Dinos Mitoglou (20 points, 10 points, 4 rebounds) dominated the SEF floor and gave Panathinaikos a 54-66 victory over Olympiakos.
Panathinaikos was the big winner of the league derby, defeating Olympiakos in SEF with 54-66. Ergin Ataman’s players felt better as time went on compared to those Barzokas who “drown” in stress.
Although early in the season the “green” gained a lead for home advantage in the finals and after two defeats this season they got the reaction they wanted.
Kostas Sloukas may not have played well in his return, but Dinos Mitoglou was dominant on both sides of the floor with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks. Nothing worked in the attack of Olympiakos who had 4/16 shots!
At the start, the rivals fought for who would control the pace. Ataman’s decision not to start Sluka took away his creation, but Guy and Lessor found ways to score. The Olympiakos players did not take advantage of the atmosphere, they made mistakes and thus could not find the way to the basket (5-9, 5′). The timeout corrected the situation for the “red and whites” as a result of Fal and Kanaan putting them in front of the score with 12-9 (9′).
The mistakes of the players of both teams were numerous and caused surprises, only Panathinaikos did not take advantage of them to the absolute extent, unlike Olympiacos (17-14, 14′). With Sloukas out of sorts, Panathinaikos found solutions in the face of Grant, but they were not enough. Initially, Goss and then consecutive collaborations between Larentzakis and Miloutinov opened the “scissors” for the first time (27-18, 17′). The guests reacted immediately and with points from Hernangometh and Mitoglou they did not lose touch with the score (27-23, 18′).
In the third quarter, Mitoglou’s presence and 5 points of his own as well as a surprise by Lessor were the answer to the two three-pointers of the home team (Peters, Kanaan) with the teams tied (37-37, 25′). Mitoglou “broke” the tie with a three-pointer and a little later in the same way at 40-45 (30′) to end the period with an accurate shot by Williams Goss from 6.75.
With Walkup not performing well, Olympiakos’ attacking function was poor with Williams-Goss mainly scoring in ‘1on1′ phases. Panathinaikos felt better and better as time went on, Guy and Ernagometh equalized the score and made it 47-52 (34′). Kanaan’s three-pointer proved to be the exception rather than the rule. On the contrary, Mitoglou’s performance in defence and attack remained the norm, while with a basket by Slukas, Panathinaikos was +6 (50-56, 36′). In the last minutes, the hosts were looking for a score and the guests were looking for consistency and maintaining concentration. Bartzoka’s players missed their shots and thus Ataman’s remained in a position of strength (54-60, 38’). The final horn found Panathinaikos the winner with 54-66.