EuroLeague Final 2009: Panathinaikos take action against CSKA and become champions again

After the TOP 16 we entered the quarterfinals playoff that this year changes the format and instead of the best to three as it was done until then would play the best to five games. Facing OLYMPIACOS against REAL MADRID, the Spanish duel BARCELONA against TAU CERAMICA, PANATHINAIKOS against MONTEPASCHI SIENA and CSKA MOSCU against PARTIZAN.

Olympiacos beat Real Madrid (3-1), the Greeks won their two home games, then Madrid won the honor in the third and Olympiacos and sentenced the playoff on Spanish soil without reaching the fifth.

The duel between Barcelona and TAU Ceramica was intense and very disputed until the end. The Basques began winning on the track of Barça and came to become (1-2) after finishing the third game of the series. The TAU before his fans had the opportunity to point his rival in the fourth but Barcelona was able to force and fifth and win.

Panathinaikos was much superior to Montepaschi Siena and that the Italians were able to win the second game in the Greek OAKA but then the PAO reacted with two victories on the transalpine court.

The play-off between CSKA and Partizan was the least contested of these quarter-finals. The Russians with a clear (3-0) gave a good account of a Partizan with a lot of encouragement but with less mimbres than their qualified rival and reigning champions.

The Greek semi-final was as expected in an all-out fight. During the forty minutes the match had no owner and the alternations in the scoreboard were constant. Thus entered the last possessions with everything to decide, with the match tied Pekovic, which was the best of the PAO scored a basket ultimately decisive because Olympiacos failed to take his last chance to turn the scoreboard.

In the other semi-final the emotions were not minor. It could not be otherwise in a whole CSKA MOSCOW vs BARCELONA. The Catalans thanks to a good David Andersen enjoyed the first advantages but little by little the CSKA of the hand of a lethal Siskauskas was made with the dominion of the party in spite of the Catalan efforts.

Panathinaïkos won their fifth Euroleague (three from the modern ULEB era and two from the old FIBA tournament) by defeating CSKA Moscow in a dramatic final, after a game in which the Greeks clearly dominated the game and the scoreboard during the first two quarters, until the Russians made a spectacular comeback in which they enjoyed a last possession to draw or even win the game.Željko Obradović knew that much of Panathinaïkós’s options went through an aggressive defence

and instructed his men to tighten the markings and force his opponent to throw from uncomfortable positions. CSKA tried to navigate the Athenian defence with long possessions and circulations from the hand of J.R. Holden, so the first advantages were for the Muscovites (4-10; 7-12). However, as the minutes went by, errors and ball losses accumulated at CSKA, and Panathinaïkós took advantage of it, with Spanoulis’s deadly penetrations and the balls inside at Peković After a 9-0 split (16-12), the first quarter finished with a Greek lead (21-16). At the start of the second period, the Greens continued their defensive intensity against a CSKA that was neither inside nor outside the zone, and a new 10-0 Greek set up the first significant differences (33-19, minute 15). Although Šiškauskas was finally able to score his first two points in the 18th minute, Panathinaïkós was already on the move, and with a spectacular series of five almost straight three pointers he left at half-time with a marker threatening to finish the game (48-28). With a great fluidity in the pick & roll and a lethal outer throw, the Greeks had passed like a green cyclone over CSKA, which seemed absolutely tied by the Greek team and whose shooting percentages were pauperimous.

But what appeared to be a Greek «chorreo» towards the title was simply a wide difference that served Panathinaïkós to survive in the last two quarters and almost was not enough. After the break, the Russian team changed its strategy and tried to slow down the pace of the game to try to file differences without haste but without pause. After a maximum Greek lead of 23 points (51-28), CSKA began to cut distances patiently and progressively. Messina’s men pressed beautifully in defense, and in eight minutes achieved a partial of 0-15 (56-35 to 56-50) that threatened to turn the scoreboard spectacularly. Fotsis and Perperoglou’s points saved Panathinaïkos from Moscow’s first major outburst (62-50), but CSKA had already entered an unstoppable dynamic against a Greek team that was limited to weathering Russian onslaughts. The climb of CSKA continued during the final minutes, so that the encounter was loaded with an unexpected drama seen what had been the first half. A triple of the former Šiškauskas brought the Russian team within just one point (70-69). With ten seconds to go, Diamantidis converted two free kicks to put Panathinaïkos three points clear of CSKA. Šiškauskas was fouled and converted his two shots from the line with 8.5 seconds remaining. In this final free-kick merry-go-round, Jasikevičius could only score the first of their two free throws (73-71), giving the Russians a final possession of 5.8 seconds to force extra time or even win the match. Šiškauskas accepted the responsibility of playing the game and had in his hands the triple of victory, but his last shot was repelled by the hoop at the same time that sounded the final horn, amid the unstoppable joy of Greek players and fans.