Panathinaikos conquered a great win, in every aspect, this evening in Madrid. In an over-intriguing game, ruled in the clutch through fouling strategy and charity shots, the clover weighed the court in its favor to final 73-74 score, Green game at Palacio de los Deportes in THY Euroleague Top16 Game 12. Slightly earlier, Unicaja Malaga suffered defeat at home, at the hands of CSSKA Moscow (66-70).
Real Madrid, behind Rudy Fernandez’s attempt to help out in backcourt, plus his offensive aid, went off for a better start (7-2, 2’56’’); however its dominance failed to endure through the entire first quarter. Panathinaikos managed early in the game, to slow down the pace, while the Madrilènes unraveled their aspiration not o allow the Greens to uncontested shots from down town range. Solutions for the home team in frontcourt were provided mainly from the line. It is worthy of mentioning that during first quarter it scored 14 points behind 8-for-11 free throws. During the aforementioned period of time, Panathinaikos had took not a single trip to the charity line. This however did not stand in the guests’ way, who praise to certain great connections and the patience they performed behind, managed to tie (12-12, 6’50’’) and then to lead for the first time on the floor, Dimitris Diamantidis to bring his opponents within 2 points (12-14 at 9’), dribbling up another phantasmagoric play for his collection. Roko Leni Ukic upped the ante to +5 (12-17, 9’23’’), draining a bucket to close first quarter, 14-17.
The clover maintained its slight lead in the game, Marcus Banks to fire a three to 17-21 (12’10’’) and Diamantidis to dismantle the entire Real Madrid defense to score to 19-23 (14’15’’). The hosts tried to counteract, feeding the ball into the paint to the big men, Rodriguez leading and putting his team back on top (28-26, 16’40’’). Diamantidis answered immediately back for Panathinaikos and then Kostas Tsartsaris to unleash a nothing-but-net three got the Greens up by 7 (29-36, 19’). Rodriguez was the one to aid his team to answer back with a swift 4-0 run (33-36, 19’50’’), only for Ukic to mess things up further for Real, with a sneaky half-time buzzer beater to seal the deal at 33-38.
Third quarter was far from anything Panathinaikos would have hoped for. Real Madrid got game during this time, dominating the floor as obvious in the partial 20-11; third quarter score. Real led (41-40, 23’25’’), for the next four minutes the lead swapped hands, but the Spaniards got 45-46 (27’) to flex to 53-46 (29’40’’), Ukic to pick up the trail at the end of third quarter with a long haul trifecta (53-49).
Bramos copied him to get the gap back to a single point (53-52), game recommencing. The home team however, was the one to maintain the lead and actually to bring its opponents within 5 (63-58, 35’). Jonas Maciulis’ first trifecta for the eve, got the score board reading 63-61 (36’30’’), Diamantidis to pick up where Maciulis left off in order to reposition the Greens in pole position (63-64, 37’20’’), Ukic to chip in further to +3 (63-66, 38’10’’). Real sneaked up (65-66) but 1-for-2 shots from the line made by Maciulis, a turnover from Begic at the other end of the court and 2-for-2 charity shots from a nightly notable Tsartsaris formed 67-71 score, 18’’ pending in the game. The clash went into charity shot roulette… Both teams showed a sign of exhaustion and irritation, but in the end Panathinaikos was the one to celebrate victory, seeing that the 73-74 final score offered it a great and equally important win.
Referees: Lamonica (ITA), Taurino (ITA), Latisevs (LAT)
Quarters: 14-17, 33-38, 53-49, 73-74
Real Madrid (Laso): Draper, Fernandez 17, Suarez 3, Reyes 6, Mirotic 17, Rodriguez 10, Hettsheimeir, Begic 9, Carroll 4, Llull 7, Slaughter
Panathinaikos (Pedoulakis): Bramos 3, Maciulis 4, Ukic 12(6rb), Lasme 10, Tsartsaris 16, Diamantidis 14(8as), Gist 4, Banks 3, Xanthopoulos, Skordilis 2, Schortsanitis 6
