May 23, 2012
Road to Athens: Panathinaikos
2007 Athens Final Four PanathinaikosPanathinaikos returns to the Final Four after a one-year absence ready to conquer its fourth Euroleague title. Panathinaikos fulfilled its plan to play the Final Four in its own building, Athens Olympic Indoor Hall (OAKA) in the Greek capital, a plan that started in the off-season. The Greens signed 5 Euroleague stars from other teams like Sani Becirovic, Ramunas Siskauskas, Demos Dikoudis, Robertas Javtokas or Milos Vujanic while keeping a strong core featuring Dimitris Diamantidis, Fragiskos Alvertis, Kostas Tsartsaris, Mike Batiste, Nikos Hatzivrettas or Dejan Tomasevic. Panathinaikos had a spectacular start of the competition, rallying for a 24-point deficit to beat DKV Joventut 79-82 in the Euroleague's Opening game in Badalona. It was the start of an 11-game winning streak that allowed Panathinaikos to win its regular season group without much trouble. Batiste was selected as the Euroleague MVP in November - right before being sidelined for almost 2 months. Panathinaikos also rolled in the Top 16, winning its opening 5 games to win its group and get the home court advantage in the playoffs. It sent a message that echoed all around the competition by thrashing Efes Pilsen 84-57 in Game 1 of the Top 16, and then confirmed its power with a huge 102-82 win against Winterthur FC Barcelona the following week. Becirovic led the team in scoring in 3 of those 5 wins. The Greens swept their best-of-three Quarterfinal Playoffs series against Dynamo Moscow to return to the Final Four for the seventh time in club history. Siskauskas averaged 17.5 points in 2 games against Dynamo despite just being recovered from a leg injury. With a deep rotation and an elite coach who won it all like Zeljko Obradovic, the sky seems to be the limit for the Greens.
 Panathinaikos
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Euroleague.net
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