The final score to seal the Greek Cup trophy encounter was 68-74, Panathinaikos Vs Olympiakos at the indoor stadium of Helliniko. The greens still remain on the top of the list in the respective category behind 12 Greek Cups.
Panathinaikos trailed at 5’ by 8 (6-14). Zeljko Obradovic’s team tried to enforce its rhythm acting behind its tough defense but faced obstacles while performing. Main headache 2 fouls a piece for duo big men Fotsis and Vougioukas already at 2’. On one hand it did not exploit opportunities to get to the basket when the play theoretically was all green game; on the other hand Yannis Bouroussis was go-to-guy of the hour for the rivals (6-15, 5’30’’). Mike Batiste’s introduction to the floor enhanced the clover with a man to get the ball to the basket. Panathinaikos cut the trail down to a single point (15-16, 8’) but a pair of baskets managed to re-established the opponents with a 5 point lead at the end of the first quarter (17-22), while slightly later the gap was re-priced at +8 (23-31, 13’), the greens committing many offensive errors during this period of time. The clover improved its defense image dramatically at this point, let it be noted that great aid to the team was provided from Sato and Kaimakoglou, the latter also chipping in offensively. Hence the greens were boosted in offense also and by intercepting the ball and running off on to fast breaks it managed eventually to lead a minute and a half prior to intermission (37-35), break which ultimately landed, Panathinaikos to lead 39-37. Game recommencing, the clover managed to break away by 42-37 but the opposing counsel input an immediate response to run a 0-12 streak, score 42-49 at 24’, Panathinaikos experiencing an offensive dry spell. Diamantidis heaved his team back into the game organizing and scoring all the way up to 50-51 (27’). The greens step out on court determined to fight behind their defense. They managed to contain their opponents once more in order to get back for a second time in the game and behind a triple drilled by Sato they led 62-59 (33’), alas it received a counteract to 62-63 and teams went neck and neck down to the wire. Bouroussis marked 65-68, 1’20’’ pending on the game clock, Sato missed a three at 50’’ prior to the buzzer and the score was flexed to 65-70, praise to a pair of charity shots off Bouroussis yet again. More shots from the line jogged the score board to 65-72, 27’’ left, Fotsis drained a late three-pointer 3 seconds later to 68-72 only for the game to end at 68-74.
Quarters: 17-22, 39-37, 53-58, 68-74
Referees: Christodoulou, Anastopoulos, Koromilas
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 2, Maric, Perperoglou 5, Batiste 16, Fotsis 8, Sato 8, Nicholas, Tsartsaris 4, Diamantidis 17, Vougioukas, Calathes 2, Kaimakoglou
Olympiakos (Ivkovic): Papaloukas, Gordon 2, Printezis, Bourousis 13, Maurokefalidis 14, Halperin 9, Papanikolaou, Erceg 2, Papanikolaou 8, Teodosic 20, Keselj 4, Glyniadakis 2
