Panathinaikos won a ticket to Barcelona … Panathinaikos won a birth in the F4… The final game score 78-67, the final 3-1 across from Barcelona , the theoretical absolute favorite of the tournament, came in a glorious fiesta inside the OAKA arena. A home court in which this team simply just couldn’t lose. Zeljko Obradovic and his boys proved want Panathinaikos stands for and that not a single soul is allowed to doubt this team…
Tip-off found Panathinaikos in great shape (6-0, 1’20’’), but only at 2’10’’ the refs had already called second personal foul on Dimitris Diamantidis, forcing Zeljko Obradovic to commit his first substitution, pulling Drew Nicholas off the bench to switch with the captain, next to fellow teammates Calathes, Sato, Tsartsaris and Vougioukas. Barcelona counteracted to get to tie at minute 4 (9-9), Mike Batiste getting a piece of action heading on court. The Catalans took the lead (10-11, 6’), opting to feed the ball in the paint, Ndong go-to-guy of the hour. Nicholas aided the team in getting to 12-11 (6’50’’), but what happened next froze the entire arena, as he fell to the ground holding his ankle, since apparently as landing to the ground he stepped on an opponents foot and suffered a sprain. Perperoglou took his spot on the floor, drilling 4-for-6 free throws to 16-12 (18’10’’), positioning himself in the lower area of the paint to post up his rival, performing more aggressively. Barcelona performed a come back in the clash exploiting Panathinaikos turnovers and making the most of certain gained rebounds to reach from 20-16 (11’10’’) to 20-24 (14’). Perperoglou combined with Fotsis though to cruise the greens back into leading (25-24, 14’40’’) dynamic duo Diamantidis and Calathes having been reintroduced to the floor. Tsartsaris provided the clover with a 5 point cushion (31-26, 18’30’’) only to see on to a guarded triple by Navarro plus a penetration to jog the score to 31-31 (19’24’’). 17’’ pending on the game clock Tsartsaris stroke again to win a basket and 1 to 34-31, Lorbek completing the half time game score to 34-33.
The aforementioned culprit gave the lead to Barcelona behind a pair of charity shots, game recommencing (34-35, 21’), Vougioukas drained 6 consecutive points to chip in for the green come-back all the way up to 40-36 (23’40’’), Diamantidis undertaking the assignment of bringing his team to 46-40 (25’45’’), literary clearing the entire Barcelona defense only to sail the clover on to 48-40 scoring from the line (26’). Batiste priced the gap at 9 points a distance for the first time in the encounter (51-42, 28’) slightly before the third quarter inning score at 56-47 marked by a trifecta behind Kostas Tsartsaris to send the crowd into cheering pandemonium, fans who up to this moment had created a magnificent atmosphere, such that had made the foreigners present in the OAKA arena to have steered their heads many a times towards the fan’s stands.
Panathinaikos simple could not even bare the thought of not getting to the F4. It aspired to give the only answers it knew: The inbound kind. The captain had sounded the horn and stuck to all he had already stated on court during the previous clashes, marking 61-50 getting range form beyond the arc (33’) and 63-50 (34’) off a fast break. Calathes flexed the score to 66-53 (35’) copying Diamantidis for a three pointer from the base line , Barcelona however not having yet decided to throw in the towel getting buckets off Morris’s attempts in frontcourt (66-58, 37’15’’). Sato expanded the gap back to 10 (68-58, 38’) scoring a pair of free throws. The Catalans unraveled their final attempt to stay alive in the clash. 1’30’’ pending on the game clock a put-back behind Vasquez closed the gap to 6 (68-52). Barcelona chose to go into fouling strategy. Stratos Perperoglou proved perfect from the line (70-62, 38’40’’). Lakovic did as much for his team at the other end of the court, 1’16’’ pending to the buzzer (70-64). 38’’ to go in the game and Diamantidis re-established his position at the free throw line. Impeccable form once more for the captain score swooshed to 72-64 he4nce encouraging the fans to cheer rimes of “good times in Barcelona with the 6th star’s company”. Anderson was awarded a foul on a three point attempt at 31’’ prior to the buzzer picking up the slack to 72-67. Nick Calathes to the line next, picture perfect for the youngster score now at 74-67 (39’35’’). Fotsis intercepted the ball, won a foul 20’’ left. “Batman” to score to 76-67, Morris pulling a desperate triple to miss the marker, leading on to a sweet lay-up dunk behind Sato to final game score 78-67. Panathinaikos is at Barcelona !!!!!!!!!!!
Referees: Lamonica (ITA), Drabikovsky (UKR), Ryzhyk (UKR)
Quarters: 16-12, 34-33, 56-47, 78-67
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic, Perperoglou 8, Batiste 8, Fotsis 11, Sato 10, Nicholas, Tsartsaris 8, Diamantdis 11, Vougioukas 10, Calathes 12, Kaimakoglou
Barcelona (Pascual): Sada, Rubio 3, Lakovic 5, Navarro 7, Vasquez 14, Ingles 2, Ndong 7, Morris 5, Lorbek 9, Anderson 13, Grimau 2
“Better than Barcelona”
Zeljko Obradovic characterized Panathinaikos as the better team on court versus Barcelona in this particular series of play-off encounters, since it secured a birth in Barcelona ’s F4 behind a great victory across from the Catalan team!
The Head Coach of the clover stressed in the Press Conference: “The first thing I would like to state is a huge “thank you” to my players for all they accomplished during the four last games; Because they believed in being ready to compete and give it their all. Everything is a result of team work and I believe we competed exquisitely in all the games. For one to be able to maintain one’s composure for seven days in a row and for 4 whole games is quite a tough thing to accomplish and we played superbly. I always state that to have a motive is the most important factor and after the first clash in Barcelona we continued to believe that we can prevail. In one of the press conference I was asked about our failure this season to win a single important game. I had answered that all games were down to the wire. This is what we discussed with our players. We had the ability to win and we must keep our faith and our focus until the very last second. After these four games it is only natural that certain players are very very tired and it’s a good thing we have a month in front of us until the F4. We will have the games in the Greek League and we will try to prepare for the game versus Siena . Finally I would like to state that all after this encounter understand that Panathinaikos is a better team than Barcelona and that it is not a matter of refereeing as certain had stated. Based on my experience I believe that this evening we witnessed one of the best refereeing I have ever seen”.
In reference to the fans that put on their own recital from the stands, Obradovic stressed: “Thank you to our fans for yet another occasion. The whole of Europe saw the amazing atmosphere we create here. With them on our side we are capable of simple everything”.
When questioned about the doubt Panathinaikos was experiencing given the absences of Jasikevicius, Spanoulis and Pekovic from the team roster, the Serbian Coach said: “Prior to the first Euroleague game in Valencia it was easy to find all the comments made about us. The fact that Panathinaikos was not a star studded team. Pekovic, Spanoulis, Jasikevicius missing. They were correct; they are players of great caliber. What I told my players was that this was something that should provide them with greater motivation. Certain people who judged us do not concern me. Honestly, no one in the world than me and Dimitris Itoudis or the rest of my technical staff knows our team better, or Barcelona which was our rival. We watched over 20 games. Dimitris (Itoudis) might know Barcelona even better than Pascual himself, I awoke today at 5 in the morning to re-address every single detail. I will say it again, the heroes are my players and they are entitled to all the glory. I have certain friend the opinion of which I respect. Everyone is allowed to have an opinion, but I am not concerned. And another thing… Panathinaikos is at the Final Four, but it is only natural for us to be there. People will talk about the encounter versus Barcelona for years to come. Our dream is to win trophies”.
As far as Vougioukas and Calathes performances he responded: “Nick (Calathes) made certain decisions which were incorrect, but we discussed that his role is not only to perform defensively but offensively also. He was magnificent in all the games. Vougioukas is our best scorer in the Greek League. He dominates there. That is the reason we decided to feed him the ball, because we believed in his quality to prevail over Vasquez. He had the quality to go one-on-one and that is how we performed across from Barcelona . The surprise for us about Vougioukas was certain defensive accomplishment of his. It is important for all the players to work hard and become even more important elements for Panathinaikos”.
Finally, as far as the F4, Obradovic noted: “We have 35 days until the Final Four. Anything could happen. Maric will be better prepared. Today we competed without Nicholas who is a very important player. We try to get him to play again giving him a shot, but he tried and it was simply impossible. We do not know his situation. We must see in what situation our team will be”.
Xavi Pascual Head Coach of Barcelona stated: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos and I wish them all the best in the Final Four; to the entire team and to Zeljko Obradovic. It was a play-off series with entirely balance out encounters. At least in 3,5 games because this evening in the second half we performed poorly. We stopped believing that we could win when we lost the home-court advantage. Minutes passed difficulty today. We had neither soul nor belief towards victory. Bougioukas was the X-factor of tonight’s encounter, but Diamantidis alongside Calathes were the MVPs of the series”.
