By Aris Barkas
It’s Sunday, but the mind of Panathinaikos’s fans is already in Thursday. The Greens await Maccabi Tel Aviv at their home court of OAKA for the Game 5 of the Euroleague play offs. This is the only series that isn’t decided yet and the winner takes it all, in this case the qualification to the Final Four.
As Panathinaikos BC officially announced the game is already sold out, something that it’s not a surprise. In a season with bad results for the club in almost every other sport, the basketball team still is by far the most respected and loved by the fans.
“The tickets are sold out, as our fans showed that they will stand by the team that made them proud so many times in the past”, reads the official press release of the club, but the frenzy from people that do not have a ticket and still try to find one continues.
As the brass of the team said, even the football stadium of OAKA could be full for Thursday’s game. This is true, considering that arch rival Olympiacos already qualified to the Final Four, as did Barcelona and CSKA Moscow.
In the meantime at Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Habikaa 88-76 in the last regular season game of the domestic league. The team of David Blatt can now focus in the game against Panathinaikos that will also be the last of the Euroleague season for the loser.