By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens (6-5 record) hosts Fenerbahce Istanbul (8-3) on Friday night at the Olympic Sports Center Athens in the Game of the Week for of Round 12 of the regular season of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Zeljko Obradovic returns once again – as a rival – to the place where he was worshipped by the fans of Panathinaikos for 13 years. However, since leaving he has not yet defeated Panathinaikos, the team he made history with, winning five EuroLeague titles, in Athens.
In the context of this showdown, a matchup that is of great interest is the one between Mike James and Bobby Dixon!
Both are among the most important guards on these two teams and their performance constitutes a barometer. James, born in 1990, is in his third season in the EuroLeague and is getting ready for just his fourth appearance this season, since he suffered a hand injury that kept him out of his team’s first eight games.
So far, in three games, he has 7.3 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound per game. Last year, as one of the protagonists of Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz’s amazing journey to the Final Four, he averaged 10 points, 2.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds, with a PIR of 10.1. He’s an impressively explosive guard who specializes in the transition game, a good defender and, as time goes by, he improved his percentage from the three-point line as well.
Dixon, born in 1983, is also in his third season in the EuroLeague and his second with Fenerbahce. He has 11.7 points, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steal and 2 rebounds with a PIR of 11.4 on average! A gifted shooter, who – if he gets into a rhythm – can destroy any defense, helps out with assists and is very dedicated in his defensive duties, especially on ball pressure.
It’s worth noting that he has won the last two championships in Turkey (in 2015 with Pinar Karsiyaka in a fairy tale journey!) and two Turkish Cups in 2014 (Karsiyaka) and last year with Fenerbahce.
The two of them are going to be opponents for the first time since last season’s semifinal in the Final Four in Berlin, where Obradovic‘s team had prevailed 88-77 in overtime, after a thrilling game! They very much shut each other down in scoring that day, with James finishing on 6 points and Dixon at 3, but they helped their team with 5 and 4 assists, respectively, and were on the court a majority of the time, because of their key roles even when not shooting well.
Friday night is going to be a different, new story. So, it’s Panathinaikos against Fenerbahce and James Vs. Dixon!
#GameOn!