2010-11PlayoffsGame 2
Regal Barcelona 71
Panathinaikos Athens 75
March 24, 2011 CET: 21:15
Local time: 21:15 PALAU BLAUGRANA
Dimitris Diamantidis - Panathinaikos Athens - EB10

Panathinaikos overcame Regal FC Barcelona 71-75

Panathinaikos rounded a perfect night for road teams in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Quarterfinal Playoffs by rallying from a 16-point deficit to edge defending champion Regal FC Barcelona 71-75 in front of a sellout crowd at Palau Blaugrana in Game 2 of their best-of-five Quarterfinal Playoffs series on Thursday. Just as the other three series in the competition, Regal FC Barcelona and Panathinaikos are tied at 1-1, but the Greens host Games 3 and 4 in the Greek capital next week. Romain Sato paced the Greens with 18 points, Dimitris Diamantidis added 17 plus 5 assists, Mike Batiste scored 14 and Drew Nicholas 10 for the winners. Juan Carlos Navarro led Barcelona with 19 points, Alan Anderson and Fran Vazquez had 11 each and Boni Ndong 10 in a losing effort. Navarro had 6 points in a 9-0 run that gave Barcelona an early 11-3 lead. An acrobatic one-handed jumper by Vazquez helped the hosts to keep a 17-10 edge after 10 minutes. Vazquez and Jaka Lakovic shined early in the second quarter to make it a 16-point game. Sato and Batiste tried to change things for Panathinaikos, but only brought the Greens within 38-28 at halftime. An outstanding Diamantidis struck three times from downtown after the break and Sato added two more from beyond the arc in a 0-11 run that completed the Greens' comeback, 57-61, early in the fourth quarter. Batiste and Nicholas helped the guests to get a 62-70 margin with four minutes left. Navarro led the hosts back within 1 in the final minute and Lakovic has a look from downtown that would have put Barca on top in the closing seconds, but it missed and Panathinaikos celebrated a season-changing victory.

Anderson got Barcelona going with a fast break layup that Nick Calathes bettered with a three-point play. Just as in Game 1, Panathinaikos tried to power the offensive boards to prevent fast break points in the early going. Navarro, however, scored in transition, split free throws and fired in a three-pointer from the left corner for an 8-3 Barcelona lead. Panathinaikos tried a more dynamic frontcourt with Batiste and Kostas Kaimakoglou around the baskets. Anderson made a free throw and a hook shot by Kosta Perovic capped a 9-0 Barcelona run. Dimitris Diamantidis hit foul shots, but Vazquez erased them with a floating layup. Batiste stepped up with a fourth-chance tip-in. Barcelona tried Victor Sada on Diamantidis. Drew Nicholas sank a free throw, but Barcelona was all over the place in defense, forcing Panathinaikos into 6 first-quarter turnovers. Vazquez nailed a five-meter shot and matched Nicholas's transition basket with a buzzer-beating one-handed turnaround jumper, good for a 17-10 Barcelona lead after 10 minutes.

Lakovic sank his trademark triple off the dribble to boost Barcelona's lead to double digits, 20-10, early in the second quarter. Batiste sank a mid-range jumper, but Vazquez set the crowd on fire with a two-handed slam. Lakovic sank a close jumper in transition that forced head coach Zeljko Obradovic to stop the game at 24-12. Ndong scored around the basket and Panathinaikos brought Aleks Maric in the game off that timeout. Ndong quickly added an easy basket that broke the game open, 28-12, after 14 minutes. Sato tried to change things with a three-pointer and free throws, as Barcelona struggled to score for the first time tonight. Batiste soon added a power layup to make the hosts call timeout at 28-19. Batiste capped a 0-9 run with a put-back basket but a three-pointer by Erazem Lorbek gave Barcelona some fresh air at 31-21. Batiste kept pacing the Greens with a reverse layup that Ricky Rubio improved with a three-point play. Kostas Tsartsaris shined with an off-balance layup and Nicholas bettered Anderson's jumper with a seven-meter bomb. Free throws by Navarro fixed the halftime score at 38-28.

Anderson nailed a three-pointer off the dribble immediately after the break but free throws by Sato kept Panathinaikos within 41-30. Lorbek shined with a power basket that Diamantidis improved with his trademark corner triple. Anderson answered from downtown but a layup-plus-foul by Antonis Fotsis gave the Greens some hope, 46-36. Panathinaikos had adjusted its defense, forcing Barcelona to take long shots. Nicholas buried a six-meter jumper and a free throw by Diamantidis got Panathinaikos as close as 46-39. Barcelona had been scoreless for more than 4 minutes and a three-pointer by Diamantidis capped a 0-8 Panathinaikos run, 46-42. Lorbek stepped up with free throws and Ndong scored around the basket to get the crowd even more involved at 50-42. Diamantidis insisted from downtown but a jumper by Ndong and a triple by Navarro gave Barcelona a 55-44 lead. Diamantidis nailed another three-pointer and found Calathes for a corner triple but Ndong put in a loose ball for a 57-50 score. Foul shots by Maric and Diamantidis and a buzzer-beating triple by Sato made it a one-point game, 57-56, after 30 minutes.

A layup by an unstoppable Sato completed the guests' comeback, 57-58, early in the fourth quarter. Barcelona could not match the Greens' physicality, which preventing the hosts from circulating the ball. Sato struck from downtown to cap a 0-11 run. Vazquez sank a jumper off a timeout, but Sato bettered that with an incredible three-pointer. Rubio rescued the hosts with a layup-plus-foul only to see Calathes scored in penetration to make it 62-66 with under six minutes to go. Panathinaikos kept forcing the hosts to take off-balance shots and an alley-oop layup by Batiste forced Barcelona to stop the game at 62-68.Nicholas shined with a driving layup and Tsartsaris matched Navarro's free throws with a jump hook. Barcelona tried to speed up the game tempo and Navarro took over with a long triple for a 67-72 deficit with over two minutes remaining. Diamantidis missed from downtown, but Vazquez only made 1 free throw at the other end. Then Panathinaikos managed to burn some clock after a clutch Diamantidis offensive rebounds. But Batiste turned the ball over and Navarro attacked the Greens’ big man for a basket-plus-foul to bring the fans to their feet at 71-72. Not yet in the bonus, Barca had to chase Panathinaikos to foul Fotsis and then Diamantidis. The latter went to the line with 17.5 seconds left, but made just 1 to put his team up 2. Lakovic went for the win with a pull-up triple with time to spare, but missed and Diamantidis managed to get the ball to Batiste for a victory slam as time expired.

Thursday, March 24, 2011
Javier Gancedo, Barcelona
No results found.
Referees: CEREBUCH, GUERRINO; DOZAI, SRDAN; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB
Attendance: 7319 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
Regal Barcelona17211914
Panathinaikos Athens10182819
End of Quarter1234
Regal Barcelona17385771
Panathinaikos Athens10285675
Regal Barcelona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
8 SADA, VICTOR 11:53           2 2 3         2 1 4
9 RUBIO, RICKY 18:22 6 2/3 0/4 2/2 2 1 3     1     1 2 4
10 LAKOVIC, JAKA 18:56 5 1/1 1/6     1 1 2 1 2     2 1 1
11 NAVARRO, JUAN CARLOS 30:34 19 2/4 3/4 6/7 1 1 2 3   4   1 2 8 21
13 PEROVIC, KOSTA 7:30 2 1/1               1 1   1   1
17 VAZQUEZ, FRAN 20:58 11 5/8   1/4 1 1 2       2   3 2 8
20 INGLES, JOE 5:23     0/1   1   1 1             1
21 NDONG, BONIFACE 11:32 10 5/7     1 2 3       1   3 1 10
23 MORRIS, TERENCE 10:53     0/1     2 2     1          
25 LORBEK, ERAZEM 29:00 7 1/2 1/4 2/2 1 3 4 1 2 1     3 6 12
32 ANDERSON, ALAN 32:16 11 2/6 2/4 1/2 1 5 6 1   1 1   2 2 11
44 GRIMAU, ROGER 2:43     0/1                   2   -3
Team             3 3               3
Totals 200:00 71 19/32 7/25 12/17 8 21 29 11 3 11 5 1 21 23 73
        59.4% 28% 70.6%
Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI
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
Panathinaikos Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 TEPIC, MILENKO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6 MARIC, ALEKS 5:19 1 0/1   1/2 2 1 3             2 4
7 PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS 5:24   0/1       1 1         1 1   -2
8 BATISTE, MIKE 27:24 14 7/7     2 2 4     2     3 1 14
9 FOTSIS, ANTONIS 24:45 3 1/2 0/1 1/1 1 3 4 3 2   1   2 3 12
10 SATO, ROMAIN 33:44 18 1/4 4/5 4/4   4 4   1       3 4 20
11 NICHOLAS, DREW 20:06 10 3/6 1/3 1/2   3 3 2   4     4 1 2
12 TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS 15:44 4 2/3       2 2           3   2
13 DIAMANTIDIS, DIMITRIS 35:22 17 1/5 3/6 6/8 1 1 2 5 2 6   2 4 8 13
14 VOUGIOUKAS, IAN 2:05   0/1               1         -2
15 CALATHES, NICK 25:24 8 2/4 1/2 1/1   3 3 2 1     1 3 1 8
18 KAIMAKOGLOU, KOSTAS 4:43   0/2     2   2     2   1     -3
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 75 17/36 9/17 14/18 9 22 31 12 6 15 1 5 23 20 71
        47.2% 52.9% 77.8%
Head coach: OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO

Head Coaches

PASCUAL, XAVI
Regal Barcelona
"I think there were two different games within this game. The first game took place until the final 30 seconds of the third quarter and the second one came from that moment until the final buzzer. From our point of view, we were not called for 3-4 fouls in the same offensive option, especially one on Nick Calathes when Juan Carlos Navarro was shooting. We were not called for the foul, got a technical foul against us and all of a sudden, from having a 6-point lead with a good chance to make it an 8-point game, we went down to a 1-point lead and a new game started. I think it is unfair for what we showed on court today. We played against a first-level team tonight, a very talented squad in all positions. From that moment, we were not the same team in defense and Panathinaikos played with confidence, hitting every open shot and taking advantage of our weaknesses. Panathinaikos was in the game at all times and I give them credit for that, but that moment happened and I don't think what happened was fair. We played really well against their mixed and zone defenses in the first quarter, finding easy baskets and with some brightness in offense. We didn't make those shots after that and you pay for that against a first-level team."
OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos Athens
"We spoke on Tuesday about how different Game 2 would be. Barcelona had a strong start, was very motivated and found easy baskets in the first half. We were shy in the beginning, especially in offense. We had a lot of problems scoring and missed very easy shots, then didn't find the way to prevent Barcelona from using its full court press. We didn't move the ball the right way and try to penetrate. We had to change after the break and we did, playing much better in the second half. We played good defense, but above all, were very smart in offense, taking advantage of our players' skills. It was important to get players off the bench to help the game just 48 hours after Game 1. I am very happy with Romain Sato's work tonight. He was completely out two days ago and had a great game tonight. When you play a series between such strong teams, you need people that offer you good things. They dominated in the first half and we were slow, without good ideas in offense. Defense was not such a big problem even though we made some mistakes. We improved at both ends, especially on offense, after the break. It is very difficult to play with the same concentration and motivation after just 48 hours. Everyone needs to offer some help, whether they play 2 minutes or 32. You have to keep in mind the physical and psychological condition of your players. All the series are 1-1 and this is very interesting. It is what the Euroleague needs - that people talk about basketball and see good games everywhere - Athens, Madrid, Vitoria, Tel Aviv, Siena, everywhere."

Players

GRIMAU, ROGER
Regal Barcelona
"We have to recover from this loss, it has to make us grow and improve. The first half of the game looked easy for us but as we have said from the beginning of the series, they are experienced and they know how to play this game."
NAVARRO, JUAN CARLOS
Regal Barcelona
"The game had two parts: in the first one we dominated the game but in the second half they killed us. It's not possible that you receive 28 points in one quarter if you are in the Euroleague Playoffs. We lost concentration. We had defended well their pick and roll with Dimitris Diamantidis but after that they killed us. We will try to win now in Athens to stay alive, we can only think about the next game. The referees didn't have any impact on the outcome of the game. We were too focused on their decisions instead of playing the game. It was our fault."
LORBEK, ERAZEM
Regal Barcelona
"We played a balanced game again but this time in the second half we had many mistakes that cost us. Panathinaikos didn't let us play and in the next game we will have to work in order to find better options. We have to focus on playing since now we have to win at least one game in Athens. It won't be easy but we will try by improving our defense."
RUBIO, RICKY
Regal Barcelona
"We had the game under control but in the third quarter we were out of the game. The referees are no excuse, it's part of the game. We have to recover now from this loss. In the first half we did good in offense but in the second half we failed both in offense and also defense which never allowed us to be really back into the game. We have to think about the next game now. It will be hard to win in OAKA but we will try."
SATO, ROMAIN
Panathinaikos Athens
"This is a very big win for us. We played much harder in the second half, came out after the break ready to play good defense and were just fine. Barcelona is a good team, very tough to beat especially at home, so once again this is a key win for us. Right now, having the home-court advantage doesn't mean much. We can go back to Athens, but if we don't play well, we will lose for sure. We have to take care of business at home and have to keep fighting, that is the main key to winning the series."
CALATHES, NICK
Panathinaikos Athens
"This is a big win that gives us some momentum to go back to our place. It is still another game. We have to take care of business and it doesn't matter if we play at home or not. I am sure our fans will help us, but we have to prepare, get ready and have the same focus that we had in these two games. Any team can get to the Final Four, anybody can win the championship. We need to have the right mindset coming in and both games in Athens are going to be battles. We have to come ready and focused."
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