After a twenty-three games winning streak at home, Unicaja Malaga couldn't make it against one of the most powerful teams in Europe, Panathinaikos. A very bad last quarter gave the match to greek team 69-81.
Next twenty minutes both teams were really close, scoring easy baskets. Unicaja was having its day from behind the arc. The game was faster, and it helped Thomas Kelati'game. He scored eight points in this quarter, alongside with three consecutive three-pointers by Omar Cook. on the other side, Sarunas Jasikevicius was playing probably his best game this year, and scored ten points. At the end of first twenty minutes, the result was 45-44. This promised a really close end.
On the third quarter Panathinaikos tried to end the game, and got a good advantage of five points, but Unicaja managed to tie the game thanks to great defense and Haislip's game. The zonal defense was not a good weapon for the local team, since Diamantidis, Spanoulis and Jasikevicius were having their day.
But on the last quarter, Drew Nicholas appeared. He scored eleven decisive points for his team, when nobody expected him to be so determining. And this player, "center of the future" Pekovic, and zonal defense of Panathinaikos, made Unicaja score two points in almost eight minutes !! That great shooting percenteage of the first half was gone, and obviously, Obradovic's players got a great advantage which wouldn't lose in the end, and took the win from an almost unbeatable arena.
The best players in the end were Cook and Haislip for the local side, and Nicholas, Pekovic, Diamantidis and Jasikevicius for the greek team. This result puts Panathinaikos on top of group G with two wins, and Unicaja stays with that important one got in Rome.
