rejected by the rim at 42’’ but Diamantidis was present to nick the ball before the refs called travelling on Mike Batiste, the American center being the last in position to score inside the paint. Navarro stoke again for Barcelona. Driving to the basket at 23’’, he made the lay-up and won a foul to close the gap to 1 (71-72). 18’’ before the buzzer Barcelona went into fouling strategy, committing one on Fotsis, this particular foul being only the fourth for the home team, Panathinaikos not yet enjoying the free throw bonus! This perk finally kicked in at 17’’5, Diamantidis heading to the line. 1-for-2 for the green captain, Barcelona missed the succeeding offence, Batiste dunks the ball notoriously at the other end of the court to form the final triumphant score for the clover, 71-75, 1-1 in Barcelona, right inside the Palau Blaugrana.
Referees: Cerebuch, Dozai, Zamojski
Quarters: 17-10, 38-28, 57-56, 71-75
Barcelona (Pascual): Sada , Rubio 6, Lakovic 5, Navarro 19, Perovic 2, Vasquez 11, Ingles, Ndong 10, Morris, Lorbek 7, Anderson 11, Grimau
Panathianaikos (Obradovic): Maric 1, Perperoglou, Batiste 14, Fotsis 3, Sato 18, Nicholas 10, Tsartsaris 4, Diamantidis 17, Vougioukas, Calathes 8, Kaimakoglou
“It’snotoveryet”
Smiles were apparent around the Panathinaikos’s locker rooms, it was impossible to hide them, but all tried immediately to keep the tone low key, knowing all too well that there is quite some distance to cover still.
Zeljko Obradovic was the one who set the tone: “It was a really tough game. We had to be focused for the whole 40 minutes. We stated it in the locker rooms at half time that we had to react. In the second half we performed exquisitely. We played great defense , played smart and that’s why we won. Nothing has been determined yet. I must remind you that Barcelona last season lost at its home court to Real Madrid. The greatest mistake would be to state that everything is over and that we qualified. We must approach the whole deal game by game. We must play better game by game. It is important that we won over the advantage but the most important thing is to continue to play with the same passion and the same focus”.
Obradovic described Panathinaikos’s performance as its best and added: “It was off great importance that every player performed at 100% of his ability and we all saw the manner behind which Sato competed”.
Batiste: What we should have
Mike Batiste stepped up when it was imperative on yet another occasion for Panathinaikos. To him, things are simple: “We had to fight and that’s what we did. During the first half we were aggravated, anxious. We balance the game out as the time played out, we enforced our pace, played well in offense and did our thing. This game will not define the series. Don’t think that Barcelona will bid farewell to arms. Or even that it’s all over. That’s what we stated in the locker rooms after the victory. We must be even better, even more focused and make the most out of the advantage that we conquered this evening".
