Panathinaikos Athens 2008-09 team profile
|
 As a perennial threat to win the Euroleague title, Panathinaikos Athens has more than proven itself to be one of the modern heavyweights of world basketball. No team in the last quarter-century has been continental champion more than Panathinaikos, which lifted all four of its trophies so far between 1996 and 2007. That the Greens failed to escape the Top 16 last season only means that they will head into the new season more determined than ever. Panathinaikos has ruled in Greece for some time now, after first taking charge with 12 domestic titles in a 17-year stretch between 1967 and 1984. The late 1980s and early 1990s proved to be a dry period for the club, but that changed dramatically in 1996, when a team led by legends like Panagiotis Giannakis, Dominique Wilkins and Fragiskos Alvertis secured the first Euroleague title by any Greek team by edging Barcelona by a single point in Paris thanks to a last-gasp blocked shot by Stojko Vrankovic. Just a few years later, after its second and third continental crowns in 2000 and 2002, Panathinaikos had joined an international elite reserved for very few clubs. At home in Greece, too, the trophy collecting continues with a new string of domestic crowns. Since 1998, the Greens have won 10 Greek League titles out of a possible 11 to give the club an unprecedented total of 29. Panathinaikos returned to the Euroleague Final Four in Moscow 2005, where it was ousted by eventual champion Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semifinals. The Greens came within one win of a return to the continent's showcase event in 2006 before losing at home to Tau Ceramica in a deciding Game 3 of the Quarterfinal Playoffs. The 2006-07 campaign would prove to be one for the history books.
2007-08 RESULTS | Euroleague | | Greek League | R. Season | 23-3 | Playoffs | Champion | Cup | Champion |
|
|
Panathinaikos kept its eye on the ball from the very start of the season, winning its first 11 games and coasting into the Final Four, held at the club's home court, OAKA, in Athens. Alvertis, the team captain, was able to finally lift the crown only after Panathinaikos and Final Four MVP Dimitris Diamantidis knocked off defending champ CSKA Moscow 93-91 in one of the most electrifying title games in basketball history, not the least due to one of the most intense crowds ever under one roof. The club proceeded to add Greek Cup and Greek League titles to record its first triple-crown. Last season, despite winning its regular season group with ease, the Greens could not win on the road in the Top 16 and saw their title defense end earlier than planned. Nevertheless, the Greens bounced back to edge rival Olympiacos in the Greek League playoff finals, extending their domestic title streak to six consecutive seasons. Rarely down and never out, Panathinaikos enters the 2008-09 season ready to assure its fans that together they have a destination to reach: the Final Four in Berlin in spring of 2009.
|
|
Euroleague.net
|