2002-03Top 16Round 3
March 19, 2003 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 A.C. SPORTING

Panathinaikos turned back a major challenge to its Euroleague title defense on Wednesday by coming from 13 points behind in the second half to down visiting Ulker 78-74. Greens captain Fragiskos Alvertis, in his first game back after pneumonia, led the winners with 17 points, including 4 of 5 three-pointers, one of which was the game-winner with over 3 minutes remaining. Defense ruled thereafter, and Ulker did not score again. With chances to both tie and win the game in the final 10 seconds, Melvin Booker of Ulker missed a three-pointer and a pair of free throws. As such, Panathinaikos raised its record to 2-1 in Group E, while Ulker dropped to a highly precarious 0-3. Antonis Fotsis added 15 points for Panathianikos, Arriel McDonald and George Kalaitzis 10 each. For Ulker, regular season MVP Josep Blair led the way with 20 points, Booker added 17 and Harun Erdenay 11. Panathinaikos was unlucky from the start of the game. Just 23 seconds after tipoff, center Darryl Middleton injured his head trying to catch the ball on offense. He was replaced by Lazaros Papadopoulos, who scored his team's first 4 points with his excellent left-hand hook shot over Joseph Blair. Both teams tried to run and create fastbreak opportunities, with Erdenay once again showing his shooting ability by dropping 2 three-pointers in 4 minutes, good for an 8-10 Ulker lead. Ibrahim Kutluay scored his first basket agains his Turkish national teammate Haluk Yildirim to put the Greens up 16-14 after 6 minutes, and soon after McDonald's three-pointer upped the lead to 21-16. But Ulker reacted immediately and effectively, thanks to good defense and fastbreaks, cutting the margin to 21-20. Fotsis now knocked down a triple for Panathinaikos, but Blair showed his flair with an outstanding three-pointer from midcourt on the buzzer to close the first-quarter scoreboard at 24-23.

Blair, the Euroleague regular season MVP, boosted his personal point total to 13 in 11 minutes while triggering a 0-6 run to start the second quarter. Panathinaikos struggled to find open shots or get offensive rebounds. Ulker was able to run and to shoot the ball with good accuracy, especially from the corners. Halfway through the quarter, Serkan Erdogan hit another three-pointer for a 27-34 Ulker lead. Soon, Miljan Goljevic copied him and the visitors were ahead by double digits, 28-37, after an absolutely dominating 4-14 run based on great shots, excellent defense and the superiority of Blair and Booker. Thanks to its captain, Frangiskos Alvertis, the Greens revived. Alvertis scored 7 quick points and forced Goljevic to commit 4 fouls to put Panathinaikos within 35-37. The Greens found their defensive spirit but also the offensive options they missed so far. Giorgos Balogiannis came off the bench to add 5 consecutive points which tied the game 40-40. At the end of the first half Ulker was ahead, 40-42, as Blair was up to 15 points already.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Ulker seemed unstoppable again. Head coach Tolga Ongoren put Booker and Tutku Acik together on the court and the Turkish team made a 10-0 run in less than 3 minutes to leap ahead 40-52. Jaka Lakovic broke the ice for Panathinaikos after 3 minutes, but Booker hit another three pointer, giving Ulker a maximum margin of 13 points, 42-55. After 25 minutes of play, Middleton was injured again and Obradovic called Fotsis from the bench just to shopt the free throws. Fotsis didn't miss the opportunity to score, but also delivered some major defense against Blair! And with Fotsis shutting down Blair while scoring 8 points himself, the Greens started rising again. Giorgos Kalaitzis and McDonald added great perimeter defense, especially against Booker, and some very important field goals as the Greens tore off a 20-3 run to lead 62-58. That same four-point margin held at the end of 30 minutes, with Panathinaikos ahead 64-60.

Ulker started the fourth quarter in a 2-3 zone defense and once again found fastbreaks when Panathinaikos missed. Those easy baskets tied it 66-66, but Alvertis re-emerged to hit a three-pointer for 69-66. Blair and Booker would not give up that quickly, however, and they both scored again to in a 0-7 Ulker run to a 69-73 lead. But Panathinaikos answered with its own string of 7 unanswered points, sealed with a three-pointer scored by Alvertis, for a 76-73 with 3 minutes and 20 seconds left. The defenses prevailed on the next possessions, building suspense for a thrilling finish. Erdogan scored 1 for 2 free throws to pull Ulker within 76-74, and then Lakovic made a turnover that gave the visitors a chance to tie or win the game. Booker was fated, however, to miss when it counted most. His three-point try to win it failed with 9 seconds left, and then he went to the line for potential game-tying free throws with 4 seconds left: neither went through. Kutluay made 2 for 2 from the foul line after that to seal the victory and give Panathinaikos new life in Group E.

Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Vassilis Skountis, Athens
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Referees: RAMOS, MATEO; COLUCCI, GENARO; BITTON, MOSHE
Attendance: 1500
By Quarter1234
Panathinaikos24162414
Ulker23191814
End of Quarter1234
Panathinaikos24406478
Ulker23426074
Panathinaikos
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ALVERTIS, FRAGISKOS 29:00 17 1/2 4/5 3/4   2 2 1         4 8 21
5 KALAITZIS, GEORGIOS 19:00 10 3/4 1/1 1/1   2 2 3   1     3 1 11
6 PAPADOPOULOS, LAZAROS 5:00 4 2/2                         4
7 LAKOVIC, JAKA 20:00 2 1/4 0/1         3   4     4   -7
8 FOTSIS, ANTONIS 27:00 15 3/5 2/3 3/3   3 3   3 1     3 4 18
9 BALLOGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 7:00 5   1/2 2/2         1       1 1 5
10 KUTLUAY, IBRAHIM 38:00 10 2/5 0/4 6/6 2 3 5 1   1     1 5 12
11 MIDDLETON, DARRYL 27:00 5 2/4   1/1 1   1 1 4 3     3 3 6
12 TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS 5:00                     1       1
14 McDONALD, ARRIEL 23:00 10 3/4 1/3 1/1   1 1 4 1 2     2 2 11
17 VIDALIS, CHRISTOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team             5 5               5
Totals 200:00 78 17/30 9/19 17/18 3 16 19 13 9 12 1 0 21 24 87
        56.7% 47.4% 94.4%
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
Ulker
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ERDOGAN, SERKAN 20:00 9 1/4 2/4 1/2 1 2 3 2 3 2   1 2 3 9
5 BOOKER, MELVIN 38:00 17 5/7 1/5 4/6   3 3 3 1 3     2 9 20
6 ABI, MUSTAFA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 PACHULIA, ZAZA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 GOLJOVIC, MILJAN 13:00 3 0/1 1/2 0/2   2 2           5 1 -3
9 ERDENAY, HAKKI HARUN 26:00 11 1/2 2/3 3/4   1 1 3   2     4 4 10
10 BLAIR, JOSEPH 40:00 20 8/10 1/1 1/1 2 7 9 2 3 3     2 1 28
11 ACIK, TUTKU 14:00 8 2/2 1/1 1/1       1   1     1 2 9
12 GONLUM, KEREM 4:00   0/1           1              
13 SOLAK, FATIH DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 YILDIRIM, HALUK 21:00 2 1/1 0/1     1 1 1 1 1     5   -2
15 PRASKEVICIUS, VIRGINIJUS 24:00 4 2/3     2 2 4 2 1 5     3 1 3
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 74 20/31 8/17 10/16 5 19 24 15 9 17 0 1 24 21 75
        64.5% 47.1% 62.5%
Head coach: ONGOREN, MEVLUT
This game has no play by play yet

Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos
"It was a game with a lot of changes and a lot of good things, but also a lot of mistakes. Of course, the positive thing is that we won and we showed good character when Ulker was leading. We kept our concentration, every player kept his focus and the fans helped us a lot. Sure, when I called Fotsis to replace Middleton, we took advantage of that, since Antonis is a better shooter and scorer than Tsartsaris or Papadopoulos. We had already tried this scheme, with Fotsis or another power forward with four small guys, but you cannot play all the time with this kind of lineup."
ONGOREN, MEVLUT
Ulker
"I would like to congratulate Panahinaikos for its win. It was a game with a lot of ups and downs and if you have so many, especially on defense, you cannot beat Panathinaikos. When Panathinaikos played with Fotsis and four guards, we had a problem, but I decided to stay with Blair on the court and to take advantage of his superiority under the boards. Unfortunately, it didn't work. We took advantage of the zone defense but at the end we missed a three-pointer and two free throws to win the game or to play the overtime. Now we will keep playing and trying for the best. Concerning our group, I believe that it is the toughest and the most interesting. Now Panathinaikos has a lot of chances to make the Final Four."

Players

ALVERTIS, FRAGISKOS
Panathinaikos
"It was a very interesting game and I am sorry for the basketball fans who don't have the opportunity to watch such a game on TV. Ulker was playing its last card for the qualification, but we were ready for a tough and decisive must-win game. At the end the game was thrilling, but we played with character, heart, good defense and we didn't lose our concentration. To be honest, sometimes you feel you will never lose: it's a result of experience. Today I had this feeiling, that's why I tried to give some fire to my teammates. We want to go to Barcelona and to win the fourth trophy."
ERDENAY, HAKKI HARUN
Ulker
"It was our last hope to survive and to fight for the qualification. We didn't make it, but we don't want to come out of the Euroleague Top 16 without winning a game. We played well most of the game, but at the end we missed some shots and that's it."
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