By Aris Barkas
Panathinaikos is used to winning in every level and every competition. This is the rule, but there is always an exception. And in the case of Euroleague play offs this exception dates back to 2005-06 season. The Greens were once again the favorites for a place in the Final Four that was held in Prague. Tau Ceramica (a.k.a. Caja Laboral) had a different opinion.
The best of three series was even (1-1) and in front of a sellout crowd of 18.000 fans in Athens, Panathinaikos was ready to seal his qualification. It was a dog fight with Serkan Erdogan scoring 24 points and 4/4 free throws in the final seconds, leading Tau in a close victory (74-71). The captain of Panathinaikos and present day team manager Fragiskos Alvertis, a deadly sharpshooter throughout his great career, missed an off-balance last second three point shot that would have send the game to overtime.
This is the only Euroleague play offs series lost by Panathinaikos. And it’s still a nightmare for the team. As 32 years old forward Kostas Tsartsaris admitted in the Greek newspaper “Ta Nea”: “I remember very well how much this game hurt us. I have dozens of great memories in my career as a Panathinaikos player and that night is one of the few bad ones. We wanted to be in the Final Four, our fans had already buy tickets for Prague. It was the greatest game of Erdogan’s career. I don’t want to relive it again. We have to be aggressive from the start against Maccabi Tel Aviv and show them who is the boss”.
Panathinaikos is ready for a fight on Thursday against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Game 5 of the Euroleague play offs and Tsartsaris believes that nothing is finished yet: “If we think that we have already qualify, just because we play at our gym, then we are going to lose. This is the greatest trap. It’s a final for both teams and the home court advantage doesn’t mean much”.