Panathinaikos vs. Zalgiris - ShowGame - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL

May 24, 2013

Regular Season Game 1 - October 22, 2008 CET: 18:00 Local time: 19:00 - O.A.K.A.

Panathinaikos 78 - 51 Zalgiris

REGULAR SEASON, GAME 1

GROUP A

GROUP B

GROUP C

GROUP D

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
0-0	Overall	0-0

Referees

Crew Chief

ARTEAGA, JUAN CARLOS, Spain

Referee

MUHVIC, DUBRAVKO, Croatia

Umpire

BITTON, MOSHE, Israel

Team Stats

Ave.		Ave.
0	Points	0
0	Rebounds	0
0	O. Rebounds	0
0	D. Rebounds	0
0	Assists	0
0	Steals	0
0	Blocks	0
0	Turnovers	0
0	2PT	0
0	3PT	0
0	FT	0
0	Index	0

Team Stats - Panathinaikos

Team Stats - Zalgiris

Player Stats

Ave.		Ave.
0	Points	0
0	Rebounds	0
0	OR	0
0	DR	0
0	Assists	0
0	Steals	0
0	Blocks	0
0	Turnovers	0
0	2PT	0
0	3PT	0
0	FT	0
0	Index	0

Team Roster - Panathinaikos

Team Roster - Zalgiris

THE TAKE

Panathinaikos will start what it hopes will be the long road to the Final Four in Berlin when it hosts Lithuanian champion Zalgiris Kaunas in both teams’ Euroleague opener on Wednesday night at the Athens Indoor Olympic Hall. The Greens look poised for a big year with a star-studded cast that is hungrier than ever after a tough season last year, in which the then-defending champs were eliminated in the Top 16. Zalgiris on the other hand spent the summer with high hopes, but has been forced back to earth after early season troubles have resulted in a coaching change and the team’s top scoring threat leaving. And that’s on top of injuries that have sidelined starting power forward Paulius Jankunas and budding guard Mantas Kalnietis. The latter, however, has returned to practice after suffering a broken arm last month and could suit up against Panathinaikos. One thing that the hosts’ coaching great Zeljko Obradovic will be sure to warn his players of is to beware the wounded Zalgiris. The team still features a host of top talents and an intimidating frontline that will be tough to deal with. Centers Loren Woods, Ratko Varda and Eurelijus Zukauskas give new head coach Gintaras Krapikas a rare mix of size, experience and depth. That trio plus power forwards Tomas Masiulis and Tadas Klimavicius could trouble the Green frontline led by Mike Batiste, Nikola Pekovic, Antonis Fotsis and Kostas Tsartsaris. Panathinaikos is expected to be without injured guard Vassilis Spanoulis, but still the hosts boast an impressive backcourt with Sarunas Jasikevicius, Drew Nicholas, Dusan Kecman and Nikos Hatzvirettas, plus rising star Stratas Peperoglou at small forward. Zalgiris newcomer Willie Deane will take up the challenge up penetrating the Panathinaikos defense, using veteran small forward Jonas Maciulis and Dainius Salenga and the less experienced Zygimantas Janavicius and Rolandas Alijevas to get the job done. A near-impeccable home record – Panathinaikos has not lost a Euroleague game at OAKA since January 2007, a run of 16 straight – and Zalgiris’s recent woes combine to make the hosts the clear favorite to start the season on the right foot. However a talented guard with some dangerous centers to feed in the paint and a hungry cast of role players looking for something to rally around could spell an upset for Zalgiris as the Euroleague season gets underway for these two classic sides. GAME NOTES Panathinaikos Eight members of the current squad have won Euroleague titles: Fragiskos Alvertis, Mike Batiste, Dimitris Diamantidis, Antonis Fotsis, Nikos Hatzvirettas, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Dusan Sakota, Vassilis Spanoulis and Kostas Tsartsaris. Jasikevicius is the only one to have won with a different club. Forward Mike Batiste is 28 points behind Jorge Garbajosa for 20th place on the all-time Euroleague scoring charts. He enters the game with 1339 career points. Dimitris Diamantidis trails Jorge Garbajosa by 3 steals for fifth place all-time in Euroleague Basketball. He enters the game with 190 career steals. Dimitris Diamantidis was named the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Euroleague Best Defender, but now he is focusing more on his offense! Diamantidis is participating in a charity event, sponsored by a company that will donate 100 euro for every field goal and every free throw made by him and Theo Papaloukas to children’s charity foundations. Diamantidis will donate his share of the the money to an institute based in his hometown, Kastoria. Two Panathinaikos players have recorded their Euroleague career highs against their Week 1 opponent, Zalgiris. Fragiskos Alvertis netted 22 points in a road win at Kaunas in October 22. Sarunas Jasikevicius, then with Maccabi, scored 37 in an overtime win in April 2004. If, as expected, guard Vassilis Spanoulis misses the game against Zalgiris, it will mark the first Euroleague game he has sat out during his Panathinaikos career. Spanoulis played in all 121 Euroleague, Greek League and Greek Cup games with the Greens during the 2005-06 and 2007-08 seasons, but has already missed two Greek League games this year through injury. Zalgiris Eurelijus Zukauskas and recently signed Tomas Masiulis are the only Zalgiris players remaining for the roster that won the Euroleague title in 1999. Zalgiris beat Kinder Bologna 82-74 in the title game. Zukauskas and Masiulis each had 4 points in that game. Willie Deane led the ULEB Cup in index ranking (20.8) and was second in assists (5.9) last season. He will make his Euroleague debut against Panathinaikos this week. Former Euroleague Basketball International Junior Tournament winner Zygimantas Janavicius is also set to make his Euroleague debut with Zalgiris this week. Tuesday, October 21, 2008 Euroleague.net

Panathinaikos will start what it hopes will be the long road to the Final Four in Berlin when it hosts Lithuanian champion Zalgiris Kaunas in both teams’ Euroleague opener on Wednesday night at the Athens Indoor Olympic Hall. The Greens look poised for a big year with a star-studded cast that is hungrier than ever after a tough season last year, in which the then-defending champs were eliminated in the Top 16. Zalgiris on the other hand spent the summer with high hopes, but has been forced back to earth after early season troubles have resulted in a coaching change and the team’s top scoring threat leaving. And that’s on top of injuries that have sidelined starting power forward Paulius Jankunas and budding guard Mantas Kalnietis. The latter, however, has returned to practice after suffering a broken arm last month and could suit up against Panathinaikos. One thing that the hosts’ coaching great Zeljko Obradovic will be sure to warn his players of is to beware the wounded Zalgiris. The team still features a host of top talents and an intimidating frontline that will be tough to deal with. Centers Loren Woods, Ratko Varda and Eurelijus Zukauskas give new head coach Gintaras Krapikas a rare mix of size, experience and depth. That trio plus power forwards Tomas Masiulis and Tadas Klimavicius could trouble the Green frontline led by Mike Batiste, Nikola Pekovic, Antonis Fotsis and Kostas Tsartsaris. Panathinaikos is expected to be without injured guard Vassilis Spanoulis, but still the hosts boast an impressive backcourt with Sarunas Jasikevicius, Drew Nicholas, Dusan Kecman and Nikos Hatzvirettas, plus rising star Stratas Peperoglou at small forward. Zalgiris newcomer Willie Deane will take up the challenge up penetrating the Panathinaikos defense, using veteran small forward Jonas Maciulis and Dainius Salenga and the less experienced Zygimantas Janavicius and Rolandas Alijevas to get the job done. A near-impeccable home record – Panathinaikos has not lost a Euroleague game at OAKA since January 2007, a run of 16 straight – and Zalgiris’s recent woes combine to make the hosts the clear favorite to start the season on the right foot. However a talented guard with some dangerous centers to feed in the paint and a hungry cast of role players looking for something to rally around could spell an upset for Zalgiris as the Euroleague season gets underway for these two classic sides.

GAME NOTES

Panathinaikos

Eight members of the current squad have won Euroleague titles: Fragiskos Alvertis, Mike Batiste, Dimitris Diamantidis, Antonis Fotsis, Nikos Hatzvirettas, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Dusan Sakota, Vassilis Spanoulis and Kostas Tsartsaris. Jasikevicius is the only one to have won with a different club.
Forward Mike Batiste is 28 points behind Jorge Garbajosa for 20th place on the all-time Euroleague scoring charts. He enters the game with 1339 career points.
Dimitris Diamantidis trails Jorge Garbajosa by 3 steals for fifth place all-time in Euroleague Basketball. He enters the game with 190 career steals.
Dimitris Diamantidis was named the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Euroleague Best Defender, but now he is focusing more on his offense! Diamantidis is participating in a charity event, sponsored by a company that will donate 100 euro for every field goal and every free throw made by him and Theo Papaloukas to children’s charity foundations. Diamantidis will donate his share of the the money to an institute based in his hometown, Kastoria.
Two Panathinaikos players have recorded their Euroleague career highs against their Week 1 opponent, Zalgiris. Fragiskos Alvertis netted 22 points in a road win at Kaunas in October 22. Sarunas Jasikevicius, then with Maccabi, scored 37 in an overtime win in April 2004.
If, as expected, guard Vassilis Spanoulis misses the game against Zalgiris, it will mark the first Euroleague game he has sat out during his Panathinaikos career. Spanoulis played in all 121 Euroleague, Greek League and Greek Cup games with the Greens during the 2005-06 and 2007-08 seasons, but has already missed two Greek League games this year through injury.

Zalgiris

Eurelijus Zukauskas and recently signed Tomas Masiulis are the only Zalgiris players remaining for the roster that won the Euroleague title in 1999. Zalgiris beat Kinder Bologna 82-74 in the title game. Zukauskas and Masiulis each had 4 points in that game.
Willie Deane led the ULEB Cup in index ranking (20.8) and was second in assists (5.9) last season. He will make his Euroleague debut against Panathinaikos this week.
Former Euroleague Basketball International Junior Tournament winner Zygimantas Janavicius is also set to make his Euroleague debut with Zalgiris this week.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO Panathinaikos “I like the fact that we play against Zalgiris in the opening game, since we faced them earlier in the preseason and we know them. Panathinaikos is not the type of the team, which should be affected by speculation of problems for its opponents. We close our ears, focus on the game and try to play the best possible way. Marcus Braun left the team, but this might be an extra motivation for the rest of the players. Zalgiris has three big men, Varda, Zukauskas and Woods and count a lot to their inside game, so we have to match it. They also like to shoot a lot of three pointers and try to grab the offensive rebounds, while in defense they switch from man to zone. We are ready to play against any kind of defense, as we proved during the last Greek League game against Kolossos. A new Euroleague season is about to start and Panathinaikos has big ambition and high expectations, so I invite our fans to come to OAKA to support us and enjoy a great game.”

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO

Panathinaikos

“I like the fact that we play against Zalgiris in the opening game, since we faced them earlier in the preseason and we know them. Panathinaikos is not the type of the team, which should be affected by speculation of problems for its opponents. We close our ears, focus on the game and try to play the best possible way. Marcus Braun left the team, but this might be an extra motivation for the rest of the players. Zalgiris has three big men, Varda, Zukauskas and Woods and count a lot to their inside game, so we have to match it. They also like to shoot a lot of three pointers and try to grab the offensive rebounds, while in defense they switch from man to zone. We are ready to play against any kind of defense, as we proved during the last Greek League game against Kolossos. A new Euroleague season is about to start and Panathinaikos has big ambition and high expectations, so I invite our fans to come to OAKA to support us and enjoy a great game.”

KRAPIKAS, GINTARAS Zalgiris "We had a tough preseason, especially lately, but I believe my players will forget all preseason issues and will play hard as they can. Some of our players are injured, some of them are gone but everybody expect us to play high level basketball in Euroleague and we will try to clear our minds and go out and play. It’s very important for our players to believe that big names don’t win the games. Panathinaikos is crowded with basketball stars, but desire to win is the key factor for victory. We defeated Panathinaikos in preseason, but upcoming game is much more important to them. They will be playing at home their first Euroleague game, so opponents will try to play in top gear. However, we are leaving for Athens with high expectations and will try to bring victory back home."

KRAPIKAS, GINTARAS

Zalgiris

"We had a tough preseason, especially lately, but I believe my players will forget all preseason issues and will play hard as they can. Some of our players are injured, some of them are gone but everybody expect us to play high level basketball in Euroleague and we will try to clear our minds and go out and play. It’s very important for our players to believe that big names don’t win the games. Panathinaikos is crowded with basketball stars, but desire to win is the key factor for victory. We defeated Panathinaikos in preseason, but upcoming game is much more important to them. They will be playing at home their first Euroleague game, so opponents will try to play in top gear. However, we are leaving for Athens with high expectations and will try to bring victory back home."

Players

PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS Panathinaikos “The opening game in the new edition of the Euroleague is always important and definitely we want to beat Zalgiris Kaunas to start the season successfully and please our fans. Panathinaikos never underestimates or disrespects any opponents, especially a club with great history and results like Zalgiris. We have heard that Zalgiris has lately faced some difficulties, but we can't allow it to mislead us. Actually, the fact that they beat us during the Aleksandar Gomelsky Tournament in Moscow gives us extra motivation to retaliate with a home win that will create confidence to go on.”

PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS

Panathinaikos

“The opening game in the new edition of the Euroleague is always important and definitely we want to beat Zalgiris Kaunas to start the season successfully and please our fans. Panathinaikos never underestimates or disrespects any opponents, especially a club with great history and results like Zalgiris. We have heard that Zalgiris has lately faced some difficulties, but we can't allow it to mislead us. Actually, the fact that they beat us during the Aleksandar Gomelsky Tournament in Moscow gives us extra motivation to retaliate with a home win that will create confidence to go on.”

MACIULIS, JONAS Zalgiris "It will be hard game, but I think we will have more confidence because we know that there is no backup, there is no other players who can take responsibility. We will miss Marcus Brown who is big threat from outside the arc, but I think we have other players who can fill his shoes. “Panathinaikos” is very strong team, but we can play against them. We don’t have to let them build the lead and get confidence because then they are very hard to stop."

MACIULIS, JONAS

Zalgiris

"It will be hard game, but I think we will have more confidence because we know that there is no backup, there is no other players who can take responsibility. We will miss Marcus Brown who is big threat from outside the arc, but I think we have other players who can fill his shoes. “Panathinaikos” is very strong team, but we can play against them. We don’t have to let them build the lead and get confidence because then they are very hard to stop."

Panathinaikos found the perfect start to the 2008-09 Euroleague season with a convincing 78-51 victory over Zalgiris. Dimitris Diamantidis led four players in double figures with 15 points for the Greek powerhouse, which hopes Wednesday’s home win is the start of a campaign ending in another Euroleague crown. Nikola Pekovic came off Zelimir Obradovic’s bench for 14 points in 14 minutes of action while Antonis Fotsis and Michael Batiste each tallied 10 points and combined for 10 rebounds. Dusan Kecman meanwhile chipped in five assists. Zalgiris, which swapped coaches just last week, committed 22 turnovers to 10 for Panathinaikos and Loren Woods paced the Lithuanian side with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Dainius Salenga added 11 points but no other player hit for more than seven for Gintaras Krapikas’s team. In its Euroleague season opener, Panathinaikos started in high gear and thanks to baskets from Stratos Perperoglou and Batiste rushed ahead to a quick 10-3 lead. Krapikas was forced to call a time-out only four minutes after tip-off. Zalgiris, however, could not capitalize on the hosts’ two-minute dry spell. Batiste took over again, scoring a total of eight points in seven minutes and ignited an 8-0 run which pushed the gap to 18-5. The guests tried to bounce back behind Loren Woods who managed to unlock Panathinaikos’s stifling defense. But the Greens were scoring at will and the first period ended with the hosts enjoying a 26-11 advantage. Panathinaikos entered the second quarter with Pekovic dominating in the paint. And it wasn’t long before the Greeks forged a 20-point lead, 32-12. Zalgiris was clearly in disarray, failing to keep up with Panathinaikos on either end of the floor. After 14 minutes of play, Zalgiris was shooting an abysmal 6-of-25 from the field and had scored only 16 pts. Panathinaikos, however, took its foot off the gas and the guests finally got the scoreboard rolling, closing the gap to 38-26 with two minutes left before halftime. Zalgiris tried to claw its way back and surprise the seemingly laid-back hosts who went seven minutes without a basket. Salenga did all he could, converting a couple of lay-ups to trim the margin to 38-30 at halftime. Early on in the second half Diamantidis drove to the basket to build a 42-30 advantage. But it was obvious that Panathinaikos was struggling to create fast break opportunities. A three-pointer by Salenga cut the lead to 44-36 and allowed Zalgiris to keep close on Panathinaikos’ heels. But the hosts proved too deep and talented to let Zalgiris turn the tide to its favor. Backed by the boisterous Panathinaikos crowd, Diamantidis scored on a reverse lay-up and then Fotsis punished the zone defense with a long ball from downtown for a 51-37 margin. Panathinaikos had now picked up its defensive intensity to its usually high standards. And with Diamantidis spearheading the offensive attack, the hosts broke the game open. Thanks to back-to-back triples by Diamantidis and Fotsis, Panathinaikos galloped to a whopping 65-39 advantage and ultimately forced Zalgiris to throw in the towel. Wednesday, October 22, 2008 Danos Tsakalos, Athens

Panathinaikos found the perfect start to the 2008-09 Euroleague season with a convincing 78-51 victory over Zalgiris. Dimitris Diamantidis led four players in double figures with 15 points for the Greek powerhouse, which hopes Wednesday’s home win is the start of a campaign ending in another Euroleague crown. Nikola Pekovic came off Zelimir Obradovic’s bench for 14 points in 14 minutes of action while Antonis Fotsis and Michael Batiste each tallied 10 points and combined for 10 rebounds. Dusan Kecman meanwhile chipped in five assists. Zalgiris, which swapped coaches just last week, committed 22 turnovers to 10 for Panathinaikos and Loren Woods paced the Lithuanian side with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Dainius Salenga added 11 points but no other player hit for more than seven for Gintaras Krapikas’s team.

Jonas Maciulis - Zalgiris Kaunas

In its Euroleague season opener, Panathinaikos started in high gear and thanks to baskets from Stratos Perperoglou and Batiste rushed ahead to a quick 10-3 lead. Krapikas was forced to call a time-out only four minutes after tip-off. Zalgiris, however, could not capitalize on the hosts’ two-minute dry spell. Batiste took over again, scoring a total of eight points in seven minutes and ignited an 8-0 run which pushed the gap to 18-5. The guests tried to bounce back behind Loren Woods who managed to unlock Panathinaikos’s stifling defense. But the Greens were scoring at will and the first period ended with the hosts enjoying a 26-11 advantage.

Panathinaikos entered the second quarter with Pekovic dominating in the paint. And it wasn’t long before the Greeks forged a 20-point lead, 32-12. Zalgiris was clearly in disarray, failing to keep up with Panathinaikos on either end of the floor. After 14 minutes of play, Zalgiris was shooting an abysmal 6-of-25 from the field and had scored only 16 pts. Panathinaikos, however, took its foot off the gas and the guests finally got the scoreboard rolling, closing the gap to 38-26 with two minutes left before halftime. Zalgiris tried to claw its way back and surprise the seemingly laid-back hosts who went seven minutes without a basket. Salenga did all he could, converting a couple of lay-ups to trim the margin to 38-30 at halftime.

Dimitrios Diamantidis - Panathinaikos

Early on in the second half Diamantidis drove to the basket to build a 42-30 advantage. But it was obvious that Panathinaikos was struggling to create fast break opportunities. A three-pointer by Salenga cut the lead to 44-36 and allowed Zalgiris to keep close on Panathinaikos’ heels. But the hosts proved too deep and talented to let Zalgiris turn the tide to its favor. Backed by the boisterous Panathinaikos crowd, Diamantidis scored on a reverse lay-up and then Fotsis punished the zone defense with a long ball from downtown for a 51-37 margin. Panathinaikos had now picked up its defensive intensity to its usually high standards. And with Diamantidis spearheading the offensive attack, the hosts broke the game open. Thanks to back-to-back triples by Diamantidis and Fotsis, Panathinaikos galloped to a whopping 65-39 advantage and ultimately forced Zalgiris to throw in the towel.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Danos Tsakalos, Athens

Referees: ARTEAGA, JUAN CARLOS (ESP), MUHVIC, DUBRAVKO (CRO), BITTON, MOSHE (ISR)

Attendance: 12000

By Quarter	1	2	3	4
Panathinaikos	26	12	27	13
Zalgiris	11	19	9	12

End of Quarter	1	2	3	4
Panathinaikos	26	38	65	78
Zalgiris	11	30	39	51

Head coach: OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO

Panathinaikos
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG M-A	3FG M-A	FT M-A	Rebounds			As	St	To	Bl		Fouls		PIR
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG M-A	3FG M-A	FT M-A	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
4	ALVERTIS, FRAGISKOS	3:46			0/2												-2
5	KECMAN, DUSAN	14:39	2	1/2				3	3	5	4	1	1	1	3	1	10
7	PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS	19:33	8	4/4	0/1			3	3		2				3	2	11
8	BATISTE, MIKE	21:52	10	4/6		2/2	1	3	4			2	1		1	3	13
9	FOTSIS, ANTONIS	23:27	10	2/5	2/3		2	4	6		2	1					13
10	HATZIVRETTAS, NIKOS	12:13	5		1/1	2/2									4	1	2
11	NICHOLAS, DREW	24:26	4	1/3	0/3	2/3		1	1	2	1	2			2	2
12	TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS	16:33	1	0/1	0/2	1/2		2	2	1	1	2			1	2
13	DIAMANTIDIS, DIMITRIS	25:42	15	5/7	1/3	2/2		3	3	2		1	1		2	3	17
14	PEKOVIC, NIKOLA	14:22	14	4/7		6/6						1	1		2	4	13
15	SAKOTA, DUSAN	5:48			0/1			2	2						1	1	1
19	JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS	17:39	9	3/8	1/2			2	2	4				1	3		5
	Team							2	2								2
	Totals	200:00	78	24/43	5/18	15/17	3	25	28	14	10	10	4	2	22	19	85
				55.8%	27.8%	88.2%

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: KRAPIKAS, GINTARAS

Zalgiris
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG M-A	3FG M-A	FT M-A	Rebounds			As	St	To	Bl		Fouls		PIR
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG M-A	3FG M-A	FT M-A	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
7	WOODS, LOREN	33:47	17	6/8	0/1	5/8	7	9	16	3	2	5	1		4	4	28
8	MACIULIS, JONAS	31:51	7	0/4	1/5	4/10	3	5	8	1		1		1	4	6	2
9	KALNIETIS, MANTAS	5:40		0/1											1	1	-1
10	JANAVICIUS, ZYGIMANTAS	20:35	7	3/3	0/2	1/1				2	1	2				2	8
11	ZUKAUSKAS, EURELIJUS	2:41		0/1		0/2	1	1	2		1	2			1	1	-2
12	KLIMAVICIUS, TADAS	11:22	4	2/5	0/1		3	3	6		1	5		1	1	1	1
14	VARDA, RATKO	10:14	3	0/1	1/2	0/2	1	2	3					1	2	3	2
15	MASIULIS, TOMAS	21:56			0/1			3	3	1		2			1	1	1
17	DEANE, WILLIE	26:12	2	1/8	0/2		1		1	2		3		1	3	2	-9
20	SALENGA, DAINIUS	35:42	11	4/8	1/6	0/1	1	3	4			2	1		2	1	3
33	ALIJEVAS, ROLANDAS	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Team						3	1	4								4
	Totals	200:00	51	16/39	3/20	10/24	20	27	47	9	5	22	2	4	19	22	37
				41%	15%	41.7%

This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO Panathinaikos “It’s very important that we won our first Euroleague game. I am satisfied with the way we entered the game. Until the 14th minute we rarely lost our composure and we were very effective. So, all in all, the only time we faced some difficulties was in the final minutes of the first half, when we let them grab a lot of offensive rebounds and we failed to execute on half-court sets. On the contrary, in the second half -especially in the 3rd period- we played great against their zone defense. Overall, we might have lost the battle of rebounds, but our game today was very aggressive. We forced them to commit 22 turnovers, whereas Zalgiris stole the ball only 5 times. Congratulations to my players and of course to the fans who created, as always, such a great atmosphere.”

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO

Panathinaikos

“It’s very important that we won our first Euroleague game. I am satisfied with the way we entered the game. Until the 14th minute we rarely lost our composure and we were very effective. So, all in all, the only time we faced some difficulties was in the final minutes of the first half, when we let them grab a lot of offensive rebounds and we failed to execute on half-court sets. On the contrary, in the second half -especially in the 3rd period- we played great against their zone defense. Overall, we might have lost the battle of rebounds, but our game today was very aggressive. We forced them to commit 22 turnovers, whereas Zalgiris stole the ball only 5 times. Congratulations to my players and of course to the fans who created, as always, such a great atmosphere.”

KRAPIKAS, GINTARAS Zalgiris “First of all I want to congratulate Panathinaikos. But I think that today it was a bit easier for them than it was last season because we are not ready to play. We should keep our heads up and try to come out of this difficult situation. We have to try to do our best and play better. Sometimes in basketball statistics do not say the truth. Today, we grabbed 19 rebounds more than Panathinaikos did, but we lost by a margin of 27 points. Regarding the financial problems that our club is facing, my task is to do my job. It’s not easy to change things in such a short period of time, however I hope and I trust that we’ll find a way to play better and win games. Panathinaikos is once again one of the strongest teams in Europe. When you see which players are coming off the bench…Every coach would like to have them. Maybe we cannot do it at the moment, but Panathinaikos is one of the teams that we’ll try to beat so as to qualify to the Top 16."

KRAPIKAS, GINTARAS

Zalgiris

“First of all I want to congratulate Panathinaikos. But I think that today it was a bit easier for them than it was last season because we are not ready to play. We should keep our heads up and try to come out of this difficult situation. We have to try to do our best and play better. Sometimes in basketball statistics do not say the truth. Today, we grabbed 19 rebounds more than Panathinaikos did, but we lost by a margin of 27 points. Regarding the financial problems that our club is facing, my task is to do my job. It’s not easy to change things in such a short period of time, however I hope and I trust that we’ll find a way to play better and win games. Panathinaikos is once again one of the strongest teams in Europe. When you see which players are coming off the bench…Every coach would like to have them. Maybe we cannot do it at the moment, but Panathinaikos is one of the teams that we’ll try to beat so as to qualify to the Top 16."

Players

FOTSIS, ANTONIS Panathinaikos "Early on in the game we played very good basketball and managed to build a huge margin. Then, for a while, we relaxed a bit and allowed Zalgiris to bounce back. Whenever we forge a big lead, we should keep it and never let our opponent slice the margin. The fans gave us a lot of boost tonight and I hope that they’ll keep supporting us with such as a passion as the season progresses."

FOTSIS, ANTONIS

Panathinaikos

"Early on in the game we played very good basketball and managed to build a huge margin. Then, for a while, we relaxed a bit and allowed Zalgiris to bounce back. Whenever we forge a big lead, we should keep it and never let our opponent slice the margin. The fans gave us a lot of boost tonight and I hope that they’ll keep supporting us with such as a passion as the season progresses."

DEANE, WILLIE Zalgiris “I just want to say that Panathinaikos played great tonight. We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball and making our free-throws. I have to play better in order to help my team and I will. I feel that I let them down tonight. We made a good run in the second quarter to cut the lead to 8pts, but then we gave them opportunities to score. Panathinaikos is a great team. They’ve been together for a long time, so they have great chemistry. That’s the kind of level we will try to get on, so we have to go back to Kaunas and start working again.”

DEANE, WILLIE

Zalgiris

“I just want to say that Panathinaikos played great tonight. We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball and making our free-throws. I have to play better in order to help my team and I will. I feel that I let them down tonight. We made a good run in the second quarter to cut the lead to 8pts, but then we gave them opportunities to score. Panathinaikos is a great team. They’ve been together for a long time, so they have great chemistry. That’s the kind of level we will try to get on, so we have to go back to Kaunas and start working again.”

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