Panathinaikos 2009-10, team profile
|
|
|
|
2008-09 RESULTS
|
|
Euroleague
|
|
Regular Season
|
7-3
|
|
Top 16
|
5-1
|
|
Playoffs
|
3-1
|
|
Final Four
|
Champion
|
|
|
Greek League
|
|
Regular Season
|
22-4
|
|
Playoffs
|
Champion
|
|
Cup
|
Champion
|
|
|
Reigning Euroleague champion Panathinaikos Athens has more than proven itself to be one of the modern heavyweights of basketball and did it so by lifting its fifth Euroleague crown in Berlin in May. No team in the last quarter-century has been continental champion more than Panathinaikos, which has won all four of its titles to date since 1996. Panathinaikos has yet to successfully defend a Euroleague title - but the club is always looking for new challenges and will head into the new season with that exciting mission. Panathinaikos has ruled in Greece for some time now, first taking charge with 12 domestic titles in a 17-year stretch between 1967 and 1984. The late 1980s and early 1990s proved to be a dry period for the club, but that changed dramatically in 1996, when a team led by legends like Panagiotis Giannakis, Dominique Wilkins and Fragiskos Alvertis secured the first Euroleague title by any Greek team, edging Barcelona by a single point in Paris thanks to a last-gasp blocked shot by Stojko Vrankovic. Just a few years later, after its second and third continental crowns in 2000 and 2002, Panathinaikos had joined an international elite reserved for very few clubs. At home in Greece, the trophy collecting continued with a new string of domestic crowns. Since 1998, the Greens have won 11 Greek League titles out of a possible 12 to give the club an unprecedented total of 30. Panathinaikos returned to the Euroleague Final Four in Moscow 2005, where it was ousted by eventual champion Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semifinals. The Greens came within one win of a return to the continent's showcase event in 2006 before losing at home to Tau Ceramica in the deciding Game 3 of the Quarterfinal Playoffs. The 2006-07 campaign would prove to be one for the history books. Panathinaikos kept its eye on the ball from the very start of the season, winning its first 11 games and coasting into the Final Four, held at the club's home court, OAKA, in Athens. Alvertis, the team captain, was able to finally lift the crown only after Panathinaikos and Final Four MVP Dimitris Diamantidis knocked off defending champ CSKA Moscow 93-91 in an instant classic, in no small part due to one of the most intense crowds ever under one roof. The club proceeded to add Greek Cup and Greek League titles to record its first triple crown. After failing to reach the Top 16 the following season, Panathinaikos started the 2008-09 season eager to prove its value. The Greens won their Top 16 group and registered back-to-back road wins in the playoffs against Montepaschi - which had been unbeaten for more than a year in Siena - to reach the Final Four. Two very close wins against archrival Olympiacos and CSKA allowed the Greens' fans to celebrate that Panathinaikos was once again the best team in Europe. Vassilis Spanoulis earned Final Four MVP honors and had 13 points in one of the most exciting finals in basketball history. Panathinaikos rounded out another perfect season with the Greek League and Greek Cup titles. The new challenge for the Green Giant is to defend its crowns in every competition it plays in 2009-10.
|
|
Euroleague.net
|
 Print Send to a Friend Share
|