Fenerbahce Ulker vs. Panathinaikos - ShowGame - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL

May 24, 2013

Regular Season Game 6 - November 29, 2007 CET: 19:15 Local time: 20:15 - ABDI IPEKÇI SPORTS HALL

Fenerbahce Ulker 64 - 83 Panathinaikos

REGULAR SEASON, GAME 6

GROUP A

GROUP B

GROUP C

Records

Ave.		Ave.
0-0	Final Four	0-0
0-0	Playoffs	0-0
0-0	Top 16	0-0
3-2	Regular Season	5-0
3-2	Overall	5-0

Referees

Crew Chief

ARTEAGA, JUAN CARLOS, Spain

Referee

BITTON, MOSHE, Israel

Umpire

DOZAI, SRDAN, Croatia

Team Stats

Ave.		Ave.
80.0	Points	89.0
31.4	Rebounds	27.2
9.8	O. Rebounds	5.6
21.6	D. Rebounds	21.6
11.6	Assists	15.2
7.2	Steals	5.0
2.2	Blocks	2.2
12.6	Turnovers	13.0
54.7 %	2PT	62.1 %
39.5 %	3PT	42.1 %
64.9 %	FT	77.8 %
80.2	Index	95.6

Team Stats - Fenerbahce Ulker

Team Stats - Panathinaikos

Player Stats

Ave.		Ave.
21.0 / SOLOMON, WILLIE	Points	12.8 / Spanoulis
10.2 / TURKCAN, MIRSAD	Rebounds	4.8 / Diamantidis
2.8 / TURKCAN, MIRSAD	OR	1.8 / Batiste
7.4 / TURKCAN, MIRSAD	DR	4.6 / Diamantidis
4.8 / SOLOMON, WILLIE	Assists	3.4 / Spanoulis
2.0 / Onan	Steals	2.2 / Diamantidis
0.8 / TURKCAN, MIRSAD	Blocks	1.2 / Diamantidis
2.0 / TURKCAN, MIRSAD	Turnovers	2.4 / Spanoulis
62.5 % / TURKCAN, MIRSAD	2PT	100.0 % / TOMASEVIC, DEJAN
60.7 % / MRSIC, DAMIR	3PT	64.3 % / Diamantidis
100.0 % / Vidmar	FT	100.0 % / Jasikevicius
18.2 / TURKCAN, MIRSAD	Index	21.2 / Diamantidis

Team Roster - Fenerbahce Ulker

Team Roster - Panathinaikos

THE TAKE

Surging Fenerbahce Ulker will look to win its fourth straight when it hosts reigning Euroleague champion Panathinaikos in a Group C clash on Thursday at the Abdi Ipecki Sports Hall in Istanbul, Turkey. The Turkish champion started off the season with back-to-back losses, but since then, led by a red-hot Willie Solomon, has shot up to 3-2 and a tie for third place in the group. Solomon is averaging 21.7 points on 64.3% two-point shooting and 5.7 assists in those wins. Meanwhile Panathinaikos is the last remaining undefeated team this season and coming off a record-setting offensive showing in France last week as the team posted 123 points in a blowout win over Chorale Roanne. The only problems on the horizon for the Greens are a sudden change in the team's backcourt depth after Sani Becirovic suffered a leg injury during the Saturday’s Greek League game and is not available, while Milos Vujanic was released. Furthermore, Final Four MVP Dimitrios Diamantidis did not travel with the club due to the flu. However with superstars like Sarunas Jasikevicius, Vassilis Spanoulis and Nikos Hatzvirettas still around, head coach Zeljko Obradovic has plenty of talent to go around. One of the game's most curious and most important matchups will take place in the backcourt where Spanoulis and Hatzvirettas will team up to try and stop Solomon, knowing that if the visitors can accomplish that feat, Fener will be in trouble. Omer Onan and Damir Kaan are Fener's other big guns in the backcourt. Double-double threat Mirsad Turkcan is Fener's biggest name frontline player, who will likely find himself in a duel with Mike Batiste. Alongside Turkcan the hosts will parade out a host of talented young big men, including Semih Erden and Gasper Vidmar, who'll test themselves against Panathinaikos's veteran crew led by Demos Dikoudis and Andrija Zizic. Last week's win was the first time this season that the defending champs won by more than 10, so the team is battle-tested and should not be intimidated by the enthusiastic crowd in Istanbul, where Fener has won four of its last six Euroleague fixtures. Head coach Bogdan Tanjevic's game plan will likely call for his role players to take on bigger roles this week, do to the matchups that his lead duo have against Panathinaikos's top guns. If Kaan, Erden or even James “Flight” White can step up and make the difference, Fener will be able to challenge Panathinaikos for the win. Either way, this game features some of the bast talent on the hardwoods of Europe and is one for true basketball fans to watch. Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Euroleague.net

Surging Fenerbahce Ulker will look to win its fourth straight when it hosts reigning Euroleague champion Panathinaikos in a Group C clash on Thursday at the Abdi Ipecki Sports Hall in Istanbul, Turkey. The Turkish champion started off the season with back-to-back losses, but since then, led by a red-hot Willie Solomon, has shot up to 3-2 and a tie for third place in the group. Solomon is averaging 21.7 points on 64.3% two-point shooting and 5.7 assists in those wins. Meanwhile Panathinaikos is the last remaining undefeated team this season and coming off a record-setting offensive showing in France last week as the team posted 123 points in a blowout win over Chorale Roanne. The only problems on the horizon for the Greens are a sudden change in the team's backcourt depth after Sani Becirovic suffered a leg injury during the Saturday’s Greek League game and is not available, while Milos Vujanic was released. Furthermore, Final Four MVP Dimitrios Diamantidis did not travel with the club due to the flu. However with superstars like Sarunas Jasikevicius, Vassilis Spanoulis and Nikos Hatzvirettas still around, head coach Zeljko Obradovic has plenty of talent to go around. One of the game's most curious and most important matchups will take place in the backcourt where Spanoulis and Hatzvirettas will team up to try and stop Solomon, knowing that if the visitors can accomplish that feat, Fener will be in trouble. Omer Onan and Damir Kaan are Fener's other big guns in the backcourt. Double-double threat Mirsad Turkcan is Fener's biggest name frontline player, who will likely find himself in a duel with Mike Batiste. Alongside Turkcan the hosts will parade out a host of talented young big men, including Semih Erden and Gasper Vidmar, who'll test themselves against Panathinaikos's veteran crew led by Demos Dikoudis and Andrija Zizic. Last week's win was the first time this season that the defending champs won by more than 10, so the team is battle-tested and should not be intimidated by the enthusiastic crowd in Istanbul, where Fener has won four of its last six Euroleague fixtures. Head coach Bogdan Tanjevic's game plan will likely call for his role players to take on bigger roles this week, do to the matchups that his lead duo have against Panathinaikos's top guns. If Kaan, Erden or even James “Flight” White can step up and make the difference, Fener will be able to challenge Panathinaikos for the win. Either way, this game features some of the bast talent on the hardwoods of Europe and is one for true basketball fans to watch.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

TANJEVIC, BOGDAN Fenerbahce Ulker “Panathinaikos is like the warship of the Euroleague, which you can only compare the famous warship in real life, named Saratoga. They are the best team without question and nobody can match their quality in this league. We have to make our best game of the season to do something very special. We know it’s hard to beat them, but we have to calm down and fight for all 40 minutes to win. We will not give up the fight to win the game until the last second. They are the hardest team of Euroleague for sure. I hope we can play our best and than we will see what we can do.”

TANJEVIC, BOGDAN

Fenerbahce Ulker

“Panathinaikos is like the warship of the Euroleague, which you can only compare the famous warship in real life, named Saratoga. They are the best team without question and nobody can match their quality in this league. We have to make our best game of the season to do something very special. We know it’s hard to beat them, but we have to calm down and fight for all 40 minutes to win. We will not give up the fight to win the game until the last second. They are the hardest team of Euroleague for sure. I hope we can play our best and than we will see what we can do.”

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO Panathinaikos “We are facing a very good team that we do respect. Fenerbahce Ulker has gained momentum through their three consecutive wins in the Euroleague and none of us believes that our mission in Istanbul is going to be easy. A team with so many good players like Willie Solomon, Ibo Kutluay, Omer Onan and a group of very interesting young players can never be underestimated, especially now that they compete at home and definitely they will try to beat the current Euroleague champs. Unfortunately, Dimitris Diamantidis is not coming with us due to a flu, but we have many players to get the job done.”

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO

Panathinaikos

“We are facing a very good team that we do respect. Fenerbahce Ulker has gained momentum through their three consecutive wins in the Euroleague and none of us believes that our mission in Istanbul is going to be easy. A team with so many good players like Willie Solomon, Ibo Kutluay, Omer Onan and a group of very interesting young players can never be underestimated, especially now that they compete at home and definitely they will try to beat the current Euroleague champs. Unfortunately, Dimitris Diamantidis is not coming with us due to a flu, but we have many players to get the job done.”

Players

ERDEN, SEMIH Fenerbahce Ulker “It’s going to be the hardest game every we play this season. There’s nothing much to say about Panathinaikos because everybody knows how they are strong. They enlarged their top-quality roster with top-quality players like Sarunas Jasikevicius. So it means that we have to play even twice better than our best game this season. We have to be very tough on defense and try to do everything we can to win the game.”

ERDEN, SEMIH

Fenerbahce Ulker

“It’s going to be the hardest game every we play this season. There’s nothing much to say about Panathinaikos because everybody knows how they are strong. They enlarged their top-quality roster with top-quality players like Sarunas Jasikevicius. So it means that we have to play even twice better than our best game this season. We have to be very tough on defense and try to do everything we can to win the game.”

TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS Panathinaikos “Fenerbahce Ulker is a really strong team and facing them in their home court makes the game even harder for us. We expect to see a hot atmosphere in a packed Abdi Ipekci, but we are ready to play under all circumstances and win one more Euroleague battle. Actually, our recent road win over Chorale Roanne by 123-83 didn't mean much to our team, since our opponents were much weaker than Panathinaikos. But we cannot forget that we have improved our game and we have accomplished wins presenting better and better basketball. This is what we want to continue in Turkey this week.”

TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS

Panathinaikos

“Fenerbahce Ulker is a really strong team and facing them in their home court makes the game even harder for us. We expect to see a hot atmosphere in a packed Abdi Ipekci, but we are ready to play under all circumstances and win one more Euroleague battle. Actually, our recent road win over Chorale Roanne by 123-83 didn't mean much to our team, since our opponents were much weaker than Panathinaikos. But we cannot forget that we have improved our game and we have accomplished wins presenting better and better basketball. This is what we want to continue in Turkey this week.”

One near-perfect quarter propelled defending Euroleague champions Panathinaikos to a sixth consecutive Group C victory as it derailed host Fenerbahce Ulker 64-83 in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday. Panathinaikos is the only remaining undefeated team in the Euroleague at 6-0, and therefore owns first place in Group C. Fenerbahce, meanwhile, saw its three-game winning streak snapped and its record fall to 3-3. The third quarter was game-breaker as the Panathinaikos defense stopped Fenerbahce cold, almost before the hosts could shoot. What had been a 39-43 game at halftime changed irrevocably as the Greens converted steal after steal and rebound after rebound into a 22-5 score over 10 minutes then rode out the final quarter to victory. Sarunas Jasikevicius paced the winners with 19 points in 18 minutes, while Mike Batiste added 16 and 7 rebounds. Andrija Zizic picked up 14 more points and Winston Kennedy 13 for the Greens, who were missing all-Euroleague guard Dimitrios Diamantidis due to sickness. For Fenerbahce, Semih Erden picked up 15 points in the pain, while James White added 14 and Willie Solomon 11. Mirsad Turkcan collected 9 rebounds, moving him closer to becoming the first player of the decade with 1,000. He now has 978. Becirovic scored in penetration right at the start of the game while Winston soon gave Panathinaikos a 2-4 lead. Fenerbahce ran its offense through its big men early in the game, as Gasper Vidmar scored inside, but back-to-back baskets by Batiste kept the reigning Euroleague champion ahead, 6-9. Solomon stepped up with his first points while Omer Onan fed White for an easy basket, good for a 10-9 Fenerbahce edge. Winston and an unstoppable Batiste kept pacing Panathinaikos but Solomon, free throws by White and a fast break layup by Onan allowed the hosts to get a 16-13 lead after 7 minutes. The Greens struggled to find good shots now, while a put-back layup by Vidmar boosted Fenerbahce's lead to 18-14. Winston stepped up with free throws and even when Erden scored in the other end, Jasikevicius was fouled while taking a three-point shot and did not miss from the line to get Panathinaikos within 20-19 at the end of the first quarter. Jasikevicius gave a no-look assist to Andrija Zizic right at the start of the second quarter, but Fenerbahce stayed aggressive, finding good options in offense. Erden hit 3-for-4 free throws while Ibrahim Kutluay sank a seven-meter three-pointer from the top of the key, good for a 26-21 Fenerbahce lead early in the second quarter. Zizic stepped up with a power layup, igniting a 0-6 run in which Jasikevicius followed a running jumper with a fast break layup that put Panathinaikos back ahead, 26-27. Erden followed an uncontested dunk with another basket while free throws by Solomonm gave Fenerbahce its biggest lead that far, 32-27. Nikos Hatzivrettas and an outstanding Jasikevicius tried to change things for the Greens, but Rasim Basak collected two steals that allowed Emir Preldzic to keep Fener ahead, 36-31. It didn't last long, however, as Winston scored off a steal, igniting a 0-10 Panathinaikos run in which Zizic had 6 points to put the Greens back ahead, 36-41. Damir Kaan hit one from downtown but a final basket by Jasikevicius gave the Greens a 39-43 edge at halftime Panathinaikos put the finishing touches on its turnaround and the game itself soon after halftime. The Green's defense blocked Fenerbahce's every move, while Spanoulis, Batiste and Zizic started the half with 6 unanswered points to make it 39-49, the first double-digit lead of the game. Winston added a dunk in transition and Batiste completed the 0-10 start to the third quarter at 39-53. Fenerbahce stopped turning the ball over long enough for White to score on of his team's two baskets for the entire quarter. Zizic and Batiste kept on dominating the game inside as the margin grew bigger minute by minute. Batiste's layup in the quarter's last minute meant a 24-point for the Greens before Gasper Vidmar's layup-plus-free throw for Fenerbahce left a 44-65 scoreboard after 30 minutes. Fenerbahce shook itself awake a little bit after the shocking third period and made a 6-0 start to the last quarter by looking to Erden inside. It didn't take long for Panathinaikos to refresh its memory of the thunderous third quarter, however. This time, an 0-8 run consisting of Dejan Tomasevic's layup and 2 three-points blasts by Jasikevicius extended the lead to 24 points once again, 53-77, with 5 minutes to go. Jasikevicius made sure that Panathinaikos controlled the remaining minutes and cruised to the finish of its sixth victory without a loss this season. Thursday, November 29, 2007 Gokhan Ture, Istanbul

One near-perfect quarter propelled defending Euroleague champions Panathinaikos to a sixth consecutive Group C victory as it derailed host Fenerbahce Ulker 64-83 in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday. Panathinaikos is the only remaining undefeated team in the Euroleague at 6-0, and therefore owns first place in Group C. Fenerbahce, meanwhile, saw its three-game winning streak snapped and its record fall to 3-3. The third quarter was game-breaker as the Panathinaikos defense stopped Fenerbahce cold, almost before the hosts could shoot. What had been a 39-43 game at halftime changed irrevocably as the Greens converted steal after steal and rebound after rebound into a 22-5 score over 10 minutes then rode out the final quarter to victory. Sarunas Jasikevicius paced the winners with 19 points in 18 minutes, while Mike Batiste added 16 and 7 rebounds. Andrija Zizic picked up 14 more points and Winston Kennedy 13 for the Greens, who were missing all-Euroleague guard Dimitrios Diamantidis due to sickness. For Fenerbahce, Semih Erden picked up 15 points in the pain, while James White added 14 and Willie Solomon 11. Mirsad Turkcan collected 9 rebounds, moving him closer to becoming the first player of the decade with 1,000. He now has 978.

Becirovic scored in penetration right at the start of the game while Winston soon gave Panathinaikos a 2-4 lead. Fenerbahce ran its offense through its big men early in the game, as Gasper Vidmar scored inside, but back-to-back baskets by Batiste kept the reigning Euroleague champion ahead, 6-9. Solomon stepped up with his first points while Omer Onan fed White for an easy basket, good for a 10-9 Fenerbahce edge. Winston and an unstoppable Batiste kept pacing Panathinaikos but Solomon, free throws by White and a fast break layup by Onan allowed the hosts to get a 16-13 lead after 7 minutes. The Greens struggled to find good shots now, while a put-back layup by Vidmar boosted Fenerbahce's lead to 18-14. Winston stepped up with free throws and even when Erden scored in the other end, Jasikevicius was fouled while taking a three-point shot and did not miss from the line to get Panathinaikos within 20-19 at the end of the first quarter.

Mirsad Turkcan - Fenerbahce Ulker

Jasikevicius gave a no-look assist to Andrija Zizic right at the start of the second quarter, but Fenerbahce stayed aggressive, finding good options in offense. Erden hit 3-for-4 free throws while Ibrahim Kutluay sank a seven-meter three-pointer from the top of the key, good for a 26-21 Fenerbahce lead early in the second quarter. Zizic stepped up with a power layup, igniting a 0-6 run in which Jasikevicius followed a running jumper with a fast break layup that put Panathinaikos back ahead, 26-27. Erden followed an uncontested dunk with another basket while free throws by Solomonm gave Fenerbahce its biggest lead that far, 32-27. Nikos Hatzivrettas and an outstanding Jasikevicius tried to change things for the Greens, but Rasim Basak collected two steals that allowed Emir Preldzic to keep Fener ahead, 36-31. It didn't last long, however, as Winston scored off a steal, igniting a 0-10 Panathinaikos run in which Zizic had 6 points to put the Greens back ahead, 36-41. Damir Kaan hit one from downtown but a final basket by Jasikevicius gave the Greens a 39-43 edge at halftime

Panathinaikos put the finishing touches on its turnaround and the game itself soon after halftime. The Green's defense blocked Fenerbahce's every move, while Spanoulis, Batiste and Zizic started the half with 6 unanswered points to make it 39-49, the first double-digit lead of the game. Winston added a dunk in transition and Batiste completed the 0-10 start to the third quarter at 39-53. Fenerbahce stopped turning the ball over long enough for White to score on of his team's two baskets for the entire quarter. Zizic and Batiste kept on dominating the game inside as the margin grew bigger minute by minute. Batiste's layup in the quarter's last minute meant a 24-point for the Greens before Gasper Vidmar's layup-plus-free throw for Fenerbahce left a 44-65 scoreboard after 30 minutes.

Fenerbahce shook itself awake a little bit after the shocking third period and made a 6-0 start to the last quarter by looking to Erden inside. It didn't take long for Panathinaikos to refresh its memory of the thunderous third quarter, however. This time, an 0-8 run consisting of Dejan Tomasevic's layup and 2 three-points blasts by Jasikevicius extended the lead to 24 points once again, 53-77, with 5 minutes to go. Jasikevicius made sure that Panathinaikos controlled the remaining minutes and cruised to the finish of its sixth victory without a loss this season.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Gokhan Ture, Istanbul

Referees: ARTEAGA, JUAN CARLOS (ESP), BITTON, MOSHE (ISR), DOZAI, SRDAN (CRO)

Attendance: 4500

By Quarter	1	2	3	4
Fenerbahce Ulker	20	19	5	20
Panathinaikos	19	24	22	18

End of Quarter	1	2	3	4
Fenerbahce Ulker	20	39	44	64
Panathinaikos	19	43	65	83

Head coach: TANJEVIC, BOGDAN

Fenerbahce Ulker
#	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	WHITE, JAMES	35:01	14	6/7	0/1	2/2	1	2	3	3	2	2	1	1	2	4	20
5	SOLOMON, WILLIE	18:25	11	3/4	1/5	2/2				1		1			4	2	4
6	TURKCAN, MIRSAD	16:53		0/4	0/1		4	5	9	1	1	1	1	1	3	1	3
7	ONAN, OMER	16:35	2	1/2	0/2	0/2	1		1	1	1	1			2	2	-1
8	BASAK, RASIM	5:21	2	1/1				1	1	1	2					1	7
9	ERDEN, SEMIH	23:45	15	6/9		3/4	1	4	5	1	1	2	1		3	2	16
10	KUTLUAY, IBRAHIM	19:52	6	0/1	2/5			2	2		1	1			3	1	2
12	MRSIC, DAMIR	21:35	3		1/5		1		1	1	1	2			2		-2
14	VIDMAR, GASPER	21:29	9	4/9		1/3	3	3	6	1	2	4	2		3	4	10
15	DEMIREL, HAKAN	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
21	SAVAS, OGUZ	12:32		0/3	0/1			4	4	1					1
55	PRELDZIC, EMIR	8:32	2	1/1	0/3							1			2		-4
	Team
	Totals	200:00	64	22/41	4/23	8/13	11	21	32	11	11	15	5	2	25	17	55
				53.7%	17.4%	61.5%

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
#	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	3:43						1	1						1
5	PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS	7:40	2	1/2				2	2		1	1					3
6	SPANOULIS, VASSILIS	27:46	9	3/7	0/1	3/4		2	2	2	1	1		1	1	4	9
7	BECIROVIC, SANI	22:15	2	1/1	0/2	0/1	1	2	3	2	2				2	3	7
8	BATISTE, MIKE	22:03	16	8/11	0/1		1	6	7	2	2	1	1		3	1	21
9	ZIZIC, ANDRIJA	21:43	14	6/9	0/1	2/5		4	4		1	1		1	1	6	15
10	HATZIVRETTAS, NIKOS	17:28	4	1/1		2/2		1	1	2	1	2			3	1	4
11	DIKOUDIS, DIMOS	8:46										1			3		-4
12	TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS	14:20	2	0/1	0/1	2/2	2	1	3		1	1	1		1	2	5
14	WINSTON, KENNEDY	28:09	13	5/7	0/2	3/4	1	3	4	2	1	2		1		3	15
15	TOMASEVIC, DEJAN	8:03	2	1/3						2	1			1	1		1
19	JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS	18:04	19	5/7	2/2	3/5		2	2	3	1	3		1	1	5	21
	Team
	Totals	200:00	83	31/49	2/10	15/23	5	24	29	15	12	13	2	5	17	25	97
				63.3%	20%	65.2%

This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

TANJEVIC, BOGDAN Fenerbahce Ulker "The quality of our opponent in this game is not a surprise for me. I'm just surprised at the third quarter because of our game ended. We fell down like a team playing its first game in a summer tournament. This third quarter was a killer for us. At the same time, they showed why are they the champion of this tournament. With great discipline of the game, with great effort to put up resistance for all 40 minutes, not only 30 minutes. I think we played 30 minutes good enough to make a little challenge against a great team like Panathinaikos. But the 10 minutes of the third quarter was too much for us. We feel the absence of Willie Solomon in the third quarter because of his fourth foul and we had to keep him on the bench. But this is only one of the reasons of the disasterous third period."

TANJEVIC, BOGDAN

Fenerbahce Ulker

"The quality of our opponent in this game is not a surprise for me. I'm just surprised at the third quarter because of our game ended. We fell down like a team playing its first game in a summer tournament. This third quarter was a killer for us. At the same time, they showed why are they the champion of this tournament. With great discipline of the game, with great effort to put up resistance for all 40 minutes, not only 30 minutes. I think we played 30 minutes good enough to make a little challenge against a great team like Panathinaikos. But the 10 minutes of the third quarter was too much for us. We feel the absence of Willie Solomon in the third quarter because of his fourth foul and we had to keep him on the bench. But this is only one of the reasons of the disasterous third period."

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO Panathinaikos "Fenerbahce Ulker is a good team with a combination of good players. For that reason, we came here a little bit wary of our opponent. And the 19 points difference at the end of the game was not the real differance of power between the two teams. We made a very bad start to the game and gave too many chances for offensive rebounds and made lots of turnovers just in the first quarter. But we started showing our real face in the second period. We balanced the game, set our offense and started to take the rebounds under our control. And when we start to get rebounds, we turned those into fastbreaks as much as we could to change the destiny of the game. And finally in the third period, we found the rythm that we were targeting before the match. We played as fast as we can and it worked well as we had a big margin. As I told you at the beginning, Fenerbahce is a good team with good concepts, perfect communication. I believe that they will be in top five in our group at the end of the first phase."

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO

Panathinaikos

"Fenerbahce Ulker is a good team with a combination of good players. For that reason, we came here a little bit wary of our opponent. And the 19 points difference at the end of the game was not the real differance of power between the two teams. We made a very bad start to the game and gave too many chances for offensive rebounds and made lots of turnovers just in the first quarter. But we started showing our real face in the second period. We balanced the game, set our offense and started to take the rebounds under our control. And when we start to get rebounds, we turned those into fastbreaks as much as we could to change the destiny of the game. And finally in the third period, we found the rythm that we were targeting before the match. We played as fast as we can and it worked well as we had a big margin. As I told you at the beginning, Fenerbahce is a good team with good concepts, perfect communication. I believe that they will be in top five in our group at the end of the first phase."

Players

KUTLUAY, IBRAHIM Fenerbahce Ulker "To play with Panathinaikos head to head in a game, you have to defend very well and to play mostly inside to score on offense. This is what we couldn't do in the third quarter. We gave them easy chances for wide open shots, many fastbreaks because of our mistakes on offesce, wrong and failed attempts and turnovers. And this is Panathinaikos, not any other team: they used this advantage very well. They have the best roster, packed with superstars and they really played excellent, especially in the third quarter. And it's almost impossible to comeback from 20 points against a team like PAO. They are a well disciplined team. Anyway, it doesn't mean a lot that we lose this game because we still have our chances for the Top 16, better than many teams."

KUTLUAY, IBRAHIM

Fenerbahce Ulker

"To play with Panathinaikos head to head in a game, you have to defend very well and to play mostly inside to score on offense. This is what we couldn't do in the third quarter. We gave them easy chances for wide open shots, many fastbreaks because of our mistakes on offesce, wrong and failed attempts and turnovers. And this is Panathinaikos, not any other team: they used this advantage very well. They have the best roster, packed with superstars and they really played excellent, especially in the third quarter. And it's almost impossible to comeback from 20 points against a team like PAO. They are a well disciplined team. Anyway, it doesn't mean a lot that we lose this game because we still have our chances for the Top 16, better than many teams."

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS Panathinaikos "We made many mistakes just in the first quarter. We turned the ball over and weren't able to found our rythm. We also lost the control inside the paint to take the rebounds. But we levelled the game in the second quarter and took the control in our hands. We tried to play as quick as we can in the third period, when we took the game away. It was quite good when we were taking the rebounds because it helped us a lot to play our fastbreak game. We are happy to keep on winning."

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS

Panathinaikos

"We made many mistakes just in the first quarter. We turned the ball over and weren't able to found our rythm. We also lost the control inside the paint to take the rebounds. But we levelled the game in the second quarter and took the control in our hands. We tried to play as quick as we can in the third period, when we took the game away. It was quite good when we were taking the rebounds because it helped us a lot to play our fastbreak game. We are happy to keep on winning."

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