By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Until the start of the second half Olympiacos had the momentum against Panathinaikos, but the Greens are not giving up without a fight. The team of Zeljko Obradovic had a 16-0 run in the third quarter and that proved to be enough until the end, in order to win the Reds 81-79.
The Greek finals are tied 1-1 and Game 3 will be played at Olympiacos home court on Sunday. Dimitris Diamantidis with 23 points was the top scorer of the winners. On the other side Vasilis Spanoulis tried two times to “kill” his old team in the final minute but he missed.
The first time he could not get a clear lock and passed the ball to Kostas Papanikolaou and then with the score 79-78 for Panathinaikos, he tried a three pointer but missed, 21 seconds before the end of the game. Olympiacos could have led the game to overtime in the last second, with Spanoulis getting to the free throws line, hitting the first (81-79) and missing the second, probably in purpose. Lazaros Papadopoulos almost got the offensive rebound, tried to tip the ball in, but it slipped from his hand and the game ended.
In the press conference, though, there were complains from both sides for the referees. Olympiacos coach Dusan Ivkovic said: “We had the chance to win the game and I believe that time favors our team. But I want to say that referees are not up to the level they should be. In the last minutes there was an offensive foul of Mike Batiste and Diamantidis stepped on the sideline, but was called. Those were important mistakes”.
Winner Zeljko Obradovic admitted that his team in the end of the game “was very tired” and he had a reply for Duda, concerning the referees: “It was easy to understand that Olympiacos after two minutes in the last quarter had already five fouls called in favor of them and we had three fouls in favor of us until the last play of the game”. Acie Law did not played for Olympiacos but as Ivkovic said: “There is a chance for him to play on Sunday’s Game 3”
Panathinaikos – Olympiacos 81-79
PANATHINAIKOS: Maric 3, Perperoglou 7, Batiste 11 (7 r.), Logan, Sato 4, Diamantidis 23, Vougioukas 4, Calathes 4, Smith 4, Kaimakoglou 11, Jasikevicius 8, Tsartaris 2
OLYMPIACOS: Hines 18, Antic 4, Spanoulis 10, Dorsey 7, Keselj 2, Papadopoulos, Gecevicius 8, Printezis 10, Papanikolaou 11, Mantzaris 5, Sloukas 4, Katsivelis