Mike Batiste gave the signal in the second quarter…He put his foot on the court, turned around facing the fans and his teammates, raised his hands and yelled… Just a tad latter his own passion was transformed into an amazing slum dank that became the starting point for a long-lasting counterattack on the part of Panathinaikos, which brought victory to the hands of the “Greens”. The final score of 81-79 at the OAKA indoors arena tonight, in an incredible atmosphere, led the series to 1-1, with the next game set for Sunday 27/5 at 7 p.m. at the SEF (Peace and Friendship Stadium).
A good start and a lead that went up to six points (10-4 at 4’40’’, 12-6 at 5’20’’) did not constitute a strong enough combination to keep Panathinaikos ahead in the score in the first half of the game. The visiting team found a way to react, through defense that bordered on fouls, and pressure on both ends of the court, by choosing to “strike” harder with the big guys. As a result they got to lead by up to five points (31-36 at 16’28’’, 36-41 at 19’45’’) with Panathinaikos coming up with solutions initially from Ian Vougioukas, who was assessed with three fouls at 12’50’’and then by leading its players to post up against their opponents, such Diamantidis against Mantzaris, and Perperoglou against Gecevicius or Sloukas. The two teams were often led to the charity line as it was a highly contact game (Panathinaikos 16/22, Olympiakos13/19), while the “clover” was having problems with the fact that it could not find it way to a successful big three, ending the first half by 0/1 three-pointer. The first half ended by 38-41.
The second half began with the visiting team getting the lead back up to +5 (40-45, 21’50’’). The picture of the game saw a full-fledge reversal from that point onward. Panathinaikos was shooting three-pointers, went after offensive rebounds, found easy baskets through its defense with Batiste and Kaimakoglou offering a thrilling spectacle at that, with Dimitris Diamantidis stretching the lead up +16 points (63-47, 27’16’’), and with help coming in from all players on both ends of the court. The game however was far from being over. The lead was crunched down to six points (65-59, 29’30’’), Panathinaikos reacted to boost it back up to +11 points (70-59 at 31’10’’, 72-61 at 32’15’’) but again nothing was over yet. The lead was nibbled down to a minimum (77-76 at 37’20’’, 79-78 with 1’13’’ left on the clock). A turnover sent the ball right in Mike Batiste’s hands, who turned the score 81-78 with yet another slum dank. The visiting team tried to commit a foul, but with 15’’ still left until the final buzzer, they had as yet not completed four fouls so the ball was returned on the court from the sideline. A successful free throw by Spanoulis with 3’’ left ‘till the end made the score 81-79, which was what the scoreboard wrote at the end of the game, since the ball left the arena by the hands of one of the Reds.
Referees: Tanatzis, Gontas, Piloidis
By quarter: 20-19, 38-41, 67-59, 81-79
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Maric 3, Perperoglou 7, Batiste 11, Logan, Sato 4, Tsartsaris 2, Diamantidis 23, Vougioukas 4, Calathes 4, Smith 4, Kaimakoglou 11, Jasikevicius 8
Olympiakos (Ivkovic): Hines 18, Antic 4, Spanoulis 10, Dorsey 7, Keselj 2, Papadopoulos, Gecevicius 8, Printezis 10, Papanikolaou 11, Mantzaris 5, Sloukas 4, Katsivelis
