May 22, 2013
Playoffs Game 4 - April 02, 2009 CET: 20:45 Local time: 20:45 - PALAESTRA
Montepaschi Siena 84 - 91 Panathinaikos
PLAYOFFS, GAME 4
GROUP Quarterfinal 1
GROUP Quarterfinal 2
GROUP Quarterfinal 3

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
1-2 Playoffs 2-1
4-2 Top 16 5-1
8-2 Regular Season 7-3
13-6 Overall 14-5

Referees

Crew Chief
BRAZAUSKAS, ROMUALDAS, Lithuania
Referee
SUTULOVIC, ZORAN, Montenegro
Umpire
GARCIA ORTIZ, JOSE RAMON, Spain

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
80.5 Points 79.3
30.3 Rebounds 32.6
9.3 O. Rebounds 9.3
21.1 D. Rebounds 23.3
12.3 Assists 13.9
11.6 Steals 8.8
2.2 Blocks 3.1
12.7 Turnovers 14.3
52.5 % 2PT 57.8 %
36.9 % 3PT 36.1 %
81.1 % FT 77.4 %
86.3 Index 89.4
Team Stats - Montepaschi Siena
Team Stats - Panathinaikos

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
16.3 / MCINTYRE, TERRELL Points 12.4 / Batiste
5.6 / STONEROOK, SHAUN Rebounds 4.9 / Batiste
1.8 / Lavrinovic, K. OR 1.8 / PEKOVIC, NIKOLA
4.6 / STONEROOK, SHAUN DR 3.4 / Batiste
4.5 / MCINTYRE, TERRELL Assists 3.2 / Diamantidis
2.3 / STONEROOK, SHAUN Steals 1.6 / Diamantidis
1.1 / Eze Blocks 0.7 / Fotsis
2.3 / MCINTYRE, TERRELL Turnovers 2.1 / Batiste
67.5 % / MCINTYRE, TERRELL 2PT 65.8 % / Fotsis
52.4 % / Carraretto 3PT 46.2 % / Diamantidis
100.0 % / FINLEY, MORRIS FT 100.0 % / KECMAN, DUSAN
18.9 / MCINTYRE, TERRELL Index 15.6 / Diamantidis
Team Roster - Montepaschi Siena
Team Roster - Panathinaikos

THE TAKE

Montepaschi Siena will look to extend its season by at least one more game when it hosts Panathinaikos in a do-or-die Game 4 in their best-of-five Quarterfinal Playoffs series on Thursday in Siena. The Greens dominated the glass and took advantage of Montepaschi’s poor shooting en route to a 53-72 win on Tuesday to take a 2-1 series lead. Panathinaikos’s defense forced Montepaschi’s worst offensive output of the season, which not coincidentally led to its first home loss since 2007. Head coach Simone Pianigiani will have to go back to the drawing board and find a way to recapture the form that the Italian champs displayed when they beat Panathinaikos in Game 2 in Athens. The good news for Montepaschi is that due to the rout, no player was forced into extended minutes and all should be fresh for Thursday’s decisive encounter. A negative though is that All-Euroleague big man Ksistof Lavrinovic, who rushed back from a broken hand to help his team, was a non-factor. Lavrinovic was held scoreless for the first time in his Euroleague career, missing all 6 shot attempts and taking only 2 rebounds in 21 minutes. Without Lavrinovic’s help, Ben Eze and Shaun Stoenrook will have a tough time against Panathinaikos frontcourt of Mike Batiste, Nikola Pekovic, Kostas Tsartsaris and Antonis Fotsis. Meanwhile Dimitris Diamantidis was back to his old self for head coach Zeljko Obradovic. A healthy Diamantidis only bolsters the Greens’ backcourt, which also features Vassilsi Spanoulis, Drew Nicholas and Sarunas Jasikevicius. They will look to contain Montepaschi star Terrell McIntyre and his backcourt mates, Rimas Kaukenas, Henry Domercant and Morris Finley. The teams’ respective starting small forwards, Romain Sato of Montepaschi and Stratos Perperoglou, neither of who was a factor in Game 3, could prove to be difference makers in Game 4. Tuesday’s game was the fifth time these teams met this season and the first time the game was decided by more than 5 points. That points to another close game in Game 4. The pressure will be on Montepaschi, which must win to stay alive, while Panathinaikos can fall back on Game 5 at home, though Obradovic will surely have his team motivated to close the series sooner. It’s not likely that Montepaschi will duplicate the poor shooting from Game 3, but it must still solve the rebounding issue, while being careful to avoid foul trouble. Montepaschi’s success or failure in the paint could determine the outcome of its entire season.

GAME NOTES

Montepaschi Siena
  • Montepaschi Siena had a 14-game home-court winning streak snapped when it lost Game 3 against Panathinaikos.
  • All-Euroleague playmaker Terrell McIntyre has made at least 1 three-pointer in 15 straight appearances.
  • McIntyre has scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games. He leads the Quarterfinal Playoffs in scoring with 21.3 points per game.
  • Guard Henry Domercant has made his last 28 free throws over a span of 12 games. He is shooting 94.3% from the line for the season.
  • Forward Romain Sato set Euroleague career highs with 29 points and a 40 index in the Game 1 loss at Panathinaikos.
  • Domercant matched his Euroleague career high with 29 points against Panathinaikos in an April 2005 Quarterfinal Playoff game. Domercant, then with Efes Pilsen, scored 29 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in a 102-96 overtime loss at OAKA. Current Panathinaikos swingman Dusan Kecman was a teammate of Domercant on that team.
  • Ariel McDonald spent two seasons playing for Panathinaikos, winning two Greek championships and one Greek Cup. Aside from head coach Zeljko Obradovic, McDonald will be reunited with former teammates Fragiskos Alvertis, Mike Batiste, Nikos Hatzivrettas, Dusan Sakota and Kostas Tsartsaris.
  • Reserve shooting guard Marco Carraretto set Euroleague career bests in points and three-point shooting when he went 5 for 5 from downtown and finished with 15 points in Montepaschi’s win over Panathinaikos in January.
Panathinaikos
  • Guard Drew Nicholas has made at least 3 three-pointers in four straight and seven of his last eight Euroleague games. He shot 52.2% from downtown over the course of February and March.
  • Center Nikola Pekovic has scored in double figures in each of his last six games.
  • Guard Dimitris Diamantidis entered the top 20 on the Euroleague Basketball career blocked shots chart with 2 blocks in Game 3. At 1.96 meters, he is the shortest player among the top 20.
  • Power forward Antonis Fotsis and Montepaschi guard Henry Domercant were teammates at Dynamo Moscow last season, helping the club reach the ULEB Cup semifinals.
  • Guard Sarunas Jasikevicius was a teammate of Montepaschi big man Ksistof Lavrinovic and guard Rimas Kaukenas on the Lithuanian Olympic team last summer. Jasikevicius and Lavrinovic were also teammates on the Lithuanian side that won the 2003 European championships in Sweden.
  • Big man Mike Batiste scored a season-high 28 points against Montepaschi when they met in January.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Montepaschi Siena
"We know we'll have to do something special to win the game tomorrow night, but I hope to have again an extraordinary performance from my team. We deserve it and I would like to do it also for our incredible fans, the city and our club. They are an amazing team, perfectly organized, and last night they never gave up, playing at the same level for all 40 minutes. As I said, we hope to live a special night on Thursday to earn a trip to Athens next week."
OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos
"We have already forgotten Game 3 and have started our preparations for the next battle in Siena. There is no doubt that we played very well several hours ago, but we must think that Game 3 never happened. I mean we have to move on and fight hard one more time. Our goal is to play with the same attitude, knowing that Montepaschi will play much better than in the previous game. Personally, I believe that Siena will come up with the highest motivation to tie the series and return to Athens. Actually, we expect that the upcoming battle will be the toughest of all. I am satisfied with the passion that my players showed for 40 minutes, but we have to repeat it one more time."

Players

SPANOULIS, VASSILIS
Panathinaikos
"Montepaschi Siena is a very good team, a proud team. The point is that we have another game in Italy and definitely we mustn't think that there is one more game in Athens if we lose in Palasports Mens Sana. We have to fight hard, thinking that this is our last game in the playoffs and there is no possibility for a tie. Our goal is to compete with the same seriousness, passion and concentration, exactly like we did in Game 3, in order to make the 3-1. Everything will start from our defense, which was perfectly organized to stop Siena's big weapons. This is our philosophy and we are very satisfied that we combined such a defensive game with a great offense in Game 3."
Drew Nicholas - PanathinaikosPanathinaikos advanced to the 2009 Euroleague Basketball Final Four on Thursday after beating Montepaschi Siena on the road to win their best-of-five Quarterfinal Playoffs series 3-1. The Greens will face their arch Greek League rival Olympiacos in the semifinal at the o2 Arena in Berlin on May 1. Panathinaikos opened a 12-point lead in the first quarter and pushed the gap to 13 points in the second quarter. But Terrell McIntyre's outside shooting helped Siena cut the margin to just 3 points at halftime. Panathinaikos pushed the lead back to 8 only to see Montepaschi use an 11-2 run to pull ahead 58-57. A 2-8 close to the quarter gave Panathinaikos a 5-point lead after three. Montepaschi trailed by 6 in the fourth, but Benjamin Eze and McIntyre spear-headed a 10-1 charge for a 72-69 lead. But a 3-16 Panathinaikos push finished off Siena for good. Drew Nicholas led six Panathinaikos scorers in double figures with 19 points. Mike Batiste added 15, Nikola Pekovic 14, Stratos Perperoglou 12, Sarunas Jasikevicius 10 and Vassilis Spanoulis shined with 11 points and a career-high 10 assists for the winners. McIntyre was the star for Montepaschi, but his career-high 35 points were not enough. Rimantas Kaukenas added 15 in defeat.

The game started with three straight turnovers before Spanoulis made 2 free throws to give Panathinaikos an early lead. Eze got the hosts on the board with an inside lay-in off a fine pass by Kaukenas. Perperoglou got open on the left wing for a three-pointer and Batiste's lay-up made it 2-7. Kaukenas hit a jumper and McIntyre converted a fast break layup after a turnover to pull Montepaschi within 6-7. Siena head coach Simone Pianigiani was then called for a technical foul arguing a foul called. And things could have been worse for the Italian champs as Spanoulis and Batiste combined for just 1 of 4 free throws. But Batiste hit a jumper on the ensuing possession for a 6-10 lead. After an Eze free throw, Perperglou scored back-to-back lay-ups after steals as Panathinaikos jumped ahead 7-14. Pianigiani ordered a timeout, but Panathinaikos came up with another break-away layup after a steal only to have Eze save the basket with a block. Shaun Stonerook's dunk as the trailer on the break was matched by Batiste's layup on the other end. But the referees whistled Batiste for a technical foul for throwing the ball at a Siena player after his score. McIntyre made both free throws to cut the margin to 11-16. But Nicholas knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to push the lead to 13-22. McIntyre answered with a three-ball from the top of the key, but Panathinaikos kept up the defensive pressure, blocking a Ksistof Lavrinovic shot that resulted in a layup for Dimitris Diamantidis for the first double-digit lead - 16-26. Spanoulis's jumper made it 16-28 before Lavrinovic's foul shots cut the gap to 18-28 after one period.

Terrell McIntyre - Montepaschi SienaAntonis Fotsis was left alone in the paint as Panathinaikos scored first in the second quarter. McIntyre drained a triple from the left wing to keep Montepaschi in the game. But Nicholas's pull-up jumper in the lane pushed the lead to 13 points - 21-34, causing Pianigiani to call another timeout. McIntyre came back with a triple and then Lavrinovic put back an offensive rebound as Siena scored 6 straight points to cut the game to 27-34 and Panathinaikos boss Zeljko Obradovic wanted to talk about it. After the timeout, Nicholas hit his third triple to reestablish the 10-point lead. It was 10 points again after Spanoulis scored a driving layup and Batiste's jumper off the glass to make it 31-41. But Kaukenas converted a fast break layup and McIntyre drained another triple from the top of the key and the lead was just 36-41 as Obradovic again called for a timeout. Nicholas again answered the bell with a triple, but McIntyre bolted into the lane for a driving layup and Eze hit a left hook after Siena grabbed 2 offensive rebounds to make it 40-44. The Panathinaikos boss continued to try to stop the Siena surge with another timeout and Fotsis stepped out to the right wing for a triple to make it 40-47. Montepaschi would not let up, Lavrinovic laying in a nice pass from McIntyre and McIntyre making 2 foul shots to trim the margin to 44-47. After two straight 24-second violations for Panathinaikos, Montepaschi had a chance to go into the break deadlocked but McIntyre missed his three-point attempt and the guests led 44-47 at intermission.

Stratos Perperoglou - PanathinaikosAfter both teams struggled in the early going of the second half, Batiste's jumper on the left baseline opened the scoring in the second half. His free throw on the next possession made it 44-50. But McIntyre continued his fine long range shooting with a three-ball to make it 47-50. McIntyre threw the ball away and Nicholas dunked all alone on the break. Perperoglou then had his three-pointer go in, out and back in for a 47-55 advantage. Montepaschi failed to give up and Kaukenas banked in a jumper off the glass. After 2 Kaukenas free throws, McIntyre was fouled shooting a three-pointer and made all 3 foul shots to make it a one-point game 54-55. Eze missed 2 free throws and then Siena drew a charge, but could not inbound the ball and Pekovic was wide open for a layup to put Panathinaikos up 54-57. Stonerook put back his own miss and then stole a pass by Diamantidis and passed ahead to Kaukenas, who streaked in for the layup to push Montepaschi ahead 58-57. But Pekovic hit off the glass and converted the three-point play and Jasikevicius drained a triple form the right corner and the guests were up 58-63. Stonerook threw down a dunk after a McIntyre feed, but Pekovic put in a spinning lefty layup to give Panathinaikos a 60-65 advantage after three periods.

Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter until Morris Finley's jumper to cut it to 62-65. Pekovic fought off Eze and converted a three-point play for a 62-68 advantage. Montepaschi came back yet again with Eze dunking and completing a three-point play, Henry Domercant putting back an offensive rebound and Eze blocking Pekovic, which resulted in McIntyre draining a three-ball to complete a 10-1 rally and give the hosts a 72-69 lead. Panathinaikos somehow was able to yet again hit a three-ball after the timeout, Fotsis doing the deed this time to knot the game with the shot clock winding down. And that triple started a 3-16 surge that finished off Montepaschi for good. Nicholas nailed a three from the left corner and Spanoulis made 3 free throws after being fouled beyond the arc. Batiste threw down a dunk and Jasikevicius put the nail in the coffin with a long three-pointer late in the shot clock. Jasikivicius made 4 free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Euroleague.net
Referees: BRAZAUSKAS, ROMUALDAS (LTU), SUTULOVIC, ZORAN (MNE), GARCIA ORTIZ, JOSE RAMON (ESP), TARTAGLIA, EDUARDO (CRO)
Attendance: 7025
By Quarter1234
Montepaschi Siena18261624
Panathinaikos28191826
End of Quarter1234
Montepaschi Siena18446084
Panathinaikos28476591
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Montepaschi Siena
# 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 DOMERCANT, HENRY 14:46 2 1/2 0/1   1 2 3 2 1 1     2   3
5 MCINTYRE, TERRELL 37:29 35 5/6 6/11 7/7   3 3 3 1 2     2 5 37
7 FINLEY, MORRIS 4:46 5 1/2 1/2         1       1 2   1
8 EZE, BENJAMIN 29:11 8 3/6   2/5 1 4 5   3   4   3 4 15
9 CARRARETTO, MARCO 5:20 2 0/1 0/1 2/2 1   1 1 1 1   1   1 2
10 SATO, ROMAIN 32:59 5 2/7 0/2 1/2 6 1 7 1 2 1   2 4 4 4
12 LAVRINOVIC, KSISTOF 14:51 6 2/4 0/1 2/2 2 3 5   2 1   1 4 1 5
13 KAUKENAS, RIMANTAS 33:56 15 5/9 0/1 5/6 4 1 5 3 1 8     3 5 12
14 RESS, TOMAS 5:49           1 1           1    
18 LECHTHALER, LUCA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 MCDONALD, ARRIEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 STONEROOK, SHAUN 20:53 6 3/4 0/4   1 2 3   4 2     2 3 7
Team           2 2 4     2     1   1
Totals 200:00 84 22/41 7/23 19/24 18 19 37 11 15 18 4 5 24 23 87
53.7% 30.4% 79.2%
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: 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 KECMAN, DUSAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 31:21 11 2/4 0/3 7/9   3 3 10 3 4   1 4 6 17
7 PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS 15:01 12 3/7 2/2     2 2 1 2   1 2 1 1 12
8 BATISTE, MIKE 20:22 15 6/8   3/6 2 3 5     2     3 3 13
9 FOTSIS, ANTONIS 24:21 8 1/1 2/3   1 2 3   1 1 1   3 2 10
10 HATZIVRETTAS, NIKOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 NICHOLAS, DREW 32:20 19 2/2 5/7         1 1 3     3 3 16
12 TSARTSARIS, KOSTAS 14:13     0/1     3 3 2 3 1     3   3
13 DIAMANTIDIS, DIMITRIS 22:55 2 1/2 0/2   1 1 2 2 1 1 2   3 1 3
14 PEKOVIC, NIKOLA 19:02 14 4/6   6/6 2 3 5     2 1 1 1 5 19
15 SAKOTA, DUSAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS 20:25 10 0/1 2/4 4/4   2 2 2 1 2     3 2 9
Team           1   1   2 1         2
Totals 200:00 91 19/31 11/22 20/25 7 19 26 18 14 17 5 4 24 23 104
61.3% 50% 80%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Montepaschi Siena
"I asked and I hoped that my players would do something extraordinary tonight, and I have to say we tried. We arrived to play this series against a big team that is in its best momentum of the season. Tonight we played zone-press, used many adjustments and played at a better pace than in Game 3. Things did not work well and we missed open shots, but we have also to think about the merits of Panathinaikos. They made big plays in the key moments. I'm disappointed for our fans, who were special again tonight. We would have liked to end our Euroleague season at home by winning, but we didn't make it."
OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Panathinaikos
"Congratulations to my players, because they made everything possible to win two games here and make it to the Final Four. It was a very tough and difficult game, but we managed to win thanks to our defense and focus. Our target was only to win, without thinking of the score. I don't care if we score 51 or 101 points, it is enough to score 1 point more than our opponents. We committed some normal turnovers that finally didn’t affect us. Sure, it is a big success to reach another Final Four, but we have time to think of this and get prepared."

Players

MCINTYRE, TERRELL
Montepaschi Siena
"I'm so sorry about our defeat. We knew before the series started that it would be very tough, and it was. But when you lose, you don't feel good. I'm disappointed. Right now I don't have any regrets, just that, especially for our fans, they were great and supported us till the end, but Panathinaikos showed it was better than us."
NICHOLAS, DREW
Panathinaikos
"I am very happy and proud of our success. This is going to be the first Final Four in my career in Europe and I want to win it all. When I signed for Panathinaikos, my target was to go all the way and win the Euroleague trophy. Maybe I am a little bit greedy, but I want this trophy. We came here to play two tough games after they beat us at home. We played great on Tuesday, but Game 4 was more difficult because Montepaschi Siena had more pressure and the crowd pushed them a lot. Panathinaikos is a great team and we showed once again big character."
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