A1 Final: Panathinaikos - Olympiakos

[Seb12]

A great game last night! Panathinaikos won 86-85 in the last seconds of the over time. I recommend this game to everyone who likes good basketball matches, it was even better from the euroleague final! All greek basketball fans wish for more games like this.

Here is a video of Diamantidis blocking Acker. Watch the time, only 15 seconds before the end of the game, Acker steals the ball and it looks like Olympiakos will win this match. But "3D" has a different opinion. Pini Gherson, Olympiakos coach, said in the press conference after the match that "If Acker had experience he would sent Diamantidis to change the lights of the stadium and we would go ahead with 3 points"...

[Black Urum]

So, due to lost data i will make a new topic, just for the Finals series.

Anything you wanna write post about the finals should go here and not in A1 topic.

[Black Urum]

Hey Seb, did you happen to find Batiste's 3pointer on youtube?

[Black Urum]

So the series are on 2-1 to Panathinaikos right now.

A little reminder of what happened in previous games:

Game 1: OAKA:

Panathinaikos 79-72 Olympiakos

Some pictures from the game:















Game 2: SEF:

Olympiakos 76-72 Panathinaikos

Some pictures from the game:





Game 3: OAKA:

Panathinaikos 86-85 Olympiakos at OT

Tip: Click on the Games to see full stats in english.

[Black Urum]

I've found some Game 3 highlights on youtube, including Batiste's 3pointer.



All Olympiakos' points in this video from Game 2:



Enjoy.

[Black Urum]

Some pictures from older Panathinaikos-Olympiakos games.



For olders to remember and younger to learn.







Batiste-Zizic







Tsartsaris-Schortsianitis-Hatzivrettas







Penn-Dikoudis







Bodiroga-Komazec







Komazec-Ekonomou-Bodiroga







Vrankovic-Sigalas-Yiannakis







Zarko Paspalj







Eddie Johnson







Tomic-Bodiroga fight







Tomic-Bidiroga fight again







Sigalas-Vrankovic







Alvertis-Ekonomou







Bagatsias-Skonokini







Bodiroga-Tarlac







Rivers-Dinkins

[Black Urum]

Wilkins-Nakic







Wilkins-Sigalas







Fassoulas-Vrankovic







Papadopoulos-De Miguel







Vrankovic-Ioannides







Middleton-Radja







Kalaitzis-Papaloukas







Radja-Fassoulas







Tarlac-Radja







Rebraca-Radja







Scott-Nakic

[Black Urum]

Photos from Game 3:

[Black Urum]

As i posted in another forum

What a fucking great game. I'm just happy i was there and saw it.

At 77-73 or something and ball for Pana me and my friend were saying

'Imagine the match going to OT', then came Acker with that leathal 3pointer to set us on fire.

First thing i remember from the game, without even looking at stats, was Oly's missed FT, seems that pressure got even to Macas.

Schrotsianitis played only 3 minutes (why?) and had 0/4 FT!

It's not the first time i notice it so i ll say it. Everytime Macas is on fire making a couple of good shots, Gershon takes him out, and of course Macas reacts badly, everytime he took him out Macas would whine and whine and telling Sferopoulos (Oly's assistant) to tell Gershon to out him back in. It was amusing.

As i predicted Penn and Bouroussis stepped up for Oly again, don't know what happens to them in OAKA. But everytime Penn scores about 20 points Oly loses, last Sunday he scored like 4 points and they won. Bouroussis didn't make a single shot from the paint though. And he scored 20 points!

Papamakarios and Harisis didn't help Penn, they couldn't anyway due to their limited playtime. Half of the times it was Acker who carried the ball to offence.

And again he was a non-factor, just 3points forty seconds from time. He didn't even take shots.

While Pana's 3 PF+C (Tomasevic, Tsartsaris, Batiste) had 52 points and 19 rebounds and Zizic, Bouroussis were fould out and Gershon used Barlos and Schortsianitis for a total of 5 minutes, a big mistake imo.

As for Panathinaikos i liked Batiste, who is the man with the balls (3pointer + goal foul in SEF in regular season, fade away shot in front of Andersen in Euroleague Final and now this fade away 3point from the angle). A well deserved double double.

Tsartsaris made up for his bad game in SEF and, at last, blocked Bouroussis.

I said that Diamantidis should step up in the lattest moments of the games and i couldn't ask for more tonight. 10 points+ 7 rebounds+ 4 assists. Another near double double.

What is Obradovic waiting and he doesn't offer Tomasevic a new contract? He didn't play one time vs Olympiakos (in February, regular season) and we lost. And to think he was out of A1 aquad in favour of Javtokas for 15+ games. 15 points in 16 minutes and he loaded Oly's tall guys with 4 fouls.

Another mediocre game for both Siska and Becirovic. Come on, you can do better.

Dikoudis and Vujanic were non-factors. Something usual for Dikoudis of course.

Alvertis 5 points, 3 fouls won, 3 rebounds and 1 steal in 5 minutes. Good job.

Should be a good game in Sunday

[TalkBasket]

These series are very tight and interesting. Every game is a thriller. I can only imagine the atmosphere there. You should really be happy to see the game live Arkadios.

Macas seems to have troubles with coaches since he moved to NBA. He was arguing with Antanas Sireika at the WBC. He was qouted by media shouting "do something!" at Sireika. Of course there were many other reasons that made him angry. Anyway a player must respect the decisions that coach make. I didn't see the game and I can't judge but acting like them certainly does not help the team chemistry.

[Seb12]

Macas was on fire and then Gherson subs him out. After 20-30 seconds, he subs him in again. Like trying to make him cold again!

Schortsianitis wouldn't be able to follow the game's tempo, imagine a player of his weight running too much. He couldn't be able to breathe...

[Black Urum]

Vilius, no wonder he shouted at Sireika, he even made him a PG at WBC!

As for Gershon, sometimes he thinks he is a handball coach, he uses one player in offense and then replaces him with another payer to play defense and so on... of course this is a bit frustrating and takes a player totally out of play.

Besides, now that Macas is over his injury his feet are really fast and he plays good defense, he steals, he dives for the ball etc...

Vilius the game is available on torrents, if you have fast internet i'd recommend you to download it for your archive. I already have, just finished watching it again.

[TalkBasket]

Vilius the game is available on torrents, if you have fast internet i'd recommend you to download it for your archive. I already have, just finished watching it again.

Definately. I am already making my collection and have a few games already

[Aspa#13]

I saw the 3rd game live and oh my God it was amazing! It was the first time I watched a game between PAO and OSFP live and the atmosphere was great. Diamantidis was awesome

[Black Urum]

From http://www.fibaeurope.com

Diamantidis Plays Down Heroics

If players won titles and medals for modesty, Greece and Panathinaikos star Dimitris Diamantidis would have added twice as many gongs and trinkets to his already-glittering collection.

The 27-year-old playmaker, whose last-gasp rebound basket clinched a thrilling 86-85 overtime victory over Olympiacos on Wednesday night to move the Greens 2-1 ahead in the play-off finals, was the recipient of gushing praise from coach Zelimir Obradovic.

"Both you and I know that Panathinaikos is a different team with Dimitris Diamantidis," said Obradovic in the post-game press conference.

"Dimitris makes a lot of blocks and rebounds because he has awesome timing. He has an amazing defensive game."

Diamantidis, however, was typically self-effacing in his response to his coach's comments.

"The team is not only about me. I thank the coach for his good words, but we are a team of 15 players and this is the secret of our success," he said.

"We have achieved everything we have because we play together as a team, a squad."

There was no doubt that the two points Diamantidis scored with just five seconds remaining were his most important of the ten he contributed on the night.

But it is his superb all-around game and teamwork which has made the man from Kastoria in northern Greece almost indispensable to Obradovic and a vital member of the National Team squad.

Since joining Pana in 2004 he has helped the team to the title in each of his two seasons, as well as two Greek Cups.

He was also an integral part of Pana's Euroleague victory earlier this year and a key member of the Greek National Team which triumphed at EuroBasket 2005 and finished runners-up to Spain in last year's FIBA World Championships.

His commitment and never-say-die attitude has made him a firm favourite with Pana's fervent supporters.

"What remains is the victory and this is most important," Diamantidis continued.

"When you are on the court sometimes you think you are alone, but there is a lot to think about and the most important thing is to get the win.

"Every player plays in the game and if he can help his team he will do it. I want to say congratulations to both my own teammates and the players of Olympiacos.

"It's great for basketball in this country to see two teams playing with such intensity."

Indeed, Wednesday's enthralling encounter was hailed by the Greek media as one of the most exciting matches ever in the domestic championship.

Buoyed by their battling late victory in game two to level the series, Pini Gershon's Olympiacos side were more than a match for a dominant Panathinaikos outfit who have won eight Greek titles in the last nine seasons.

With big displays from Scoonie Penn - who was the game's top scorer with 22 points - and Giannis Bourousis in particular, Olympiacos led the match at both half-time and the end of the third quarter before the late heroics of Diamantidis.

Diamantidis is expecting another tough test in Sunday's game four, but he is hopeful of helping Obradovic's troops celebrate yet another title success with a victory.

He added: "We showed a lot of heart and we will need this for the next game at the SEF (Peace and Friendship stadium).

"We will prepare well and we'll go there to win the championship."

[Black Urum]

So, the next final is on Sunday. (17:45 CET)

Olympiakos desperately needs to win this as it is their last chance to take the serioes to a 5th game. Panathinaikos on the other hand has less pressure as they still have 2 more game to win the champioship and the treble.

Some analysts claim that in Sunday Obradovic will order the playerswho will be marked by Macas to post him and try to load him with fouls so he withdrawn to the bench and plays as little time as possible as he is not only Olympiakos' clutch but he also makes his teammates better.

On the other hand Gershon will order the player who is marked by Diamantidis is Panathinaikos' defense to take shots, so Diamantidis can not offer defensive helps to Panathinaikos tall guys, like he does with a lot of success.

Also Schortsianitis will be used more so the ball doesn't go to Tomasevic.

Obradovic will play all 12 players he got this time because Olympiakos' defense will be much more physical this time and a lot of hand checkings are expected.

[TalkBasket]

These tactical games should be great to watch. All games were very tight and this will be no exception since Oly has nowhere to hide.

[Aspa#13]

According to this article (it's in Greek tho) the massive fans of Olympiakos will be there tomorrow

http://www.sport24.gr/html/ent/590/ent.183590.asp

[Seb12]

9 championships in 10 years for Panathinaikos and their first triple crown.

A lot of good games in this "Greek Final 4", hope we have a revanche next year!

[rikhardur]

Congratulations to Panathinaikos. Great season crowned with a triple