By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Four three quarters Olympiacos and Panathinaikos were exchanging punches and the game was open for grabs. The Greens, thought, got their backs to the wall and were fighting to stay alive. And the did by winning 84-74 and forcing a Game 5 in the Greek finals.
As the MVP of the game Mike Batiste (23 p.) said: “We didn’t want to let them win the championship in our gym. We were able to survive for one more day and we will go to SEF (ed.note: Olympiacos‘ gym) in order to fight. We know what we are up against and we will have to play there very, very well. We have to do a good job of starting the game, play defense and get rebounds. If we do that, we will see what happens. Being tired is always part of the game, but that’s not the reason for not playing well. It’s very important how you are prepared mentally for the game. Then your talent will take over. We are not making excuses about anything. They are more fresh, but we are in the position to fight for a championship and that’s what we are asking for. The favorite is Olympiacos because they have the home court advantage. But we have won there before. It’s just one game, all four games before it don’t matter. We have to prepare for it and really, really fight if we want to be champions again”.
Olympiacos‘ coach Dusan Ivkovic admitted Panathinaikos‘ big game, but complained specially for the referee Dimitris Bitis: “It was a very hard game, we started well, we had concentration, some easy baskets and we controlled the third quarter, but we made many mistakes in the last quarter. We lost the rebounds and that changed everything. I have also to say something about the “T” that I got. It was a fair “T” because I will complain when I see something wrong. But mr Bitis is a referee for the final? I say no. I was punished. Will he be punished too? The criteria were different. Kyle Hines played 15 minutes and Dorsey 19 because of their fouls and they were both ejected with five. We had them on the court just for 35 minutes”.
PANATHINAIKOS – OLYMPIACOS 84-74
Panathinaikos: Perperoglou 5, Batiste 23 (11 r.), Sato, Logan, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis 15 (6 r.), Vougioukas 3, Calathes 7, Smith 7 (6 r.), Kaimakoglou 12, Jasikevicius 12 (7 as.)
Olympiacos: Hines 5, Law 16, Antic 11, Spanoulis 8 (8 as.), Dorsey 8, Keselj 9, Papadopoulos, Gecevicius, Printezis 9, Papanikolaou 8, Mantzaris, Sloukas