Panathinaikos bagged its second victory in a row in Euroleague. It downed KK Zagreb by 94-76 in the OAKA indoors arena, by playing a very good second half.
In the first half of the game the “Greens” were unable to pace their game. KK Zagreb was finding ways to break through the defense either in the low post, or by means of long-range shots, and was imposing its own game. The Croatians went as far as leading by 6 points (34-40, 17’05’’) with Panathinaikos making a comeback, balancing the game, and reaching by the end of the second period a score of 48-49 in dead time.
KK Zagreb took a three-point lead, (55-58, 24’30’’), but at that point Zeljko Obradovic saw his players execute everything impeccably. As a result, they had a 12-0 run and made the score 67-58 (27’10’’). Romain Sato stretched the lead to +10 points (70-60, 28’44’’) and the score difference kept rising to +19 points (83-64, 35’30’’), to sore to its maximum value (+20, 94-74, 39’20’’), a few seconds short of the end of the game and the final score of 94-76.
Referees: Ankarali (Turkey), Krause (Germany), Milojevik (FYROM)
By quarter: 24-22, 48-49, 71-62, 94-76
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Maric, Batiste 18 (9 rebounds), Logan 13, Sato 12, Calathes P. 2, Diamantidis 2 (5 assists), Vougioukas 10, Calathes Ν. 13 (4 assists), Kyritsis 5, Smith 9 (6 rebounds), Kaimakoglou 5 (11 rebounds), Jasikevicius 5
KK Zagreb (Androic): Mulaomerovic 18, Masic, Simon 15, Kasun 4, Ford 12, Dia 2, May 12, Rancic 6, Ozbolt 2, Heytvelt 5
Obradovic: “An example for the rest of the games”
Panathinaikos played well in the second half and this is something that coach Obradovic referred to, underline that it should serve as an example for the rest of the games: “We said yesterday too that this was going to be a different game, because KK Zagreb is a different team now. They have experienced players and know how to play both offensively and defensively. We told the players that they must play good defense and we did that much better in the second half. This period was the key for us to win the game, despite losing some open shots. I am also very happy about the number of rebounds, not just the 43 rebounds that we took in total, but mainly the 20 offensive ones; this shows that we had the will to run after every ball. The way we performed in offense in the second half was also good. These last two quarters must serve as an example for the rest of the games. Before the game I told everyone that they must be ready to play and I believe that they must all feel that they are important to us and that they can help the team.”
KK Zagreb’s coach, Vlado Androic, underlined: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos. They were a better team and showed their quality. We came here to play a good game and I think we did that the most part of the game. We had a problem with Kasun, who suffered some stomach problems and was unable to play for long. We missed his contribution a lot and it was apparent in the problems we had with the big guys. In this game we have shown that we deserve to play in Euroleague and I hope that we qualify to the next round.”
