A reduced match-day took place this Sunday; Aris and Marousi to which the ESAKE gave the possibility to postpone their games for European reasons: both Aris and Marousi played two games for the FIBA Europe League (FEL) eights of final during the week, respectively against Anwil Wloclawek (Poland) and Azovmash Mariupol (Ukraine), qualifying for the quarters of the final. And Greece will surely have a team at the Final Four of the FEL, for the fratricide battle just between Aris and Marousi in the first ten days of March.
This has been a controversial European week, in which Olympiakos and Panathinaikos finally got the ticket for the ULEB Euroleague Top 16, but AEK lost in Belgrade and had to wave farewell to the most important continental competition. The same happened to Makedonikos in the ULEB Cup: a big shame for the Greens from Kozani, victorious at home against Caprabo Leida 89-63. The qualification was already in Makedonikos’ hands, but the unbelievable happened in Spain last Tuesday: Caprabo won 90-58, recovering the difference and advancing to the quarters of final.
After the stop imposed by snow, the League was back with the culmination point of AEK Athens – Olympiakos Piraeus: after the white snow, the hail. From beyond the arc, after the half time; this is what happened to Olympiakos, with the AEK players starting a ballistic show after the initial 1/7: 9/12 in the last 20 minutes of the game, an hailstorm which killed the Sakota’s (Olympiakos) squad. After the first two periods, everything was very equal. The Byzantines, led by Nikos Hatzis (18, 4/5 from beyond the arc) widened the drill, but Panagiotis Liadelis (21, 6/7 2p, 1/3 3p) answered with five consecutive points at the end of the third period. Nikos Zizis added his best effort since turning pro (18, 5/6 2p, 2/4 3p) Horace Jenkins (19), the man who accepted to work as electrician when basketball refused him, followed the footprints of Hatzis punishing the Piraeus’ defence from downtown. Was it the end? Not at all, Giorgos Giannouzakos, gave to the supposed Olympiakos’ stars (Diamantopoulos and Gorenc, who combined for 7 points) a lesson of attitude and heart: 10 points in 10 minutes: he scored the –4 for the OSFP (68-64) but AEK was just stronger; Yellow-Blacks answered with a 7-0 (75-64) opening definitely the doors of Hell for Olympiakos: final score 94-79, Olympiakos always down the 50% of victories.
The playoff race has officially a new contender, Panionios Smyrna: the Panthers won their 6th game in the last 8 Match-Days against a desperate Ionikos Nea Filadelfia team that despite their tragic position doesn’t surrender. MVP Evaggelos Koronios scored 23 points with 4/7 from the three points range, but Ioannidis decided to include Papamakarios in the list for the Olympic Games… Ionikos has been touchy, recovering in the last minutes thanks to the tries of Brad Traina (22) and Jurica Zuza (18), but this Panionios is simply one of the team with the best shape in the League, playing a delightful and concrete basketball, having always a great contribute from its four “stars” (Koronios, Douglas, Watson, Giannoulis) and from the second leads (Petropoulos 14 with 4/5 3p).
The other contender for the eight place, Makedonikos Kozani, after the Spanish Waterloo at Leida, collapsed again, this time at Thessaloniki against PAOK: game decided by the impressive performances of Kostas Vasileiadis (23, 4/4 2p, 4/8 3p) and Damir Mulaomerovic (20). PAOK had in its hands the game since the beginning, destroying Makedonikos in the third period with a 27-14 run. The Yellow-Black Thessaloniki celebrates, but the same happens for the White-Blue faction of the capital of Macedonia. Iraklis made another important step toward the 4th place, sending Irakleio to drama. The indigenous gang of Iraklis decided this “derby between almost homonymous”: Savvas Iliadis had 20, Dimitris Diamantidis a double-double scoring 15 and grabbing 11 rebounds, Lazaros Papadopoulos scored 15 while Giorgos Pavlidis had 14. Nightmare day for the Islanders, only Dalron Johnson (26) tried something while Kendrick Johnson played for… the visitor team: 13 points, with 4/20 field goals.
Apollon Patras and Ilysiakos met in the most dramatic game of the match-day. Winning, Apollon could put two victories between them and the second-to-the-last position; losing, Apollon would have fallen at the second-last position, with Irakleio, joined by Ilysiakos. It has not been strange to have in some old fighter, experienced players like Nikos Mparlos and Nikos Argyropoulos the protagonists: the first had 25 points (12/15 ft, 5/9 2p, 1/1 3p) and 7 rebounds, the second 21 points (6/8, 3/4, 3/6) and 4 assists. Ilysiakos answered with Stratos Perperoglou (class 1984) who had his best game in A1 with 21 points (2/2, 8/10, 1/2) and Alexandros Petroulas (15) but they have not been enough in the white-hot environment of Patras.
Results of the Match-Day #20
AEK Athens – Olympiakos Piraeus 94-79
Apollon Patras – Ilysiakos 86-75
Irakleio – Iraklis Thessaloniki 58-75
Panionios Smyrna – Ionikos Nea Filadelfia 93-88
PAOK Thessaloniki – Makedonikos Kozani 91-71
Yet to Be Played
Aris Thessaloniki – Panathinaikos (4-14-2004)
Peristeri – Marousi (4-23-2004)
Standings after Match-Day #20
Marousi 16-3 (*)
Panathinaikos 14-4 (**)
Aris Thessaloniki 13-6 (*)
AEK Athens 12-7 (*)
Iraklis Thessaloniki 12-8
PAOK Thessaloniki 11-9
Peristeri 10-9 (*)
Panionios Smyrna 9-11
Makedonikos 9-11
Olympiakos 9-11
Apollon Patras 7-13
Irakleio 6-14
Ilysiakos 5-15
Ionikos Nea Filadelfia 4-16
(*) One game less; (**) Two games less