By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
For the second straight game, Panathinaikos by tooth and claw survived against CSKA Moscow. In a game decided after overtime the Greens managed to get the 73-72 win and force a Game 5 in their play offs series which will be played in Russia.
Vitaly Fridzon saved CSKA Moscow with a buzzer beater at the end of regulation, which send the game to overtime (64-64) after a great comeback from a nine points deficit, spearheaded by a hot handed Sonny Weems. However, Weems ended also being the negative hero of the game as he had the chance to tie the game with 4.7 seconds left in overtime. He missed his second free throw, but the ball ended up out of bounds by Dimitris Diamantidis’ hands and CSKA had two more seconds to steal the game. And then the unthinkable happened. Before making his shot, Weems stepped on the side line and Panathinaikos got the win without being in danger of an other buzzer beater. Diamantidis had just 7 points on 1/8 threes, but he made the two free throws which decided the outcome of the game, eight seconds before the end of overtime.
Αs the winner coach Alvertis said: “We are at 2-2 and we are going to Moscow in order to fight for the qualification. It will not be easy, it will be difficult there, but we are going to put on the floor our soul, our competitive spirit and our basketball and I hope that we will get what we want”. Coach Messina admitted: “I never expected that it will be easy to win at OAKA. We lost by -6 points and by -1 point in overtime. We are not in our home, but in Panathinaikos court”. The question name is if Milos Teodosic will be available for Game 5 and as Messina said: “It’s a decision of the medical stuff”. Αs for the owner of Panathinaikos, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, he is ready for Milan: “My belief is that on Friday we will have the tickets to Milan in our hands”.