Panathinaikos “bent” the decimated Olympiakos with Ponitka for the draw!

“Alive” with Pony The Panathinaikos!

With a big three-pointer by the Pole in front of Fal, at 17.4” before the end and McKissick to miss on the exhalethe “greens” won 67-65 him Olympicending the 14-game losing streak and tying at 1-1 the Basketball League finals.

The “red and white” lined up without him Kostas Sloukasat the beginning of the second part o Thomas Walkupwhile in the third quarter he left injured Sasha Vezenkov.

The match

Panathinaikos started with Gudaitis, Mandzouka, Ponitka, Grigonis and Lee, while Olympiacos started with Fal, Vezenkov, Papanikolaou, Larentzakis and Walkap. After the closed first two minutes (5-4), the “greens” took more energy in defense, forcing the “red and whites” to make mistakes and running in the open field with Ponitka and Lee made a 10-0 run for +11 (15-4 ), up to 5′. The reaction of Piraeus came with Fal and Walkap and with individual scores of 2-9 (17-13), in the 8th minute. There, an unsportsmanlike foul by Walkup on Lee changed the momentum of the derby. The “clover” found a rhythm and with the entrance of Papagiannis on the court ran an 8-0 run, closing the first period at +12 (25-13).

Olympiakos entered the second period very tired. With repeated good defenses, complete control of the rebounds and forwards Papanikolaou and Walkup, the “red and white” ran a 12-0 run and tied (25-25), at 13′. Grigonis scored Panathinaikos’ first basket in the second quarter, with Boloboi putting Piraeus ahead for the first time (27-29), at 15′. The “greens” regained the lead with Williams (31-29), with the match continuing at a slow tempo. However, the last four minutes belonged to Barzoka’s team, which thanks to the defense and the very hungry Walkup made individual scores 2-6 until the end of the first half, going to the locker room with the lead (33-35).

Although Walkup was sent off at the beginning of the second half (he was charged with flopping and already had the unsportsmanlike conduct), Olympiacos came in better and with a 5-0 run went to +7 (33-40), at 22′. Panathinaikos responded with Ponitka and Grigonis and with individual scores of 9-2, equalized (42-42), in the 25th minute. Then the “red and white” had another loss, with Vezenkov leaving injured. Nevertheless, thanks to Fal, Piraeus went ahead again and went to +4 (46-50), in the 28th minute. However, in the last two minutes, the visitors ran out of solutions with P. Kalaitzakis and Lee giving the home team the lead (51-50) at the end of the third period.

Olympiacos had a better start in the fourth quarter as well, who with polyphony in the attack ran individual scores of 3-9, for +5 (54-59), in the 33rd minute. The pace of the derby then plummeted with many mistakes from both. However, the problem was greater for the Piraeus team, which “stuck” completely offensively, with Panathinaikos on the other hand finding solutions with Ponitka, Grigonis and Mandzouka and with individual scores of 10-1 going ahead (64-60) , at 37′. The reaction of Piraeus came with a personal 5-0 by Papanikolaou for the lead (64-65), in the 39th minute. There, with a big three-pointer by Ponitka in front of Fal, Panathinaikos went ahead (67-65), at 17.4” before the end. McKissick missed in the last second and thus Panathinaikos took the victory with the final 67-65.

The quarters: 25-13, 33-35, 51-50, 67-65

See the match statistics here

Watch the film of the match here