Panathinaikos did not manage to win at Kavala, since the final score of 79 – 70 brought victory to the home team in the context of the HEBA championship 6th competition date.
In the first half of the game against Kavala Panathinaikos appeared far away from its good performances. It found itself in the lead (7-14 at 5’50’’ and 7-16 at 6’40’), but somewhere around that point it began losing its pace. The home team went for the rebounds more aggressively, won many a battle in the paint, while at the same time they were successful in the three-point shots; as a result, they had a 11-0 run, making the score 18-16 (9’50’’). The stage was set and the scene was repeated in the second quarter too: Panathinaikos led by 21-24 (13’) and 24-27 (15’) finding some kind of balance and pressing for steals in defense, but an 11-1 run led the score to 35-28 (16’50’’). Kavala stretched the score difference up to even +10-points (40-30 at 18’53’’ and 42-32 at 19’10’’), before the halftime buzzer rang with the score at 42-34.
Pasalic continued sinking the ball in behind the three-point line, leading his team to +13-points (47-34, 21’). Panathinaikos was forced to trail behind in score, looking to get a good pace and solutions, facing a team that had reached a 53% success rate in three-pointers by the end of the third quarter (10/19), while at the same time keeping its dominance in the rebounds (26-17). It closed the gap to four points (55-51, 25’), but at minute 30 the score board read 60-53. Each time the “Greens” would close in, Kavala seemed to come up with the answer through the rebound – 3-point shot combination, reaching a nine-point difference (67-58, 32’). Smith was a permanent threat in offence, but at the other end of the court the home team was finding the solutions it was looking for. Zeljko Obradovic was trying to find solutions, going as far as using Kaimakoglou – Smith as a pair of tall guys (70-61, 35’). The former crunched the margin through a “goal-foul” combo down to 70-64 (36’), but Kavala broke wide back to +8-points (72-64, 37’) and Pasalic made the score 75-64 (38’). Diamantidis scored for 75-66 (38’10’’), Smith followed for 75-68 (38’27’’), but it was not a lasting comeback; as a result, Kavala clinched victory by 79-70 with an impressive ratio of 12/23 (52%) three-pointers versus a 4/20 by the “Greens”, keeping its prevalence in rebounds too up until the end of the game (36-25).
Referees: Anastopoulos, Manos, Tarenidis
By quarter: 18-16, 42-34, 60-53, 79-70
Kavala (Priftis): Pasalic 19, Aggelopoulos 8, Taylor 22, Stefanidis 5, Karathanassis 3, Georgakis, Kostov 4, Karapostolou 6, Simcak 2, O’Bryant 10
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Maric 5, Batiste 3, Logan 6, Sato 8, Diamantidis 6, Vougioukas 5, Calathes Ν. 12, Smith 17, Kaimakoglou 4, Jasikevicius 4
*By two of the points he scored, Diamantidis climbed to the 13th spot on the HEBA championship all-time scorer list, reaching 3174 points.
*Mike Batiste crossed the 200-steals mark in his career at the HEBA championship (202)
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