Panathinaikos will be facing Barcelona shortly. The first Euroleague playoffs’ tip off we be at the Palau Blaugrana, the court in which the Greens will be seeking to upset the series, before it is transferred to the OAKA next Tuesday (April 16). Panathinaikos committed its final practice prior to the clash today at noon and will line up without absences to face the Catalans.
Encounter “numbers”
*Panathinaikos had the best Top16 defense allowing its opponents 69.1 points per game. Barcelona has the best overall defense in the league up to date with 67.6 points average.
*The Greens were the ones to dominate in three point shots for the Top16, draining a total of 129.
*Stephane Lasme still leads Euroleague in blocked shots behind 1.96 blocks per game.
*Jonas Maciulis enters the playoffs as the only Panathinaikos player to have been a starter in all games given this season and also one of the only two players, alongside Bramos, who have competed in all the encounters.
*Dimitris Diamantidis is approaching second place on the all time list of assists. He has 791 and needs 7 in order to reach Pablo Prigioni. He is much closer however to becoming the first guard ever to reach 100 blocked shots: He is only a single block shy…
*Roko Leni Ukic is only a triple away from 100 in his Euroleague career.
*Kostas Tsartsaris also needs one three-pointer to hit 100, himself…
“Relations”
*Sarunas Jasikevicius has competed in Panathinaikos for four years… From 2007 to 2010 and during the 2011-12 season. He has been teammates with Dimitris Diamantidis and Kostas Tsartsaris. He is also teammates with fellow Lithuanian Jonas Maciulis on their country’s national squad. Tonight will be game 200 in Euroleague for Jasikevicius.
*James Gist was Nate Jawai’s teammate in Partizan during the 2010-11 season. They conquered the double in Serbia and the Adriatic League.
*Mike Bramos and C.J. Wallace were teammates in Gran Canaria for the 2010-11 season.
