By Aris Barkas
Was there a foul in Sarunas Jasikevicius’s last shot against Maccabi Tel Aviv? As you can see in the end of the video there is a lot of contact to say the least (ed.note: and also an extra step from Saras).
But there was not a foul call, something that made co-owner of Panathinaikos Thanasis Giannakopoulos furious. In a televised interview after the game he said: “There was a foul on Saras. That’s were the game was decided”. But the series is now 1-1 after the 94-92 overtime win of Maccabi in Athens and Panathinaikos must win one game in Tel Aviv in order to stay alive.
As Giannakopoulos said: “We have been in the same situation in the past and we have succeded. But I must underline the mistakes of the referees. Last year without the home court advantage we won the play offs against Barcelona. We certainly can win again this season. I didn’t enjoy the game, because I am used to winning”.
In the Press conference Panathinaikos coach Zeliko Obradovic was quite eloquent in his statement: “We had made many mistakes, that is why we lost the game, but I think that there was a foul in the last second and that was a mistake of the referees”.
The guy that tried to shoot, Saras himself, was already in Game 3 mode: “The last shot is not important. We must not spend time talking about it and if there was a foul. The second game is over and we must go to fight in Tel Aviv”.