Panathinaikos made the series of the play-offs first round 2-0, beating Peristeri on a road game by final score 72-74 in a down to the wire encounter, ultimately destined in Over Time at the “Andreas Papandreou” indoor stadium. The greens are as of now in the second round of the 2010-11 season play-offs but are currently shifting into Euroleague gear.
A 0-7 run (2’10’’) left the impression that Panathinaikos was going to suck out all the interest from the clash straight from tip-off; alas the home-team had different plans in store for their guests. Feisty and competitive as per usual, they did not allow their opponents to break away and even when they did, they made sure to enforce a come-back. Hence they tied 9-9 (4’40’’) and although Panathinaikos led the gap to +13 (18-31, 15’15’’), still they refused to bid farewell to arms. They picked up the slack down to a two (29-31 at 18’10’’ and 32-34 at 19’) main appealing machine, three point range, slightly prior to half time marker, score at 32-36. Five unanswered point chipped in off Kostas Tsartsaris aided the clover in getting up +7 (38-45, 23’10’’), but once more the home-team not only refused to give up but went even further. Led they did for the first time in the encounter at 28’40’’ (51-49), to proceed even more onto leading by 6 primarily at 33’ (58-52). 63-57 (34’25’’) shifted to 63-62 (37’), Scott getting the score board reading 65-62 (37’20’’), Mocvik adding to 67-62 (38’20’’). Three points off Mike Batiste cut the trail (67-65), 46’’ pending on the clock. The aforementioned intercepted the ball to run on the fast break and through slamming the ball notoriously provided the greens with a draw bucket (67-67), 20’’ more left until the 40 minute buzzer. Scott failed to drain a three, Batiste picked up the rebound, game being sent into OT. First points scored in the OT were made from the line through Scott, refs charging a technical foul to Dimitris Diamantidis (68-67, 42’25’’). Next followed a technical foul charged to the green bench. Scott got 0-for-2 free throws but Mocvik laid in the ball after an offensive board to renew an offense for Peristeri (70-67, 42’20’’). Batiste cut the trail (70-69, 42’50’’) and Tsartsaris represented his team with pole position (70-71, 43’20’’) only for Diamantidis to seal the deal for the clover heaving in a three in motion shot to 70-74 (44’50’’), Vangelis Mantzaris managing only to get in a final basket to 72-74.
Referees: Gontas, Pafilis, Bikas
Quarters: 13-18, 32-36, 51-51, 67-67 (RG), 72-74 (OT)
Peristeri (Pedoulakis): Mantzaris V. 12, Woodward, Papanikoalou 4, Mantzaris A. 3, Scott 18, Petroulas 2, Vrkic 20, Looby 6, Mocvik 7
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 6, Maric 4, Perperoglou 6, Batiste 14 (10rbs), Fotsis 8, Sato 7, Nicholas 4, Tsartsaris 13, Diamantidis 9, Vougioukas 1, Calathes 2, Kaimakoglou
Press Conference
Zeljko Obradovic spoke of indifference on behalf of his players after the encounter versus Peristeri. “Congratulations to Peristeri for its great performance. Congratulations to my players for the last two minutes of the regular time and the entire 5 minutes over time. It is such a hard thing to be so… indifferent. You must be extra motivated to be so indifferent. This is what Panathinaikos was today. I can understand my more experienced players to a certain extent. They have won titles, accolades, but I do not justify them. The more new additions though? They should shake their heads to see if there is anything inside. They have one chance to go to a F4 and they may not have another one in their career”.
Kostas Tsartsaris noted: “Today’s encounter was not a good preparation for us with the F4 up ahead. We did not prepare appropriately, we committed many turnovers and such a performance we cost us dearly in the ensuing matchups. I think we can do much better next and not present the same image. One thing is for sure, an athlete is not a robot. We are a team of people and we must give it 100%. Certainly somewhere deep in our heads are best self exists and we must bring it out ASAP”.
Head Coach of Peristeri, Argyris Pedoulakis stated: “Today’s clash was a good and competitive encounter and it was a shame it did not have TV coverage. Panathinaikos had its mind elsewhere and we played freely were motivated and fought down to the wire. Good luck to Panathinaikos. To us it is a role model of how one should approach basketball. It is one of the few teams in the entire Europe based on native players”.
From his point of view Dimitris Papanikolaou stressed: “It was an interesting game. This year no team will win Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, at least we can say that one took them into overtime. Today, in comparison to the last game, we did not feel the greens’ bodies and this is only natural since they are preparing for their great goal. For Peristeri it is a great success us reaching to the play-offs. All players feel that they became better this season and though I have no idea what is going on as far as its administration issues but we must aim high always and a great example towards this is Panathinaikos. I hope with al my heart the best success for Panathinaikos and it is my honor to have collaborated with these players and its technical staff which is the best all over Europe”.
