2006-07Regular SeasonRound 10
January 03, 2007 CET: 19:45
Local time: 20:45 OAKA

Panathinaikos increased its Euroleague-best record to 10-0 with an 83-74 win over visiting Union Olimpija Ljubljana

Panathinaikos increased its Euroleague-best record to 10-0 on Wednesday with an 83-74 win over visiting Union Olimpija Ljubljana at the OAKA Olympic Hall. Olimpija challenged Panathinaikos from start to finished and clawed its way to within 73-70 with 4:20 remaining, but didn't have enough to finish the job. Kostas Tsartsaris had 17 points in 22 minutes to lead the Greek champs, who were playing without injured power forward Mike Batiste. Ramunas Siskauskas and Demos Dikoudis added 13 each and Dejan Tomasevic had 12. Teemu Rannikko led Olimpija with 18 points and 5 assists, Manu Markoishvilli finished with 14, Marko Milic 12 and Domen Lorbek 10. The Slovenian champs slipped to 2-8 and saw their slim chances to advance to the Top 16 slip even further away. Panathinaikos looked to pull away in the second period when it built a 44-31 lead, but Olimpija cut the gap to 47-37 at halftime. Panathinaikos went up 15 in the third, but again Olimpija fought back with 11 unanswered points. However in the end, the hosts proved to be the stronger and more experienced side down the stretch and held on for the win.

Early three-pointers by Rannikko and Manu Markoishvilli helped the visitors storm out to a 6-8 lead. However, it wasn’t long before the hosts lived up to their billing. Tony Delk and Dimos Dikoudis combined for 9 points during a 12-0 run that gave Panathinaikos an 18-8 lead midway through the first period, prompting Olimpija coach Gasper Okorn to call timeout. Rannikko came back with his second triple of the night and then Lorbek copied him to cut the margin to 4. Milos Vujanic came off the bench to first connect on a three-pointer and then hit a pair of free throws to keep Panathinaikos in charge, despite 4 points by Milic. In the ensuing possessions, the guests took advantage of some lousy defensive plays by Panathinaikos and pulled within 25-22 by the end of the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Tsartsaris heated up with 5 points for a 30-22 lead. Markoishvilli retorted with a drive, but Siskauskas bettered him from downtown, igniting an 8-0 run that was capped by Tsartsaris. Olimpija started to struggle on offense, missing eight field goals in a row, while Panathinaikos’s backcourt players were pushing the ball and extended the advantage to double digits, 44-31, with 1:30 to go. Lorbek finally ended the dry spell for the guests with a triple from the corner to cut the deficit to 47-37 at halftime and keep his team’s chances for the much coveted upset win alive.

The second half commenced with Delk and Milic exchanging baskets, until defensive specialist Dimitrios Diamantidis picked Rannikko’s pocket and finished the break with authority for a 53-41 lead. Panathinaikos found a go-to-guy in Dikoudis, who tipped the ball in and then fed Delk for an uncontested lay-up and a 57-42 advantage midway through the period. Rannikko was not willing to go down without a fight and buried a triple and on the following possession Saulius Kuzminskas scored on the offensive glass. Panathinaikos coach Zelimir Obradovic took a timeout and sent captain Fragiskos Alvertis in. Olimpija tightened its defense, causing trouble for the hosts, who could not find any open shots and started to look a bit lethargic. Markoishvilli nailed one from beyond the arc, yet Alvertis gunned from downtown to allow Panathinaikos to hold 60-51 advantage. Markoishvilli stepped up once again, but Vujanic picked up the scoring slack for the hosts and upped the ante with a triple of his own and a 65-56 lead with one period left.

Tsartsaris opened the fourth quarter with a three-point play and soon Siskauskas scored an off-balance shot, as the gap soared to 70-56. Olimpija clawed its way back and when Ender Arslan drained a three-point rocket, he frustrated the noisy crowd and capped a jaw-dropping 0-11 run. Free throws from Ivica Jurkovic pulled Olimpija within 73-70 with 4:20 left and it looked as though the outcome of the match would go down the wire as neither team was able to pull away. Panathinaikos was held without a basket for more than five minutes, however Olimpija did not complete its comeback, due to its offensive blues down the stretch. When Tsartsaris galloped for a two-handed dunk after an assist from Sani Becirovic, the Greens went up 79-72 and Olimpija threw in the white towel, watching Panathinaikos march towards its 10th straight win.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Danos Tsakalos, Athens
No results found.
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; CHIARI, ROBERTO; PEREZ, EMILIO
Attendance: 8500
By Quarter1234
Panathinaikos Athens25221818
Union Olimpija22151918
End of Quarter1234
Panathinaikos Athens25476583
Union Olimpija22375674
Panathinaikos Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ALVERTIS, FRAGISKOS 10:00 3   1/4             1     1 1 -1
5 DELK, TONY 17:30 9 4/7 0/1 1/1 1 1 2 1   2   1 2 2 5
7 BECIROVIC, SANI 18:15 2 1/2       2 2 5   1     1   6
9 SISKAUSKAS, RAMUNAS 30:00 13 3/4 1/4 4/5 1 2 3 2 1 1     1 5 17
10 HATZIVRETTAS, NIKOS 12:00 2 1/1             1       2 3 4
11 DIKOUDIS, DIMOS 18:15 13 5/5 0/2 3/4 1 5 6 2   2     1 2 17
12 TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS 22:00 17 6/8 1/4 2/3 2 3 5 1   1 1   4 2 15
13 DIAMANTIDIS, DIMITRIS 28:30 2 1/1 0/3     2 2 1 2 3 1   5 3  
15 TOMASEVIC, DEJAN 20:00 12 5/5   2/6 1 3 4 1 1 2     2 5 15
16 SAKOTA, DUSAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 VUJANIC, MILOS 14:45 8   2/4 2/2         1 2     4 2 3
19 JAVTOKAS, ROBERTAS 8:45 2 1/1   0/1   1 1 1 1 1     4 1  
Team             3 3               3
Totals 200:00 83 27/34 5/22 14/22 6 22 28 14 7 16 2 1 27 26 84
        79.4% 22.7% 63.6%
Head coach: OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Union Olimpija
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ARSLAN, ENDER 21:00 9 1/2 1/7 4/4   1 1 2 3 1     1 3 9
8 RIZVIC, HASAN 18:15   0/5     4 3 7     3 1 1 2 1 -2
9 RANNIKKO, TEEMU 35:00 18 2/3 3/7 5/6   2 2 5   2     1 4 20
10 HOHLER, DEJAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 MARKOISHVILI, MANUCHAR 33:45 14 2/5 3/5 1/2 1 2 3   2       4 5 14
12 MILIC, MARKO 25:30 12 5/8   2/4 3 1 4 2   8   1 5 4 3
13 JURKOVIC, IVICA 20:30 5 0/1 0/5 5/6 1 4 5   1 1     4 4 3
14 KUZMINSKAS, SAULIUS 15:45 6 2/3   2/4 1 2 3           5 3 4
21 CEBULAR, SANDI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 LORBEK, DOMEN 30:15 10 1/4 2/3 2/2 1 5 6   1       4 3 12
54 PIETRAS, KAMIL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           3 1 4               4
Totals 200:00 74 13/31 9/27 21/28 14 21 35 9 7 15 1 2 26 27 67
        41.9% 33.3% 75%
Head coach: OKORN, GASPER
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos Athens
"I appreciate the fact that our fans proved once again their loyalty and came to the stadium to support us. As I’ve said before without fans, there is actually no reason to fight. At times we played well tonight, yet it is imperative to speed up our tempo if we want to achieve our goals. Congratulations to my players. There is no doubt that the 10-0 record is important. However, we should stay focused and keep improving even though we have qualified. By doing that, we will show that we respect ourselves and the people who come here to applaud us."
OKORN, GASPER
Union Olimpija
"I would like to congratulate Panathinaikos. We knew before the game that it has a great team with a deep bench, a team that aims at winning the trophy. We wanted to prove that we can compete against the top-level teams and so we did. I am satisfied with our defensive effort during the second half. We had some chances to grab the victory, but in the final minutes we did many turnovers and failed to punish Panathinaikos. On the other hand, despite being defeated tonight it is encouraging that we hit more free throws and grabbed more rebounds that our opponent did”.

Players

DIKOUDIS, DIMOS
Panathinaikos Athens
"This team has many great players who can contribute and step up. We proved that down the stretch we are concentrated enough to seal the victory. We are still unbeaten and we have qualified, yet we are not going to relax. On the contrary, we’ll use the remaining games, so as to enhance our performance and be ready once the second phase begins."
DELK, TONY
Panathinaikos Athens
"The Euroleague is no doubt a competitive competition. We should keep playing hard regardless our streak. We have to keep winning. It was the first game of the year tonight and as a result -since we hadn’t played for a while- few guys were out of shape. We will work hard to get our rhythm back."
RANNIKKO, TEEMU
Union Olimpija
“We played a pretty good game. With three minutes to go, we had pulled within two points, but then a couple of turnovers and a few missed three-point shots were enough for Panathinaikos to win the game. We played good defense, as we didn’t allow many open shots in the second half and forced some turnovers. It was good to come back, yet once again we failed to grab the valuable away win. Regarding our qualification chances, of course, playing like this, it gives you more hope. Still though, we have to win all the remaining games, which is not the easiest thing to do. We'll do everything we can, so as to keep our qualification chances alive”.
MILIC, MARKO
Union Olimpija
"It was a tough game and we almost escaped with the victory. However, in the last minutes we did many mistakes and they punished with some easy baskets in the paint. We had our chance but we blew it. Panathinaikos is a great team and did not allow us to overcome our mistakes and rally back."
No results found.