A thrilling game and a big winner! Panathinaikos has made a comeback from 11 points behind in the score, downed Olympiakos by 84-74, took the series to 2-2, and the championship title will be decided on Saturday, June 2 at S.E.F; the game will begin at 7 p.m.
Once again the first minutes were not how Panathinaikos would have liked them to be. Again It found itself trailing behind in the score (0-5, 2’), with the score margin getting all the way up to 11 points in favor of the visiting team (17-28, 14’25’’). Holes in defense and missed two-pointers cost the “Greens” dearly, who contrary to the previous games did chase after the rebounds in this one, especially in the second quarter where they dominated in this aspect of the game supporting their own missed shots. They accounted for 10 offensive rebounds and this was one of the reasons why they managed to nibble away the lead in the last five minutes of the second quarter. Mike Batiste crunched the margin down to a bare minimum (34-35, 19’20’’), while DimitrisDiamantidis turned the halftime score into 36-38. These two players pinched in 7 points apiece, while Kostas Kaimakoglou had already reached 10 points early on, contributing maximum help in offense.
Panathinaikos found the coveted pace and imposed its own game play the first minutes into the third quarter. It led for the first time in the game behind a successful shot by Sarunas Jasikevicius (39-38, 20’30’’) and later on by 44-43 (24’20’’) with a successful three-pointer by DimitrisDiamantidis. Some turnovers however put the visiting team back in the lead reaching a score difference of up to 8 points (47-55, 27’). TheanswercamebyMikeBatiste’shands…With eight consecutive points of his own he brought the game back on equal footing by 55-55 (29’50’’), with the third quarter ending by 55-58, with the referees assessing the situation in Diamantidis’ attempt to make the most of the last five remaining secondas foul-free.
The “clover” found itself again at-5 points (55-60, 30’40’’) upon returning on the court, but the tables were turned once again. Defense and passion were the elements that provided solutions and got the entire arena on its feet seeing the score turn into 64-60 (32’30’’). Diamantidis led the score to an eight-point lead (69-61, 34’15’’), but the game was far from being over. The lead was cut down again (69-67, 35’45’’), the “Greens” managed to break ahead again (74-67, 36’44’’), yet were once again threatened (74-73, 37’20’’). Nonetheless, they imposed the desired tempo, got victory back into their own hands and showed absolutely no intention of letting it go. With a little push from the fans that never stopped rooting for its team, the “clover” got what it was looking for. The score turned into 80-73 at 39’10’’ with an amazing slam dunk by Mike Batiste that led to new celebratory cheering that would not give until Stratos Perperoglou marked the final score of 84-74 on the scoreboard.
Referees: Shinas, Anastopoulos, Bitis
By quarter: 14-19, 36-38, 55-58, 84-74
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Maric, Perperoglou 5, Batiste 23 (11 rebounds, 9 fouls won), Logan, Sato, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis 15 (6 rebounds, 3 assists), Vougioukas 3, Calathes N. 7 (4 rebounds, 4 assists), Smith 7 (6 rebounds), Kaimakoglou 12 (4 rebounds), Jasikevicius12 (3 rebounds, 7 assists)
Olympiakos (Ivkovic): Hines 5, Law 16, Antic 11, Spanoulis 8, Dorsey 8, Keselj 9, Papadopoulos, Gecevicius, Printezis 9, Papanikolaou 8, Mantzaris, Sloukas
