Panathinaikos added one more victory in Euroleague this season. In the context of the Euroleague 3rd competition date, it prevailed over Zalgiris Kaunas by 92-75 in the OAKA indoors arena.
Zalgiris Kaunas showed from the very first minutes of the game that it had travelled to Athens to claim everything it could on court. It made its game; fast-breaks and three-point shots were part of the …agenda, while Panathinaikos was placing emphasis on its own speed, defense, and game-play close to the basket. None of the teams managed to break way ahead in the score during the first half of the game. In fact, the Lithuanians were the ones who had the lead for the better part of the first half. Dimitris Diamantidis scored for 2-0 (20’’), with the scoring lead taking turns between the two teams. Panathinaikos got to +7 with Sarunas Jasikevicius scoring consecutive points and Ian Vougioukas making the score 25-18 (9’20’’). But Zalgiris Kaunas retorted with a 10-0 run to get the score to 25-28 (11’10’’). A 5-0 run helped it to get back ahead once again (32-35, 13’37’’). Panathinaikos kept up its efforts with the encouraging support from its fans; Kostas Kaimakoglou made the score 38-37 (18’), but the Lithuanians went to the locker-rooms with the score to their favor by +4 (38-42, 20’). Their big weapon and the point where the “Greens” were lagging behind where the three-point shots with Panathinaikos counting with a mere 2/9 an Aleksandar Trifunovic seeing his own players count with 5/11.
Panathinaikos’ defense and rebounding efforts paid. The European champions led the score to +8 (53-45, 26’) with Diamantidis sinking a 3-pointer in. The Lithuanians came back with an immediate response (53-50, 26’45’’), before Sato and Vougioukas turned the score 57-50 (27’45’’) and Nick Calathes then leading it to 59-51 (28’15’’). The third period ended with Panathinaikos having a +9 lead (64-55), thanks to a 3-pointer by Kostas Kaimakoglou. The scale was tipping to the side of the “clover”. The scoring gap stretched to +19 (81-62, 34’25’’) with a three-point shot by Steven Smith and with Romain Sato and Ian Vougioukas starring in the last game-plays. Zalgiris Kaunas saw Rakovic foul out to the bench, since after his fourth personal foul (32’57’’) he protested and was then charged with a technical foul. Panathinaikos’ successful shots behind the 3-points line had improved exponentially. The 2/9 3-pointers scored in the first half had turned into 10/21 at 34’, helping the “clover” keep a steady lead to ultimately win by 92-75.
Referees: Pukl (Slovenia), Perez (Spain), Nuran (Turkey)
By quarter: 25-21, 38-42, 64-55, 92-75
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Maric 2, Batiste 14, Logan 13 (3 steals), Sato 8, Tsartsaris 2, Diamantidis 16, Vougioukas 13 (6 rebounds), Calathes N. 7 (7 assists, 4 rebounds), Smith 7, Kaimakoglou 5, Jasikevicius 5
Zalgiris Kaunas (Trifunovic): Lawson 14, Popociv 8, Kalnietis 8, Delininkaitis 3, Rakovic 12, Klimavicius 3, Jankunas, Javtokas 2, Kuzminskas 4, Weems 21, Collins
*The next Euroleague game for Panathinaikos will take place on Thursday, November 10, at the OAKA indoors arena, with the European champions hosting CSKA Moscow.
*With the single rebound he bagged in the first half, Mike Batiste went ahead of Cantú player Denis Marconato on the Euroleague career record list of all-time top rebounders, by reaching 916 rebounds. However, since they are both still active players, their… battle continues on to the end of the season. In addition, with his 6 free-throws he reached 401 in Euroleague, thus becoming the 13th player in the competition that has passed the 400 free-throws mark.
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