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2-1
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1-2
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3-3, Second Group H
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4-2, First Group G
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7-3, Second Group C
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7-3, Second Group B
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Round 4 of the enchanting battle of Euroleague heavyweights is practically for it all. A Maccabi victory sends the Israeli champs to the Final Four for the ninth time in 13 years, knocks out the defending champs and ensures that it remains the only team to repeat as Euroleague champion over the past quarter century. A Panathinaikos victory forces a Game 5 in Athens next week, where the Greens would surely be the favorites to win and march on to Istanbul. By winning the last two games, Maccabi leads the all-time series 15-13.
Maccabi’s reserve guard Jon Scheyer left the team and traveled to the United States due to personal reasons. His return for the playoffs is doubtful. Panathinaikos coach Zeljko Obradovic has a full squad at his disposal.
The first three games of this series already have it going down as one of the great playoff series in Euroleague history. And amazingly, not one game has been like any other. Panathinaikos dominated Maccabi from the start in Game and coasted to a 93-73 win. In Game 2, the contest was close throughout and Maccabi needed overtime and the hot shooting of David Blu to eke out a 92-94 win in Athens. The series came to Tel Aviv for Game 3 and Maccabi dominated early and led by 13 at halftime, before Panathinaikos turned the tables and clawed its way back to within 1. The Greens had a clean look for Nick Calathes to tie the game with a three-pointer in the closing seconds, but he missed and Maccabi grabbed control of the best-of-five series, 2-1. After such different games, there is no doubt that both coaches will try to find new ways to impact the outcome in Game 4, though by now the players are all quite familiar with one another. For Maccabi, the big revelation in the series has been the outstanding play of rookie point guard Yogev Ohayon. Small forward Devin Smith has also played well, but its leading scorer from the first two games, Keith Langford, was held to just 4 points in Game 3. Panathinaikos has been successful in limiting the impact of big men Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Lior Eliyahu thus far. Panathinaikos stars Dimitris Diamantidis and Mike Batiste have produces solid numbers thus far, but few in the supporting cast have matched them, though reserve center Ian Vougioukas came off the bench for 11 points in 11 minutes on Tuesday. But former Maccabi start Sarunas Jasikevicius, who was quite effective off the bench for Panathinaikos in Games 1 and 2, had no impact in Game 3. Another big problem the Greens must solve for Game 4 is outside shooting, which at 3 of 14 (21.4%) Tuesday was its second-worst of the season. With the rowdy Nokia Arena crowd behind it in addition to the momentum of the last two games, Maccabi may be a slight favorite for Game 4, but you cannot underestimate the heart of a champion, and that is what Panathinaikos is unless someone knocks it out. Will that happen Thursday?
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Game notes, Maccabi Electra
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Game notes, Panathinaikos
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Coach David Blatt has used 12 different players in his starting lineups so far this season. Only four Maccabi players – Hendrix, Ohayon, Smith and Schortsanitis – have appeared in every game this season.
Devin Smith has made 17 straight free throws in Euroleague action.
Smith is Maccabi’s leader in scoring (14.3 ppg.), index rating (17.7 per game) and rebounds (8 rpg.) in the playoffs thus far.
Yogev Ohayon has picked up at least 1 steal in eight straight and 16 of his last 17 Euroleague games.
Ohayon leads Maccabi in assists (4.3 apg.) and steals (2.3 spg.) in the playoffs thus far.
Ohayon scored a Euroleague career-high 15 points in Game 2.
Richard Hendrix was the Top 16 leader in blocked shots with 12. He tied former Maccabi and current Gescrap BB center D’Or Fischer for most blocks per game with an average of 2.
Hendrix is tied with Fischer for the record for most blocked shots in a playoffs series. Both players rejected 10 shots in a four-game series (2.5 bpg.). Hendrix did so last season as Maccabi beat Caja Laboral.
Hendrix leads Maccabi in blocks (1.3 bpg.) and offensive rebounds (3.7 orpg.) in the playoffs thus far.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Theo Papaloukas have teamed with several Panathinaikos players on the Greek national team.
Both Schortsanitis and Papaloukas played alongside Kostas Tsartsaris and Dimitris Diamantidis on the silver-medal winning squad at the 2006 World Championships.
Schortsanitis teamed with Nick Calathes, Kostas Kaimakoglou and Stratos Perperoglou on the bronze-medal squad at EuroBasket 2009.
Schortsanitis joined six Greens – Tsartsaris, Diamantidis, Calathes, Kaimakoglou, Perperoglou and Ian Vougioukas – on Team Greece at the 2010 World Championships.
Schortsanitis needs 18 more points to reach the 1,000-point milestone for his career.
Papaloukas needs 7 more two-point baskets to tie Bennet Cantu center Denis Marconato for 10th place on the competition’s all-time list in that category. Papaloukas has made 509 career two-pointers.
Papaloukas needs 4 more three-pointers to reach 100 for his Euroleague career.
Papaloukas is tied with Elmer Bennett, formerly of Tau Ceramica, for the playoffs record for most assists in a game with 13. Papaloukas, who at the time played for Olympiacos, set the record in Game 1 of the 2008-09 playoffs against Real Madrid.
Papaloukas set his career high in scoring with 23 points against Panathinaikos in the 2007 Euroleague title game in Athens. Papaloukas at the time played for CSKA Moscow, which lost 93-91 in a thriller.
Maccabi’s 65-62 victory in Game 3 tied the team record for fewest points scored in a victory. Maccabi edged Alba Berlin 64-65 in the German capital in December 2001. Two Maccabi players from that game – Derrick Sharp and Gur Shelef – are today on the club’s staff.
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Dimitris Diamantidis has made at least 1 three-pointer in 12 straight Euroleague games.
Diamantidis and Aleks Maric share the Euroleague playoffs record for most free throws made in a playoffs series with 27. Diamantidis did so last season when the Greens beat FC Barcelona Regal in four games. Maric set the mark in 2009-10 when he led his team at the time, Partizan, past Maccabi in four games. That season, Maric also set the record for most free throws attempted in a series with 42.
Diamantidis was named Final Four MVP last season after tallying 16 points and tying a title game record with 9 assists in a 70-78 victory over Maccabi in Barcelona.
Diamantidis tabbed playoffs Game 1 bwin MVP honors after going for 15 points, 8 assists and a performance index rating of 31 against Maccabi.
Diamantidis leads Panathinaikos in the playoffs in three-pointers made (8), assists (6.3 apg.), steals (2 spg.) and blocks (1.3 bpg.) and is tied for the team lead in rebounding (5.3 rpg.).
In Game 2 last week, Mike Batiste became the Euroleague’s all-time leader in two-point baskets scored by surpassing Nikola Vujcic. Batiste has now made 856 career two-pointers made – 6 more than Vujcic.
In Game 3, Batiste became the fourth player in competition history to rack up 1,000 career rebounds. He now has 1,004 rebounds in his career, joining Mirsad Turkcan, Nikola Vujcic and David Andersen in that exclusive club.
Batiste scored 18 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in 23 minutes against Maccabi in last season’s Euroleague final to lead the Greens to the title.
Batise established a new career high in assists with 6 in Game 2 of the playoffs on Thursday against Maccabi.
Batiste leads Panathinaikos in the playoffs thus far in scoring (13.3 ppg.) and is tied for the team lead in rebounding (5.3 rpg.).
Kostas Tsartsaris needs 11 more rebounds to crack the competition’s career top 10. He is currently in 12th place with 807 rebounds. Gregor Fucka and Jorge Garbajosa share ninth and 10th place with 818 career boards.
Romain Sato needs just 1 more three-pointer to reach 100 for his Euroleague career.
Sarunas Jasikevicius spent two stellar seasons playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 2003 and 2005. He led the team to back-to-back triple-crown seasons consisting of the Euroleague title, Israeli League crown and Israeli Cup. Saras was named All-Euroleague First Team in each of those seasons and the 2005 Final Four MVP. He was a teammate of current Maccabi players David Blu and Tal Burstein as well as current Maccabi assistant coach, Derrick Sharp. Maccabi coach David Blatt was an assistant coach during the 2003-04 season. This marks his first games back in Tel Aviv since leaving the club.
Jasikevicius needs 5 more free throws to become just the sixth player in competition history to sink 500 free throws.
Saras scored a season-high 15 points in Game 2 of the playoffs against Maccabi on Thursday.
Ian Vougioukas and Maccabi guard Theo Papaloukas were teammates on the 2008-09 Olympiacos squad that reached the Euroleague Final Four.
Vougioukas and Maccabi swingman Devin Smith were teammates on the 2009-10 Panellinios team that reached the Eurocup Finals.
Vougioukas is the playoffs leader in per-minute scoring with 22 points in 25 minutes over three games. That would average out to 34.0 points over 40 minutes.
Kostas Kaimakoglou scored a season-high 20 points in Game 2 of the playoffs against Maccabi on Thursday.
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Carl Jungebrand
Finland |
Boris Ryzhyk
Ukraine |
J.C. Garcia Gonzalez
Spain |
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Euroleague.net
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