Greek League Finals, Game 1: May 24, 2008
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The Greek League finals opened at at OAKA Sports Hall as Panathinaikos beat Olympiacos 83-79 in an exciting battle that was decided down the stretch on Saturday. Sarunas Jasikevicius led the winners with 22 points and 5 assists in less than 25 minutes. Mike Batiste added 17 points, Kostas Tsartsaris had 16 while Dimitris Diamantidis got 10 for Panathinaikos. Milos Teodosic and Sofoklis Schortsianitis led Olympiacos each with 13 points. Giannis Bouroussis added 11 points while Roderick Blakney had 10 for the Reds. Olympiacos had the chance to force overtime but Giorgos Printezis missed an easy layup with 3 seconds remaining. Elsewhere in the third place playoff, Maroussi upset Panionios 60-67 on the road at Hellinikon Complex to get a 0-1 lead. The winner of this series will earn the right to play in the Euroleague next season. Kostas Kaimakoglou posted 17 points and 8 rebounds for the winners, while Lonny Baxter had 16 points and 10 boards for Panionios in defeat. Both best-of-five series move to Pireaus and Maroussi, respectively, for the second game on Tuesday.
Panathinaikos offered Olympiacos a tough 15-4 welcome as the guests struggled to find their rhythm in the first period. Teodosic and Schortsianitis came off the bench to change things for the Reds, that tied the game at 30-30 before a 38-36 Panathinakos’ lead by halftime. Batiste scored inside with Tsartsaris added consecutive corner triples to make the Greens get a double-digit lead, 57-47, midway through the third quarter. Olympiacos found answers, however, as an excellent 11-0 streak punctuated by three-pointers from Lynn Greer and Qyntel Woods made the Reds get its first lead at 57-58. Panathinaikos regained a tight lead and went to the final minute with a 76-75 edge. Batiste missed but Olympiacos could not get the defensive board. Jasikevicius bombed a triple for 79-75 with 33 seconds to go. Points from the stripe from both sides sent it to 81-77, Printezis shined with a power layup after a great assist by Panagiotis Vassilopoulos, but missed the additional free throw. With the score at 81-79 and 3 seconds remaining, Vassilopoulos fed Printezis inside again who missed a –what seemed to be a sure- layup to force overtime. Jasikevicius sealed Panathinaikos win with a pair of free throws, that meant he had scored his team's final 7 points down the stretch.
Maroussi kept on surprising everyone by upsetting Panionios 60-67 in Hellinikon despite being down 31-16 early in the game. Thanks to a good 2-13 run, the guests managed to trim the difference to 33-29 before halftime, which proved the game’s turning point. With another 1-13 streak in the third period, Maroussi took the lead and never lost it again until the final buzzer. Kaimakoglou totaled 17 points and 8 rebounds, while Dimitris Mavroidis and Kostas Haralampidis had 9 points apiece. Lonny Baxter had a solid 16 points, 10 boards performance, Brad Newley added 13 points and Dusan Sakota had 10 in Panionios' loss.
| Finals Playoffs, best of 5 games |
| Record | Team | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | | 1 | Panathinaikos (1)-Final | 83 | May 27 | May 29 | *- | *- | | 0 | Olympiacos (2)-Final | 79 | - | - | - | - | | 0 | Panionios (4)-3rd Place | 60 | May 27 | may 29 | *- | *- | | 1 | Maroussi (6)-3rd Place | 67 | - | - | - | - |
| Finals games | | Game 1 | Panathinaikos vs. Olympiacos | 83-79 | May 24 | | Game 1 | Panionios On Telecoms vs. Maroussi | 60-67 | May 24 | | Game 2 | Olympiakos vs. Panathinaikos | - | May 27 | | Game 2 | Maroussi vs. Panionios On Telecoms | - | May 27 | | Game 3 | Panathinaikos vs. Olympiacos | - | May 29 | | Game 3 | Panionios On Telecoms vs. Maroussi | - | May 29 | | Game 4 | Olympiakos vs. Panathinaikos | - | *- | | Game 4 | Maroussi vs. Panionios On Telecoms | - | *- | | Game 5 | Panathinaikos vs. Olympiacos | - | *- | | Game 5 | Panionios On Telecoms vs. Maroussi | - | *- |
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Stelios Kyriakoglou, Athens
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