Panathinaikos edged Kavala in an easy road game, final score to bear ample poof (71-97) for Basket League OPAP game 10.
An edgy start, a numb period next and then an especially good second quarter offered Panathinaikos the lead, team to mount quite a half time cushion. The Greens stepped out on court as a nervous assembly fact backed by 5 turnovers committed in only 5 minutes game time, every single one on a pass attempt. Despite this they had the lead in shot range but also in rebounding department in which the team seemed destined to be a dominator on the floor from the very first minutes after tip-off. 2-8 (5’) the ball being fed to Lasme is an example as is 6-12 (7’)slightly later, Bramos having entered the game draining a three almost upon his arrival. The torch was passed to Marcus Banks in frontcourt the same time that Steve Panos was the opponents’ go-to-guy of the hour. Behind the aforementioned player Kavala managed to tie things on the floor (15-15, 9’), first quarter to rest 16-19.
The home team tried its best to stay alive in the game but Bramos and Banks initially and then Panko, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis aided in 18-19 (10’15’’) to swiftly become 18-31 (16’05’), to reach double score (24-48, 19’20’’) teams to head to the locker rooms score at 27-48. All that Panathinaikos allowed Kavala to do during the third quarter was to pick up its trail to 18 (42-60). Response was immediate and left no margin of a doubt to the hosts. The gap started to expand further… Giannopoulos and Bramos undertook offensive assignments, only for Maciulis to provide his team with its first 30 point lead (48-78). The game image failed to shift in fourth quarter. Pedoulakis found time to rest certain players and to offer game time to others, all this to take place, the clover not once being threatened in any sense. The lead remained at high levels all the way down to the game buzzer, to find the score board reading 71-97.
Referees: Anastopoulos, Foufis, Kaldiris
Quarters: 16-19, 27-48, 48-78, 71-97
Kavala (Koronios): Pnaos 14, Kalabakas, Stefanidis 9, Grundy 18, Velissariou, Mitrovic 5, Gagaloudes 10, Krstevski 2, Coleman 13
Panathinaikos (Pedoulakis): Bramos 20 (4/6 threes), Panko 10 (6rbs), Maciulis 11 (6rbs), Lasme 9 (6rbs), Tsartsaris 14 (9rbs, 4as), Diamantidis 2 (4as), Kitchen, Banks 12, Xanthopoulos 4 (9as), Giannopoulos 13 (3/3 threes), Charalampopoulos, Skordilis 2
*Panathinaikos competed minus the injured Roko Leni Ukic (pain in his left leg bicep) and Sofoklis Schortsanitis (ruptured tarsal tunnel). Jason Kapono also remained in Athens .
*Panathinaikos’superlative in rebounding was a catalyst (42-11). The Greens dished 25 perfect passes, against Kavala’s 16 and committed 19 turnovers (5 in the first 5 minutes of the clash). Panathinaikos also had 80% from the line (12/15), 76% at twos (29/38) and 47% from beyond the arc (9/19).
*All Mike Bramos needed was a single point in order to reach 300 in his career. He outdid himself since at the end of the game he tallied 20 personal achieved points.
