
A promise is made to be kept.
So, exactly as promised by the players,
Panathinaikos came up as the conqueror of the
encounter. Clearly supreme on the floor, there
where it counts, Panathinaikos overcame its great
rival Olympiakos by 86-69 in game 7, praise to
team-work, featuring different players in the
game’s driver’s seat at all different given
periods of time, all the way down to the final
buzzer. The brilliance that Panathinaikos seemed
to have in the beginning of the game soon showed
up on the score-board in its lead to its opponent,
as the first half of the encounter cruised towards
its fulfillment. Hard defense, feeding the ball
into the paint, but also diversity of
collaborations that led to orientate unguarded
field shots where a few of the ingredients that
both teams used to cook things up on the court.
Panathinaikos got away by a slim gap, creating a
+6 lead (17-11 at 9’), but Olympiakos made a hasty
come-back, reduced the difference and took over
the game’s reigns (22-24, 13’15’’). Round about
this time Zeljko Obradovic saw his guys seek and
consequently find solutions, show patience in
offense and team-spirit in defense. A lethal
combination that allowed them with a 13-to-2 run
get to +11 (from 28-28 at 14’30’’ to 41-30 at
18’30’’) with a triple connected by Vassilis
Spanoulis and two shots from the line a few
moments after, yet again by Spanoulis (43-32 at
18’45’’), half-time score formulating at the final
43-35. After the score turned to 45-35 at 21’,
Olympiakos took advantage of rebounds and a slight
disorientation from the “Greens” camp, creeping up
to 47-44 (23’20’’).
With Nikola Pekovic in the
leading role, Panathinaikos’ answer was put in
loud and clear in the encounter, then all players
joined the party to get their team established at
56-44 (26’). Things started to settle in the game,
as the “Greens” galloped to a wholesome +16
margin, striding in their own rhythm (65-49,
28’45’’), third quarter ending at 63-52. The gap
returned to its +16 form with a monster dunk by
Mike Batiste (68-52, 32’), who then sent the
lead into a greater league (+17, 72-55 at 34’30’’)
and next it was Saras Jasikevicius’ turn to expand
Olympiakos’ trail by unleashing a trifecta and
sending the score to 75-57 at 35’10’’,
Panathinaikos at +18. Victory was painted green
and the “three-leaf clover team” spiced up things
offering show-time plays, at every possible
chance. Nikola Pekovic tallied the over-impressive
personal stat 9-out of-9 two-pointers, minutes
before Nicholas got the team to +19 (81-62 at
37’30). The final score came round to 86-69 the
buzzer wrung, yet another prevalence of
Panathinaikos over Olympiakos was a fact and
curtains fell in the” packed to the rim” OAKA
stadium.
*The official roster did not
include Fragiskos Alvertis and Dimitris
Verginis.
Referees: Zavlanos,
Christodoulou, Schinas
Quarters: 18-15, 43-35,
63-52, 86-69
Panathinaikos
(Obradovic): Kecman 2, Spanoulis 5 (4as.),
Batiste 9 (7reb), Fotsis 7, Nicholas 15,
Tsartsaris 3, Diamantidis 16(4as, 5stl), Pekovic
21, Jasikevicius 8
Olympiakos (Yannakis):
Papaloukas 2, Pelekanos, Childress 11, Vujcic 5,
Printezis 7, Bourousis 5, Halperin 20, Greer 2,
Erceg 7, Vasilopoulos, Teodosic 2, Schortsanitis
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