Panathinaikos got the Basket League OPAP finals series 2-0 behind final 63-52 score, versus Olympiacos at the OAKA arena. Things are now transferred back to the SEF arena, on Wednesday, June 12 at 21.00 (ET1).
Panathinaikos entered the floor exactly the way it had aspired towards, to go for an 8-0 opening run (2’50’’), Roko Leni Ukic go-to-guy of the hour. The gap however fell back to 2 points a distance (10-8, 5’) the hosted to fight more aggressively at the rebound, exploit turnovers and perform behind better two point range. That was the exact combination that led 12-8 (5’30’’) to become 12-14 (7’20’’). After 15-14 (7’50’’) and 16-16 (8’30’’), Panathinaikos would trail once more, greatest spread to its disadvantage to be 8 points (19-27, 14’40’’). The Greens had already picked up the pace in rebounds, had increased pressure and praise to Ukic’s great range once more managed to cut back their deficit to a 2 point gap, slightly prior to half time (29-31).
The game had already started to become a derby and remained so through the first minutes of third quarter. Ukic and Bramos made sure to lead the score to 41-41, praise to their unleashed trifectas (24’15’’). The second half of the third quarter however was a whole different ball game. Panathinaikos managed to get to the basket in methods that so pleased it, while defense at the same time, was the good old defense we had been watching all season long. Ramel Curry played an important part in the image shifting, but not only him, since all players chipped in all they had in order for the clover to get up by 9 (52-43, 29’20’’), only for the quarter to rest 53-45.
The guests tried to get back in the game, gained on their opponents to a five point shadow (53-48, 32’40’’), the gap remained in such a level for the next three minutes, up until Panathinaikos would advance, main executor its captain who after having demanded the ball would drain a three to jog the score to 58-50 (36’12’’) and then to 60-50 (38’) Jonas Maciulis to make the most out of a pair of charity shots. Final 63-52 score was set by Lasme and Diamantidis, to seal 2-0!
Referees: Anastopoulos, Piloidis, Foufis
Quarters: 16-21, 29-31, 53-45, 63-52
Panathinaikos (Pedoulakis): Schortsanitis 2, Bramos 9, Curry 8 (8rbs), Maciulis 2, Ukic 17, Lasme 7, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis 10 (8rb), Gist 5 (7rb), Guinn 3
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines 8, Law 3, Antic 7, Spanoulis 12, Perperoglou 2, Shermadini, Sloukas 2, Powel, Gecevicius, Printezis 6, Papanikolaou 4, Katsivelis 8
Press Conference
Argyris Pedoulakis congratulated his players for winning, refusing to get into the process of commenting on the referees: “When we lost in Barcelona, we didn’t say a thing. We congratulated our opponent; even when our best player had been awarded 3 fouls in 4 minutes. On occasions that we have suffered such defeats we have not sought excuses, but methods of administering the losses. The same thing happened back in the Greek Cup and Olympiacos’ non presence; the same out in Faliro. Everyone said that we allowed them to shoot. We did not allow everyone to shoot; we allowed Katsivelis due to him being young, lacking experience, like some of our players are lacking experience also. To not answer is not a sign of weakness. Greek basketball faces the same game in a different manner. We, due to the fans presence, when out to win the clash in offense. Olympiacos is a better team in frontcourt. We had Lasme, dehydrated, vomiting all day. Despite all this, he wanted to play and went out on the field to help the team. During first half, Olympiacos had the momentum and the mentality. We committed the same mistake over and over again. We were not at all focused. Adrenaline is a tricky thing. We have stated it before. We are not allowed to get carried away. During the second half, Curry calmed the game down and we called upon our good department, our defense to win the game fair and square through backcourt. Olympiacos is an extremely good team, to perform behind velocity. It runs in the fast lane and executes swiftly. We have been playing with its mind, basketball-wise. Its mind has not been messed up by the referees. Creation leaves Vassilis’ hands and from then on they face issues; the rest are young guys. We also have however many young guys. It is only natural that mistakes will happen. Take Bramos for example on an attempt, or other players during the game. If you fail to deal with these things you lose your concentration. All the other stuff, are stories from the past. And the only thing they amount to achieving is fire up the atmosphere. When we lost in here for the Greek League regular season, we were the worst opponent on court. Even the final score with such a small spread had been honorable for us. We must say that nothing is over yet. We are competing across from an extremely good team that has won the Euroleague and is more forged than us.
When asked about Roko Leni Ukic, Pedoulakis stated: “Curry offered us serenity, Ukic got game. We needed calmness and good game reading and at some point Curry provided both elements. Ukic and Gist might have been the best this evening but all of our players gave us things we needed. We were more competitive, we left the fans stands out of it and focused ourselves on all happening inbounds”.
Olympiacos Head Coach, Giorgos Bartsokas, congratulated Panathinaikos for winning and stressed that he has “great respect for Greek basketball and Panathinaikos, but next proceeded onto placing certain questions as he himself stated: “I would like to place a few questions to which obviously answers will not be given. Why was there a delay of the referees to come out of the locker rooms after half time; because we know what happened. And why their refereeing style changed…
Why after having returned from the Final Four have we been awarded 10-15 technical fouls versus Patras, Rethymno and Panathinaikos while in Euroleague we have almost none…
Why didn’t Hines’ three-point play count, which was clearly in time and a foul plus basket. You can check it out on the video… And straight after, a foul on Spanoulis is committed and instead for the gap to go to 8 it immediately fell back to 3. And about the technical called on Antic. There are many plays.
May I ask if the referees’ delay at half time affected the way they performed… I believe it to be an important feature in the way the game played out and I also believe it to be significant to respect everyone”.
Bartzokas was asked about the technical fouls, only to state: The Panathinaikos players were also talking to the referees from the very start of the game, but we got a technical upon our very first reaction. It is something to be examined by Greek basketball.
About certain players seeming to be out of character for the finals and about if having conquered the Euroleague might have a part in it, Bartzokas stated: “First of all, it depends on the opponent. It is not only on us. Secondary, it is clear that one of our best players is absent all season long. It is very important that he has not fully recovered to be in a good condition now. His absence is important. If our players have emptied after us having conquered the trophy, something which did not come to be easily, I do not know. It is hard to come to any conclusions. I also wonder… They claim to feel the game played on different standards. They get irritated”.
Jonas Maciulis stated: “It was a really good game. It was like a final. Everyone did their best out on court, we are happy to have won, but nothing is over yet. We have one more game and we will see what will happen. Congratulations to Olympiacos for a tough battle. And we will continue into the next game”.
Dimitris Katsivelis, who came to speak on behalf of all the Olympiacos players, stated only a single sentence: “I would not like to make any comments about the game. All we focus on is Wednesday’s game”.
