In the clutch, in OT and after a mighty tough matchup playoff game 1 amongst Barcelona and Panathinaikos was ruled, the Catalans to get the win, prevailing 72-70, getting the series at 1-0.
Spectacular and then some tip-off opening for the clover; initial 2-0 for the hosts swiftly flexed to 2-14 (4’45’’), the Greens clearly dominating on the floor, doing a great job in rebounds and assists, but mainly performing great in backcourt, forcing the Catalans to turn over the ball on six occasions in first quarter only. Home team tried to counteract, cut back to a 7 point trail (7-14, 6’) but the clover seemed to have pure dominance. A triple off captain Dimitris Diamantidis led the gap to 12 points once more (9-21, 8’20’’), the quarter to rest at 11-21.
A pair of threes drilled by Navarro and Huertas changed the game image, already from the first minutes in second quarter. And Barcelona kept up at the same pace. Panathinaikos made mistakes it had managed to avoid during the previous quarter and the hosts leaped at the opportunity to run a 13-0 streak, to provide them with the lead (22-21, 12’40’’). James Gist led the way to the basket to down Barcelona. By a personal 5-0 run the score board red 22-26 (15’). The lead though swapped hands once more. The Catalans got to their own +4 lead (32-28, 19’), half time to arrive, the score at 34-32 praise to a Mike Bramos put-back basket.
Panathinaikos stepped out on the court determined after the recess to regain control over the encounter, performing aggressively in defense, making its opponents’ moves more and more difficult; and collaborating exquisitely in offense. The lead was in Green possession once more, got all the way up to an 8 point edge (36-44, 25’35’’), Diamantidis-Lasme connections to steal the show at the time. The gap was reduced to 3 (41-44, 28’10’’) but at the end of the third quarter the gap was re-established to 6 (45-51).
The better opponent also for the beginning of the fourth quarter Panathinaikos led to 49-56 (32’30’’) and slightly later to 54-60 (34’20’’). A pair of threes however, provided from Navarro and Jasikevicius brought teams to tie (60-60, 35’08’’). The last five minutes were poor in productivity and for strong nerves. Barcelona led 64-61 1’22’’ pending on the clock, Diamantidis pulled a dagger from down town to tie 64-64 at 39’. Last offense went to Barcelona’s camp. Tomic got the ball in the paint but Gist rejected his shot with a high and impressive block sending the game into overtime.
Both teams kept up the tough battle down to the wire. Gist provided the lead with a three (69-70, 42’), Navarro made 72-70 (43’) and from then on neither team managed to get to the basket. It was enough however for the Catalans to celebrate 1-0 at home. Second encounter will be held on Thursday (April 11) at 21.45, once more at the Palau Blaugrana.
Referees: Belosevic (SRB), Sahin (ITA), Bissang (FRA)
Quarters: 11-21, 34-32, 45-51, 64-64 (κ.α.),
Barcelona (Pascual): Sada 13, Huertas 8, Navarro 14, Jasikevicius 11, Wallace, Ingles 4, Lorbek, Jawai 9, Tomic 13
Panathinaikos (Pedoulakis): Bramos 5, Maciulis 6, Ukic 9 (7as), Lasme 14, Tsartsaris 7 (7rb), Diamantidis 10 (7rb), Gist 14, Banks, Schortsanitis 5
*By draining three-pointer number one in the clash, Roko Leni Ikic reached 100 in his Euroleague career.
