Regular Season Game 9 - December 19, 2007 CET: 20:45 Local time: 20:45 - JAKO ARENA BAMBERG

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-0 Top 16 0-0
1-7 Regular Season 7-1
1-7 Overall 7-1

Referees

Crew Chief
ZACHARA, IVAN, Czech Rep.
Referee
GARCIA ORTIZ, JOSE RAMON, Spain
Umpire
VYKLICKY, ROBERT, Czech Rep.

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
65.3 Points 85.9
29.1 Rebounds 27.4
6.4 O. Rebounds 5.8
22.8 D. Rebounds 21.6
12.1 Assists 15.6
6.1 Steals 6.6
1.8 Blocks 2.0
15.5 Turnovers 14.4
52.3 % 2PT 60.8 %
35.6 % 3PT 40.3 %
64.4 % FT 74.8 %
59.3 Index 93.1

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
10.9 / Suput Points 13.5 / Jasikevicius
6.4 / OKULAJA, ADEMOLA Rebounds 5.3 / Diamantidis
2.3 / OKULAJA, ADEMOLA OR 1.5 / Batiste
4.1 / OKULAJA, ADEMOLA DR 5.1 / Diamantidis
2.5 / HAMANN, STEFFEN Assists 3.5 / Jasikevicius
1.5 / HAMANN, STEFFEN Steals 2.1 / Diamantidis
0.8 / FENN, DARREN Blocks 1.1 / Diamantidis
2.6 / Suput Turnovers 2.8 / Spanoulis
66.7 % / DICKEL, M. 2PT 72.2 % / Zizic
100.0 % / ENSMINGER, CHRIS 3PT 52.4 % / Diamantidis
100.0 % / GREENE, DEMOND FT 100.0 % / Tsartsaris
11.5 / OKULAJA, ADEMOLA Index 17.7 / Diamantidis

THE TAKE

Two teams from opposite sides of the Group C standings will try to bounce back from recent disappointments on Wednesday when Brose Baskets hosts defending champion Panathinaikos in Bamberg, Germany. The German champs enter the game in last place with a 1-7 record and are coming off tough 3-point loss at Chorale Roanne, which coach Dirk Bauermann’s charges had hoped would have turned their season around. Now two wins out of fifth place and down a tiebreaker to Roanne, every game is critical for Bamberg. Meanwhile the Greens are coming off their first loss of the season, an 18-point rude awakening in Rome. Bamberg caused problems for head coach Zeljko Obradovic’s men in their previous meeting, before Predrag Suput’s comeback attempts came short and the Greek champs prevailed 66-61 in Athens. That game was Panathinaikos’s lowest-scoring effort this season. The Greens are second in the Euroleague with 85.9 points per game, more than 20 points per game more than Bamberg, which has built its game around slowing down the tempo and iron defense. The importance of the game tempo is twofold, as a faster pace allows the very deep Panathinaikos bench to play a bigger role. Forwards Suput and Ademola Okulaja have been Bamberg’s most productive players this season, with the tandem of centers Darren Fenn and Chris Ensminger playing alongside them. They will go up against the likes of Mike Batiste, Andrija Zizic, Kostas Tsartsaris, Demos Dikoudis and small forward Kennedy Winston. It’s a similar situation in the backcourt, where playmaker Steffen Hamann, Demond Greene and Mark Dickel and swingman Robert Garrett must cope with Sarunas Jasikevicius, Vassilis Spanoulis, Sani Becirovic, Nikos Hatzvirettas and Dimitrios Diamantidis. What’s more, Bamberg is coming off an overtime road loss in the German League, which won’t help the side’s energy level. Panathinaikos enters the game as the clear favorite, especially coming off a surprising loss. The margin of error in Bamberg’s gameplan to grab a surprise is slim, as it calls for all the hosts’ prime players staying out of foul trouble, to stand tall on defense and to control the game at a slow pace. Even then, as Panathinaikos proved when they met in October, it may not be enough. But Bamberg is certain to give 100% in trying to make it happen.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

BAUERMANN, DIRK
Brose Baskets
"They lost in Rome by 20 points. You know that's not going to happen again. That happens once a year. You hope you can catch them in an off game and you have a great day. But that only happens once a year. We played a good game on the road and led for most of the game against Roanne. But we just can't seem to close a game. Hopefully we'll play as well as we did in Athens and give our fans their money's worth. But we just have to fight and scratch and claw and see what happens."
OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos
"Despite their poor record Brose Baskets, is a very dangerous team and we have to take that under consideration, as we travel to Germany to fight for our last Euroleague win in 2007. We have to play really aggressive in defense to stop their offensive weapons and I expect from my players to compete with the highest concentration leaving the performance in Rome behind. We are going there without our captain Frangiskos Alvertis and Dejan Tomasevic, but our roster is capable enough to beat the German champs on the road."

Players

BECIROVIC, SANI
Panathinaikos
"Brose Baskets is a serious team, so we have to face them with great seriousness in order to improve our record and feel safer at the top of Group C. Their two straight losses to Barcelona and Roanne don't mean much to our team, since we know that they are determined to play their best and try to beat the current Euroleague champs. We would be fools if we didn't take our recent loss to Lottomatica Roma as a great lesson. My teammates and I are smart enough not to repeat such a performance and certainly we want to finish the year with another win."
Sarunas Jasikevicius - Panathinaikos Panathinaikos bounced back from its first loss in Group C and remained atop the Group C standings with an 8-1 record after downing Brose Baskets 58-72 in Bamberg, Germany, on Wednesday night. Panathinaikos, backed by hundreds of fans at Jako Arena, got another top-notch performance from star guard Sarunas Jasikevicius to remain one game ahead of its closest competitors. Meanwhile, Brose Baskets dropped to 1-8 and is all but mathematically out of the Top 16 race. Jasikevicius paced the winners with 21 points on 11-for-11 free-throw shooting and 5 assists off the Panathinaikos bench. Vassilis Spanoulis and Kennedy Winston added 8 each and five other players had at least 5 points. Robert Garrett had 17 points for Brose Baskets, while Ademola Okulaja added 10 points and 7 rebounds. Panathinaikos limited its opponents to just 8 points in the opening quarter to take an 8-17 lead after 10 minutes. The Greens boosted their margin to 28-40 at halftime and kept a solid margin all the way until the final buzzer.

Predrag Suput picked up two quick fouls before Demond Greene opened the scoring with the first basket of the game just before the shot-clock expired. Nikos Hatzivrettas made 2 foul shots to open a 2-4 Panathinaikos gap. And a Kostas Tsartsaris basket pushed the lead to 4-9. But Garrett hit a jumper and a layup to cut the deficit to 8-9. Tsartsaris converted a three-point play and Spanoulis knocked down a three for an 8-15 lead that led to a Dirk Bauermann timeout. Garrett missed an open triple from the wing and Mike Batiste answered with a layup at the other end for a 8-17 advantage, which Garrett could not cut with a three-point attempt at the buzzer from the other corner.

Robert Garrett - Brose BasketsA Spanoulis three-ball opened the second quarter and Jasikevicius made 2 free throws after a technical foul on Bauermann to put the Greens up 14. Garrett ended the 0-13 Panathinaikos surge with a triple and after a Batiste layup, Bamberg scored on three straight possessions – the final being Greene's three from right corner to trim the deficit to 18-24. But Jasikevicius put an end to any Bamberg momentum, converting a three-point play and then nailing a triple to push the advantage back up to 18-30 and forcing another Bauermann timeout. Okulaja and Chris Ensminger combined for 3 free throws, but a jumper by Demos Dikoudis and an inside layup by Diamantidis kept the Greek champs far ahead. Steffen Hamann and Garrett both free throws to trim the deficit to 28-36 with 1:13 to play in the half. But Jasikevicius answered with 2 free throws of his own and Batiste scored on a jumper in the lane after a Bamberg turnover to give Panathinaikos a 28-40 lead at the break.

After Bamberg made just 2-of-11 three-pointers in the first half, the hosts were well-served when Okulaja knocked down a three to start the second half. Winston came down and drained a triple of his own for a 31-43 lead and Bamberg began getting itself in foul trouble as Ensminger, Hamann, Greene and Okulaja all had 3 fouls with seven minutes to play in the third period. A basket by Suput trimmed the deficit 33-43, but Ensminger and Hamann both collected their fourth fouls leading to 2 foul shots by Jasikevicius. After an unsportmanlike foul by Batiste, Ensminger made a free throw and Garrett converted a driving layup. Another unsportsmanlike foul by Dikoudis resulted in a foul shot by Ensminger for a 38-45 score. Diamintidis came up with 2 steals and then Dikoudis scored an inside basket. Winston's next shot restored a double-digit lead. After a Fenn jumper, Jasikevicius and Andrija Zizic hit 2 free throws each before Garrett hit a three at the buzzer to trim the deficit to 43-53.

Kennedy Winston - PanathinaikosOkulaja's inside basket opened the final period for Bamberg, but he failed to convert the three-point play and then Garrett missed a three-pointer, which could have trimmed the gap to 5 points. Instead Winston nailed a triple from the wing and then Zizic's lay-up on the break had the lead back up to 45-58. Panathinaikos head coach Zejlko Obradovic called a timeout after Okulaja's dunk and Spanoulis made 2 foul shots, but Garrett answered with a triple to trim the deficit to 50-60 with 4:30 to play. Sani Becirovic knocked down a three-ball and then another basket for a 50-65 lead. Okulaja kept Bamberg fans' hopes up with a tap-in and Hamann scored a lay-up for a 54-65 deficit. But Jasikevicius hit a jumper and a three-pointer for a 56-70 lead and put to bed all doubts. Jasikevicius ended the game with 2 foul shots with no time left on the clock.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007
David Hein, Bamberg
Referees: ZACHARA, IVAN (CZE), GARCIA ORTIZ, JOSE RAMON (ESP), VYKLICKY, ROBERT (CZE)
Attendance: 6800
By Quarter1234
Brose Baskets8201515
Panathinaikos17231319
End of Quarter1234
Brose Baskets8284358
Panathinaikos17405372
Head coach: BAUERMANN, DIRK
Brose Baskets
# 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 ENSMINGER, CHRIS 13:56 4 0/2   4/6 2 1 3     2     5 6 2
6 HAMANN, STEFFEN 32:37 6 2/6 0/2 2/2 1 1 2 5 1 3   1 4 3 3
7 GREENE, DEMOND 30:17 7 2/2 1/6     1 1   3       3 2 5
8 SUPUT, PREDRAG 29:54 4 1/1 0/3 2/4 1 2 3 2 1 1     4 3 3
9 TADDA, KARSTEN 0:59 2 1/1     1   1           1   2
10 FENN, DARREN 24:27 8 3/4 0/2 2/2 1 6 7     2 1   3 2 10
11 PAVIC, IVAN 0:08                         1   -1
12 GARRETT, ROBERT 28:10 17 3/4 3/7 2/2   1 1 1 1 2     3 1 11
13 OKULAJA, ADEMOLA 30:25 10 3/5 1/3 1/4 1 6 7 1   1     3 3 10
24 DICKEL, MARK 9:07   0/1 0/2             1     1   -5
Team                   2 1     1    
Totals 200:00 58 15/26 5/25 13/20 7 18 25 9 8 13 1 1 29 20 40
57.7% 20% 65%
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: 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
5 PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS 8:05 2 1/1 0/1     1 1             2 4
6 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 24:06 8 0/5 2/3 2/2   4 4 2   2     1 3 8
7 BECIROVIC, SANI 12:46 5 1/2 1/1                 1 1   2
8 BATISTE, MIKE 17:26 7 3/4   1/2 1 2 3     2     3 2 5
9 ZIZIC, ANDRIJA 19:59 4 1/2   2/2   1 1   1 2     3 1 1
10 HATZIVRETTAS, NIKOS 11:18 2 0/1   2/4                 2 4 1
11 DIKOUDIS, DIMOS 5:48 5 2/3   1/2 1 1 2     1     2 1 3
12 TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS 22:27 5 2/2 0/1 1/1 1 3 4 2   2 1   2 3 10
13 DIAMANTIDIS, DIMITRIS 32:31 5 2/2 0/4 1/4 1 4 5 1 4 1     2 5 10
14 WINSTON, KENNEDY 21:01 8 1/1 2/3     4 4     1     3   7
16 TATAROUNIS, ARIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS 24:33 21 2/5 2/4 11/11 1 2 3 5   4     1 7 26
Team           1 3 4     2         2
Totals 200:00 72 15/28 7/17 21/28 6 25 31 10 5 17 1 1 20 28 79
53.6% 41.2% 75%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

BAUERMANN, DIRK
Brose Baskets
"After a couple of tough weeks, the guys really came up with a good showing. Besides some minor differences in the defense, we were able to play with one of the best teams in Europe. And Sarunas proved tonight why he's the beat player in Europe. He made the difference. But that doesn't affect the showing of my guys who can be proud of what they did."
OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos
"We came here thinking it would be a difficult game for us. We lost last week against Roma and played very bad. But we started pretty good offensively and played strong defense early. We came here to play a good game and we're satisfied. We worked really hard and were concentrated defensively on their top offensive players for 40 minutes. And we got a big win."

Players

OKULAJA, ADEMOLA
Brose Baskets
"It was hard to play against more than five guys out there tonight. We really fought and gave it all we had out there on the court. We caused some turnovers and did some things pretty good. But now we just have to try and make up those games we lost earlier in the season."
WINSTON, KENNEDY
Panathinaikos
"We fought it pretty hard out there and played against a tough team in a tough place. But this was a good comeback after the loss last week. It really means a lot for our confidence after the mental breakdown last week."
No pictures yet
There is no video yet
Germany: SPORTDIGITAL
Internet: EUROLEAGUE.TV
Greece: Supersport 1