Panathinaikos defeated PAOK by 77-60 at the PAOK Sports Arena, in the context of the OPAP BasketLeague 8th competition date.
Zeljko Obradovic saw his players gradually improve their performance. The first minutes into the game he had to yell at them more often than not, and make changes, seeing PAOK play them on equal footing. The home team led the score [5-2, 1’30’’ and 7-4 (3’)], before Panathinaikos picked up its pace and reach 11-16 by the end of the first period and 11-18 just a tad later (10’20’’).
The “Greens” set an even higher pace to the game, tried to reach easy baskets, and prevailed in the rebounds. This combo resulted in the score difference reaching an eleven-points lead (13-24) and later on to +13-points (27-40, 18’25’’), before stretching even further at the end of the first half to +15 points (50-45).
Coming back out on court after the break, Panathinaikos kept the driver’s seat to itself. Obradovic chose to give playtime to all his players, without however forgiving turnovers, by yelling at them and asking them to press and be aggressive both in defense and offence. As a result, the European champions soared to a nineteen-point lead (31-50, 23’30’’). PAOK attempted a comeback. It tried to find solutions through defense, by pressing the ball, and managed to crunch down the score gap from 36-53 (27’) to a 43-53 (28’15’’). Panathinaikos came up with solutions of its own, and by five points scored by Diamantidis and Jasikevicius it broke the score difference to 46-64 (31’50’’). The home team continued its effort, nibbled away the difference down to 11 points (58-69, 36’30’’), but Smith was there to take it back up to +13 points (58-71, 38’) and Diamantidis, with two free throws, made the score 58-73 (38’10’’). The torch was passed on to Alexis Kyritsis (58-75, 39’10’’), only for Mike Batiste to seal victory by marking the final score of 60-77.
Referees: Sxinas, Papapetrou, Panagiotou
By quarter: 11-16, 30-45, 46-59, 60-77
PAOK (Markopoulos): Giddens 6, Stiggers 2, Arapis, Goree 14, Dikoudis 14, Kalampokis 10, Wright 12, Giannakidis, Kalles, Liapis, Tsakaleris 2
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Maric, Batiste 7, Logan 6 (3 steals), Sato 8, Calathes P., Diamantidis 18 (5 assists), Vougioukas 10, Calathes Ν. 4, Kyritsis 2, Smith 6 (7 rebounds), Kaimakoglou 11 (3/3 3pointers, 6 rebounds), Jasikevicius 5
The ‘1000-assists mark’ Diamantidis
With his first assist in tonight’s game, Dimitris Diamantidis reached the 1000-assists mark in the history of the HEBA championship, wearing the Panathinaikos jersey. His second rebound also earned him a spot in the HEBA championship all-time top10 rebounders. And by minute 25’30’’ he exceeded 3200 points in his career! This is a mark that only a mere 12 more players have crossed! With his sixth rebound, Kostas Kaimakoglou became just the 23rd player in the history of the HEBA championship that made it to the 800-rebounds mark…
PHOTOS
