Panathinaikos downed KAOD by 101-72 at the OAKA indoors arena in the context of the OPAP BasketLeague 15th competition date, being not only substantial but also spectacular in its game.
The first minutes of the game were not as Zeljko Obradovic and his players would have liked them to be. Off tempo, they found themselves trailing behind in the score at the first quarter halfway mark (9-12, 5’). This was the point at which the “Greens” displayed a powerful reaction, managing to thus take control of the game. With a 13-2 run they turned the score around to 22-14 (9’), before getting to a ten-point lead (27-17) by the end of the first quarter.
The “clover’s” defense had already improved a lot, the pressure was bigger, the first changes brought about results, the team got back into high tempo, and the outcome of all these was Panathinaikos getting up to a 16-point lead (49-33, 19’20’’) by Kostas Tsartsaris’ hands. The same performance was maintained during the first minutes of the second half. David Logan and Stratos Perperoglou spearheaded the European champions’ offence, stretching the score difference to +20 points (66-46, 25’20’’). A foul upon an attempted three-pointer along with the referees assessing Sarunas Jasikevicius with a technical foul helped KAOD cut closer again in the score (66-57, 28’).
The guest team was unable to maintain the score margin on the same level. Panathinaikos did not allow them to. Its players were even more determined and with Obradovic throwing the well-rested Romain Sato for the first time into the game, the pace soared perpendicularly with Jasikevicius providing a 22-point lead by means of a 3-point shot (85-63, 33’47’’) and Aleks Maric turning it into a 25-point lead (88-63, 34’20’’). Then came Nick Calathes, (90-63, 35’48’’), Kostas Tsartsaris… broke the 100-point mark (101-72, 39’50’’), and victory was sealed with the scoreboard reading 101-72 at the final buzzer.
*Dimitris Diamantidis was not included in the roster for precautionary reasons more than anything else, due to pain in his quadriceps.
Referees: Papapetrou, Vardalos, Tzafleris
By quarter: 27-17, 51-39, 70-57, 101-72
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Maric 12, Perperoglou 5, Batiste 4 (5 assists), Logan 21, Sato 5, Tsartsaris 12, Vougioukas 4, Calathes N. 16 (4 rebounds, 6 assists), Kyritsis 2, Smith 11, Kaimakoglou 2, Jasikevicius 7
KAOD (Kalafatakis): Hunt, Haralabidis 19, Athinaioy 12, Ioakimeidis, Michel 22, Choumas, Kitsoulis 1, Ceranic 2, Zaras, Bavcic 16, Kakaroudis, Benas
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