Ergin Ataman's troops shot up the standings following its win against Barcelona
Glory-chasing Greens shedding the weight of history
After six years and 10 games without a victory against FC Barcelona, the weight of history was certainly against Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens as the Spanish giant rolled into the Greek capital for Friday night’s huge game at OAKA.
Even more so when you also consider that Panathinaikos is hoping to end a 12-year absence from the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, having last appeared in European basketball’s showpiece event in London in 2012 at the end of Zeljko Obradovic’s glorious reign.
A lot of time and many disappointments have passed since then, so there is an enormous amount of pressure on the current crop of Greens to bring the team back to glory. The weight of history, indeed.
Recovering from a difficult moment
Midway through the second quarter, the weight of the present was also firmly against Ergin Ataman’s team as an impressive Barca powered its way through a 0-17 run to take a 24-40 advantage which, even that early, looked like it could be decisive.
But this Panathinaikos team, especially with the support of a passionate sold-out OAKA crowd, is made of strong stuff – strong enough to shed the burden of past and present struggles to produce a superb second-half showing, winning the last two quarters 55-35 with a combination of smothering defense and smoothly functioning offense.
The final outcome, 89-81, was one point short of the desired outcome for the Greens, as it just failed to secure the head-to-head advantage – i.e. the tiebreaker – against Barca following an 80-72 win for the Blaugrana in Round 6.
Coach Ataman, though, was unconcerned because – even a few minutes after the final buzzer – he already had everything worked out.
“We keep the points average,” he explained. "Okay, we lost at Barcelona by eight points, now we won by eight, but in the general average we have plus 33 more than Barcelona, so it’s a big advantage before the last three games. It's like two victories tonight.”
Panathinaikos looking to 'build something great'
Indeed, the eight-point victory means that Panathinaikos now has a 41-point advantage (+154) over Barcelona (+113), and Ataman’s double fist-pumping celebration with the fans showed he knows the team is now in a great position with three games remaining (Virtus Segafredo Bologna and FC Bayern Munich on the road, and ALBA Berlin at home).
Victory in those three games would be enough to guarantee home-court advantage in the playoffs for Panathinaikos, and key forward Dinos Mitoglou summed up the determined mood of his locker room as he said: “We're trying to build something great.
“Our guys are putting a lot of effort, the oldest guys and the youngest guys, the smallest and the biggest guys. We put our soul here, we put a great effort and great work.”
And as for the contribution from the fans and their spectacular atmosphere? He’s in no doubt there, either.
“It was amazing," gushed Mitoglou. “I hope we keep going like this. These sold-out games... it’s very hard for someone to beat us here.”
After the whirlwind that blew them away on and off the court on Friday night, Barcelona will not disagree with that last sentiment.