By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It wasn’t only a game but a EuroLeague SHOW watched by fans in 92 countries… that were in for a treat. In a spectacular battle, worthy of the two teams’ magnitude, Olympiacos edged Panathinaikos in OAKA 79 – 77 thanks to the class of its two co-captains: Vassilis Spanoulis and Giorgos Printezis.
With their team down 77 -76 and only seconds left, Spanoulis naturally took it on him to plan the possible game-winning attack. After attracting the attention of the Green defense, Olympiacos‘ icon saw Printezis inside the paint, dished him the ball and his teammate scored the basket, plus winning the foul, to “write” final score on the boxscore.
His made free throw was unintentional, since he intended to miss it in order to not give Panathinaikos a timeout. Still, Pascual’s players didn’t deliver in the three seconds they had to change their fate.
Of course their’ contribution didn’t begin or stop in this final play. Spanoulis had been pacing Olympiacos throughout the whole game, finishing with 22 points, 8 assists and 24 PIR, while Printezis scored 16 points keeping his team’s head above the water especially during moments when Panathinaikos began meaning business.
After a defensively bad first half (39 – 47), the hosts tightened their efforts, making many stops while becoming threatening thanks to Nick Calathes’ aggressiveness (16 points, 9 assists), plus Chris Singleton’s (14 points, 9 rebounds) and K.C. Rivers’ exterior shooting (14 points).
The latter was also responsible for shifting the momentum in favor of his team, throwing back to back threes for the 73 – 72 with 6 minutes left. Antonis Fotsis then made it 76 – 72 but, Spanoulis & Printezis had the final say.