An impressive Panathinaikos swept through the filled-to-capacity “Zalgirio Arena” like a ‘tornado’, in a true power show-down in the context of the Euroleague 8th competition date. Zeljko Obradovic’s players taught the Lithuanians basketball lessons, dominating in both defense and offence and, with the exception of a mediocre start, reached victory as east as talking a walk in the park.
Panathinaikos was a bundle of nerves at the beginning of the game, scoring the first points three and a half minutes into the game by means of Smith’s free throws, whereas at the same time Zalgiris, thanks to Javtokas - Popovic had led by 6-3 and 11-6 (7'), with the former constituting Zeljko Obradovic an unsolved riddle in the paint. Ian Vougioukas entered on court to provide offensive solutions for Panathinaikos (8΄ 11-11), that took the lead for the first time in the game by 14-15 (9') thanks to a basket scored by the international center that finalized the score for the first quarter. But when Panathinaikos began playing defense, it was ….”lights out” the ‘Zalgirio Arena’. Armed with its amazing defense (with super-Sato giving free courses…), and the Jasikevicius–Calathes pair doing a good job in organizing the game, along with consecutive steals and fast-breaks, Panathinaikos broke away in the score 16-28 by 17΄, having by then fully imposed its own pace on court and making it all too hard for Zalgiris in each and every one of its own offensive attempts. A three-pointer by Smith pushed the margin to 17 points (16-33) in favor of Panathinaikos that was talking a…stroll. By minute 19' the score difference had soared to 17-39 with Batiste being effective, and the half closing with the European champions having allowed a mere five points to be scored by the home team in the entire second quarter.
Steven Smith was unstoppable, and by means of another three-pointer at the beginning of the second half he turned the score 19-44 and Panathinaikos picked up where it left off! Zalgiris put up little resistance (and circumstantial at that), since the “clover” kept stealing the show. By minute 27' the gap broke wide open and reached +29 points (29-58) and Trifunovic’s effort to find solutions by calling timeouts and making substitutions was to no avail. The score difference was stretched to +32 points (31-63, 28’30’’), only for the third quarter to end at 38-65 with Nick Calathes stealing everyone’s thunder.
With the outcome of the game actually already decided, a brief outburst of the home team nibbled the difference down to +21 (48-69, 32’), but even so Panathinaikos did not stop fighting. Its defense got stronger again, the Panathinaikos got back to a 30-point lead (53-83, 36’), and reached the final score of 59-94 that sealed the European champions’ triumph in Lithuania.
By quarter: 14-15, 19-41, 38-65, 59-94
Zalgiris Kaunas (Trifunovic): Kalnietis 8, Javtokas 8, Weems 16, Jankunas 4, Delinikaitis, Popovic 14 (2), Rakovic 3, Kuzminskas 6, Klimavicius, Lipkevicius, Butkevicius.
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Diamantidis 5 (1), Logan 6 (1), Smith 17 (3), Batiste 13, Sato 7, Vougioukas 8, N. Calathes 17 (1), Kaimakoglou 7 (1), Jasikevicius 6, P. Calathes 2, Kyritsis, Maric 6.
