Basketball

31.03.2011 23:05

Champion out of title defence (78-67)

Carles Cascante

It wasn’t to be. Regal FC Barcelona have been knocked out of the Euroleague by Panathinaikos. The Greek side did what was required and will be in the Final Four at the Palau Sant Jordi.

MATCH STATS

PANATHINAIKOS, 78
REGAL FC BARCELONA, 67

Panathinaikos (16+18+22+22): Diamantidis (11), Calathes (12), Sato (10), Tsartsaris (8), Vougioukas (10), -starting five-, Nicholas (-), Batiste (8), Perperoglou (8), Fotsis (11), Tepic (-), Kaimakoglou (-).

Regal FC Barcelona (12+21+14+20): Ricky Rubio (3), Grimau (2), Anderson (13), Lorbek (9), Fran Vázquez (14) - starting five- Navarro (7), N'Dong (7), Morris (5), Sada (-), Lakovic (5), Ingles (2).

Referee: L. Lamonica (ITA), V. Drabikovskyi (UKR) and B. Ryzhyk (UKR)

Regal Barça have lost to Panathinaikos and will not be in the Final Four in Barcelona. Xavi Pascual’s side lost game four of a very tight series.

Grimau, from the start

Regal Barça started with an unusual five. Navarro, with fitness troubles, started on the bench, and was replaced by captain Roger Grimau. And things got off to a dodgy start, with Calathes getting Panathinaikos off to an early 6-0 lead, which caused Pascual to have a rethink.

Regal Barça started clawing their way back, and Obradovic’s men squandered free throws, meaning it was 10-11 after a Boniface N’Dong score. The first period ended 16-12 to Panathinaikos.

Best of Barça

The second period looked better for the Catalans, especially thanks to Fran Vázquez’s six consecutive points, and it was 20-24 after just three minutes. Barça were attacking cleverly and confidently and the Greeks were hit by a Nicholas ankle injury.

Obradovic sent on playmaker Diamantidis, who had been taken off after committing two fouls. He, plus Perperoglou and Batiste, brought life back to a silenced OAKA, and at 29-26, Pascual called a timeout before sending Navarro on to tie the game on 31 with five points in a row. The second period ended 34-33 to PAO.

Poor restart

Boniface N’Dong’s free throws, always getting 1 of 2, kept Regal Barça back in the game after the break, but the Greeks and especially Fotsis were gaining control. Half way through the period they were +5 on 44-39. Diamantidis was forcing fouls out of Ricky, and that lead was soon stretched to +8 (48-40) with three minutes of the period to go.

Barça just weren’t finding any luck, and their 3/14 at this stage in 3-point attempts says it all. PAO had extended their lead to nine by the end of the third period (56-47).

Judgement time

There was no improvement in the final period. The Greeks played with the clock and Barça failed to produce any spark, and a Diamantidis three to make it +11 as good as sealed their fate (61-49). Calathes and Anderson then got a three each, but the home side stretched things out with enormous possessions and forced fouls to win the tactical battle by a country mile.

The loss of 16 balls by Barça sums up the day, and despite a late flurry led by Fran Vázquez to narrow the gap to six with two minutes to play (68-62), the Greeks managed to hold on. The game ended 78-67 and Regal Barça will not be able to defend their European title on home soil at the Palau Sant Jordi