Regular Season Game 2 - November 02, 2006 CET: 00:00 Local time: 01:00 - O.A.K.A.

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-0 Top 16 0-0
0-0 Regular Season 0-0
1-0 Overall 1-0

Referees

Crew Chief
ZACHARA, IVAN, Czech Rep.
Referee
CICORIA, GIANPAOLO, Italy
Umpire
LEFWERTH, OSCAR, Sweden

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
82.0 Points 77.0
30.0 Rebounds 41.0
13.0 O. Rebounds 14.0
17.0 D. Rebounds 27.0
10.0 Assists 12.0
14.0 Steals 7.0
1.0 Blocks 0.0
15.0 Turnovers 12.0
43.5 % 2PT 51.2 %
46.7 % 3PT 38.1 %
70.0 % FT 75.0 %
76.0 Index 88.0

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
25.0 / Batiste Points 21.0 / WARREN, CHRIS
7.0 / Batiste Rebounds 8.0 / Wright
4.0 / Batiste OR 3.0 / ZUZA, JURICA
3.0 / TOMASEVIC, DEJAN DR 5.0 / BADER, MARTON
3.0 / BECIROVIC, SANI Assists 5.0 / Kus
3.0 / HATZIVRETTAS, NIKOS Steals 3.0 / Wright
1.0 / Batiste Blocks 0.0 / Kus
5.0 / Diamantidis Turnovers 4.0 / Kus
87.5 % / Batiste 2PT 75.0 % / Wright
100.0 % / Diamantidis 3PT 60.0 % / WARREN, CHRIS
100.0 % / TOMASEVIC, DEJAN FT 100.0 % / WARREN, CHRIS
34.0 / Batiste Index 25.0 / Wright

THE TAKE

Panathinaikos returns home to the OAKA Olympic Arena in Athens, Greece, Thursday to host Croatian champ Cibona Zagreb in Group B of the Euroleague. Panathinaikos showed its mettle last week, storming back from a 24-point deficit shortly before halftime to down Joventut DKV 79-82 in the competition's opening game. Mike Batiste scored 25 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in just 23 minutes for the Greens, while Dimitrios Diamantidis added 17, including the go-ahead shot, and Tony Delk came off the bench for 13 in his Euroleague debut. The Greens remained hot over the weekend, beating rival Olympiacos by a point on the road in a domestic game. Cibona coasted by Union Olimpija last week, 77-61, as Chris Warren had 21 and Brent Wright 13 points and 8 rebounds. These two teams last met last season in the Top 16, splitting their home games. The stars of last week's games will test one another this week as both teams look to start the season 2-0. Batiste and Wright are power forwards with multi-faceted games who can score at high percentages from close to the basket and pop the occasional triple. Diamantidis and Warren are not just scorers who can cut to the basket or drain threes, but also defensive aces. Diamantidis can guard any perimeter player, but will play some point on offense. He'll try to bother Cibona playmakers Davor Kus and Jerry McCullough, not to mention shooter Marijan Mance. The Panathinaikos guards all get more rest than they would anywhere else, simply because the team is so deep. Delk, Nikos Hatzivrettas, Ramunas Siskauskas, Diamantidis and Sani Becirovic all get their share of minutes in the crowded backcourt, making the Green players hard to tire. The case is similar upfront, with Batiste, Kostas Tsartsaris, Dejan Tomaseviic, Robertas Javtokas and Dimos Dikoudis at the power forward and center spots. Cibona has only Wright, Marton Bader, Jurica Zuza and Barisa Krasic among its accomplished big men. The result is that the visiting side will need to slow the pace of the game and play with incredible endurance to win in Athens.

Quotes Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos
"There are no bad teams in the Euroleague, so we treat all our opponents with high respect. We are facing Cibona Zagreb, which is a dangerous team and our goal is to compete with high motivation and desire to win our first home game in front of our audience. We remember our loss in Zagreb during the 2005-06 Euroleague Top 16, so we are going to use that experience to play hard and win this game. They seem to have many weapons and a deep roster, but we are playing on our home court and we have to prove our quality as a team."
ANZULOVIC, DRAZEN
Cibona
"Every time we have 72 hours between games, we always take the chance to work on our strength and refresh the team. All the players are ready for the Panathinaikos game except Morovic, who is injured, and will continue receiving his therapy for at least seven more days. We have many things planned for the game, but it is a question of what we are going to be able to deliver on the court. They are really ambitious this year, and for example, just the fact that they have taken Tony Delk explains their intentios for this season. It is going to be rally hard because they play a very physical game with constant pressure on every position, but we will try to stay in the game as long as possible."

Players

BECIROVIC, SANI
Panathinaikos
"We watched Cibona's opening game in the Euroleague and everybody agreed that they used their inside strength to easily beat Union Olimpija. I think they have a good team with experienced players, but we are much stronger in the paint and definitely it is not going to be easy for them to beat us under the boards. This is my first Euroleague game in front of the Panathinaikos fans and I expect to see a large number of spectators in our arena and a hot atmosphere. I love to play in a full gym and definitely we want to combine a win with high quality basketball."
ZUZA, JURICA
Cibona
"It is always a pleasure to play aginst Panathinaikos, where I have spent some time during my career. We have started this year's Euroleague with a win and now it is much easier for us to play with less pressure on our backs. They have a relly wide selection of high-quality players and we must play at least at 100 percent to be able to hope for a good result."
Mike Batiste - Panathinaikos Panathinaikos used a well-balanced team effort to defeat Cibona 86-69 and improve to 2-0 in Group B on Thursday at the home in Athens. Mike Batiste led the way with 15 points, going 6-for-6 on two-pointers as 10 different Panathinaikos players scored at least 5 points. The game was close for much of the first three quarters before the Greens took the game with a push in the fourth quarter. Nikos Hatzivrettas added 13 points and Tony Delk 12 for the hosts. Chris Warren and Davor Kus scored 14 each, Marijan Mance 12 and Goran Vrbanc 11 for Cibona, whose star power forward, Brent Wright, was completely shut down by the impressive Green defense. Wright missed his only two shots before fouling out in under 16 minutes.

No doubt remembering how they fell behind by 24 a week earlier in the season's opening game, the Greens stormed out with high intensity in the first quarter of their home debut. Panathinaikos scored 6 points between Nikos Chatzivrettas and Dimos Dikoudis before Cibona could react with free throws from Marton Bader and a triple from Davor Kus. Ramunas Siskauskas answered from the arc, however, and then Chatizivrettas made it 12-5 before Cibona woke up again. Vrbanc and Warren got going and did not stop until the latter's three-pointer tied it 18-18. Warren would finish with 12 points on the quarter, finishing it with another strike from the arc to send the visitors in front, 23-25 after 10 minutes.

Chris Warren - CibonaThe Panathinaikos defense dominated the early second quarter, holding Cibona scoreless for almost 5 minutes until a dunk by Diamantidis and free throws by Delk sent the hosts ahead 27-25. Marijan Mance got Cibona on the board again from the free throw line, where Warren also made a pair. But Dejan Tomasevic and Sani Becirovic boosted the Panathinaikos lead to 34-29 before Cibona made its first points of the quarter that weren't free throws. Again it was Mance, with a jumper this time, and when Kus followed by firing in a triple, it was a tie ballgame at 34-34. Tomasevic and Mance traded layups before Siskauskas ended the half at the line putting the Greens ahead 38-36. The Greens made just 2 out of 11 three-poiners and Cibona 4 of 13 on the half.

Panathinaikos showed its aggressiveness from the beginning of the third period, blasting off on a 10-0 run and a 48-36 lead after 24 minutes. Becirovic with a three- pointer and Tomasevic with 5 points and a nice assist to Batiste gave the Greens what they needed to control the rhythm of the game. But Cibona never gave up. Jurica Zuza scored 6 points in the second half of the quarter while Vrbanc and Kus offered offensive solutions in cutting the margin to 57-53 before Becirovic ended the quarter with free throws. That was to be the last time that the visitors threatened the lead, however.

The last period belonged to Panathinaikos and especially to its perimeter players. Delk scored 7 of his 12 points in the last 10 minutes, and the Greens got great help from youngster Dusan Sakota, who made a pair of three-ppointers, while Chatzivrettas that continued to be a great danger near Cibona's basket. A couple of shots from behind the arc by Mance and another by Jerry Mc Cullough were not enough to keep Cibona alive, but Panathinaikos pushed the gas even more to open a 17-point margin and never let the visitors get hopeful. In the end, the Greens proved to have much more solutions and experience than Cibona and were able to show that they plan to do whatever is neccessary to avoid any team challenging them in Athens.
Referees: ZACHARA, IVAN (CZE), CICORIA, GIANPAOLO (ITA), LEFWERTH, OSCAR (SWE)
Attendance: 9000
By Quarter1234
Panathinaikos23152127
Cibona25111716
End of Quarter1234
Panathinaikos23385986
Cibona25365369
Head coach: OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
4 ALVERTIS, FRAGISKOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 DELK, TONY 20:00 12 1/3 2/5 4/4       1 1 2 1   4 2 6
6 PAPANIKOLAOU, DIMITRIOS 1:15                         1   -1
7 BECIROVIC, SANI 23:15 7 1/2 1/5 2/2   1 1 3   4     2 2 2
8 BATISTE, MIKE 21:45 15 6/6 0/1 3/4 3 3 6 1 1       3 5 23
9 SISKAUSKAS, RAMUNAS 21:15 5   1/4 2/2   2 2 3         3 1 5
10 HATZIVRETTAS, NIKOS 26:45 13 3/3 0/3 7/8 1 1 2 2 1 1 1   3 7 18
11 DIKOUDIS, DIMOS 15:45 8 4/5 0/1 0/2 4 2 6     2       3 11
13 DIAMANTIDIS, DIMITRIS 27:45 7 1/1 1/1 2/4 1 5 6 3 3 2     2 3 16
15 TOMASEVIC, DEJAN 14:45 8 2/3   4/7 1 2 3 1         1 4 11
16 SAKOTA, DUSAN 9:15 6   2/3         1 1           7
19 JAVTOKAS, ROBERTAS 18:15 5 2/5   1/2 1   1   1 1   1 2 3 2
Team           1 2 3   1           4
Totals 200:00 86 20/28 7/23 25/35 12 18 30 15 9 12 2 1 21 30 104
71.4% 30.4% 71.4%
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Head coach: ANZULOVIC, DRAZEN
Cibona
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
00 WRIGHT, BRENT 15:45   0/1 0/1   2   2           5   -5
4 WARREN, CHRIS 36:00 14 2/8 2/7 4/4   4 4     2     4 5 6
5 KUS, DAVOR 35:45 14 1/2 2/3 6/6 2 3 5 2 1 3     1 5 21
7 KRASIC, BARISA 16:00 4 1/1 0/2 2/2       2 1 1     4 2 2
8 ANDRIC, LUKSA 6:45   0/1       4 4     1     5 1 -2
9 MCCULLOUGH, JERRY 19:45 6 1/3 1/3 1/2 1 1 2 1   2   1 2 1  
14 BADER, MARTON 11:00 2     2/2 3 1 4       1   2 1 6
16 ZUZA, JURICA 13:45 6 2/5   2/2 1 2 3         1 1 2 6
20 ROZIC, MARIN 8:00           2 2     2     1   -1
21 MANCE, MARIJAN 18:00 12 2/5 2/2 2/2 2   2 1 1 2     3 2 10
24 VRBANC, GORAN 19:15 11 3/4 1/5 2/2   2 2     2     2 2 6
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 69 12/30 8/23 21/22 12 19 31 6 3 15 1 2 30 21 50
40% 34.8% 95.5%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos
"Every victory is important, especially because this is the first home game of this Euroleague season. The final margin seems like too much, compared to what happened on the court. We didn't play well in the first half and we allowed Cibona to stay close. In the second half, we were more aggressive on defense and also made the right decisions against the zone defense. Our target is to play in a consistent rhythm for 40 minutes, but that is a matter of time and practice. The most important thing is that all the players understand their role and I am very satisfied because they work with dedication and consistency."
ANZULOVIC, DRAZEN
Cibona
"We had a plan to execute and we did so in the first half, when we controlled the tempo and the rebounds. But, to be honest, if you want to beat Panathinaikos, and especially in Athens, you have to play a perfect game for 40 minutes. We faced problems with Bader and Krasic, who got injured during the match and also Wright was not in good shape. So we lost our focus and we didn't manage to stay competitive up to the end of the game."

Players

BATISTE, MIKE
Panathinaikos
"First of all, I would like to thank our fans for their support. We have a long way to go to achieve our goals, but we are a good team and we work as a team every day. The only thing I can promise is that we will keep trying hard to go all the way. Cibona was a decent opponent, but we found our tempo in the second half and managed to build a big margin."
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