Basketball
The obvious for Panathinaikos is not self-evident
To go from -14 to +17 against Prometheus and together in the 26th final of its history, Panathinaikos most importantly defeated himself. Something he needs to repeat to make trophy blackjack in the cup. writes Giannis Zoitos
As of tonight, the cup final for Panathinaikos turned 26. What is more common and predictable in Greek basketball than the almost constant presence of Trifyllio in the annual battle for the second hierarchical national trophy of each season. An etiquette that was rarely not observed.
46 finals have been played since 1976 and the Greens have managed to be finalists in more than half. Their terrifying success rate matches that of the most reliable shooters from the foul line, as the collection counts 20 cups on 25 attempts (80%). 9 of them in fact in the last ten years without wasting a single drop of opportunity.
One would say Panathinaikos was lucky in not always playing against evenly matched opponents. When with Rethymno and when with the lighthouse of A2. Or he could not find Apollo of Patras opposite him. So he was preferred. Could be. It’s just that everyone is responsible for what they did or didn’t do, and not what happened somewhere else at the same time that turned out to be beneficial afterwards.
In the victorious semi-final of the Final Four against Prometheus, the defending champion didn’t wait for a butterfly to flap its wings in Chania to go with the current created in Heraklion. He had to and finally managed to become the driving force behind activating the qualifying formula for the big event on Sunday (February 20, 5:00 p.m.) in the same stadium.
The truth is there was a delay. A delay that would not be surprising if it turned out to be disastrous in the process. Panathinaikos is not far from being ruled out, especially in the first third. The -14 after ten minutes of play was like an insurmountable obstacle for a team that had no well-aimed shot from the outside (0/7) and was constantly in a hurry to squander most of their possession. Without at the same time having secured their self-protection in the defense.
His picture referred to the emptiness of the past few months. As if Priftis knew…his players yesterday, as if they didn’t know each other at all, as if Jovic never came.
However, that Panathinaikos is ‘living’ a relatively good moon, half full one might say compared to the… turbulence of the first half of the season, undeniably helped him to have reduced the empty intervals on the floor. The light seemed to him to find his way.
Last but not least, the ‘clearing’ of the… Lunar Nedovic with 12 personal points from 13′ to the break set the stage for the fall, but Prometheus is a good and hard-working team that you can lose, as they say Larissa , only from a player’s score. As good as it is.
It took the Greens a lot more to dominate the game and take control of the game. Above all, they needed an extra effort for their personal defense, either on the ball itself or off screen. Defensive use was a prerequisite for the balance on both sides of the floor.
Passport Sant-Ross, the key Evans and the invincible Papagiannis worked in this part, the consistent White and of course Nedovic lent a hand and Panathinaikos, raising the level of his toughness, quickly reaped the rewards, regaining calm, confident confidence and above all the sense of security that he avoids every danger. He had +8 in 30′. With sub 45-23 in the meantime.
Prometheus didn’t want to leave the match at all, nor did he show any willingness to compromise with a double-digit difference. Ray and Agravanis had many hearts within them. But it was beyond her power. The solutions were missing. With a superior opponent found and a coronavirus shattering any ambition, Zouros’ players ran out of breath in the final and -17 smeared, making the effort unjustified.
What was taken for granted was in fact the qualification of Panathinaikos. But the obvious is not always given. Especially in this case. It took physical effort and mental validation to turn the page. That means complete clarity. It’s no coincidence that despite a bad start, the Greens finished with 57% in twos and 29% in threes. With 18 assists, from correct reading, for 11 errors!
Of course, Sunday’s final requires similar data to the highest degree. Of course, if Panathinaikos wants blackjack trophies by drawing without burning from … 26!
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.
Bayern announced the appointment of the team’s head coach on its official website. Svetislav Pesic.
The most successful coach in German basketball history signed a contract with Munich until the end of the season.
The Serbian specialist will replace Gordon Herbert as head coach, with whom the German champions agreed to end their cooperation early by mutual consent.
76-year-old Pesic took over as head of Bayern Munich for the second time. He first joined the Munich team in the autumn of 2012 and remained with them until 2016, winning the first Bundesliga title in the club’s history in 2014.
Svetislav’s greatest achievements include the 2002 World Cup title with Yugoslavia, the 1993 European Championship victory with the German team, and the gold medal at EuroBasket 2001 with Yugoslavia. At club level, the Serbian specialist won the treble in Spain, including winning the Euroleague with Barcelona in 2003. Alba won five championships and two German Cups with Berlin.
In 2024, Pesic won the Olympic bronze medal with the Serbian national team, which he led until last summer, by beating Germany and finishing third in the match.
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
Head coach of BC Zaporozhye Dmitry Shchiglinsky He summarized the results of the team’s last matches in 2025 against Krivbass (68:84) and Niko-Basket (78:67).
“Going into the last calendar bubble this year we clearly understood how important this was for us in terms of tournament position. “Krivbass” were right behind us in the table and “Niko-Basket” were playing at home, so both matches promised to be extremely difficult. We were also without our captain Anton Buts, who was injured, which significantly affected the preparations.
We had a bad start to our match against Krivbass, the opponent scored their first long range shots, became confident and kept control of the match for most of the game. We managed to reduce the difference to 4 points in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately we did not have the strength to do more. Krivbass’ last attack with 11:0 gave them an important victory. In the absence of Anton Buts, they had to use rotation and it was not easy for Vyacheslav Kiktev to counter the opponent’s big players.
Our expectations were also the highest for our second match against Niko-Basket. We recently met with this team at the Ukrainian Cup and made a comprehensive analysis. I would like to thank my assistant for her quality work. We analyzed the mistakes in the previous match in detail and focused on playing defense. Even though we made many interventions at the beginning of the match, we could not immediately gain the scoring advantage. The team added more after the first quarter. There were quick breaks, easy points and a more organized attack, and these ultimately brought results. We got the win we needed.
Overall, I am happy with the results of this dough. We maintained our place among the top four teams in the Super League, so I evaluate the performance positively. Playing without one of the starting five players is a serious challenge for our team. I thank the men for their character; “After the defeat in the first match, no one gave up and the next day we played a high-quality game, first of all, as a single team.”
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
5 matches were played in the eighth round of the regular season in the Super League. Four more matches were played in Nikolaev and one in Rivne.
Six clubs played their matches during the weekend and the symbolic team was determined according to the results:
Mikhail Gorobchenko (Dnepr) – 8.5 points, 7.5 assists, 3.0 steals, 3.0 rebounds (PE 18.5)
Alexander Peacock (Krivbass) – 15.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists (PE 24.0)
Vladimir Konev (Dnepr) – 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists (PE 20.0)
Tarig Eisa (Zaporozhye) – 19.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.5 steals (PE 15.5)
Yaroslav Karpyuk (Kyiv-Sepet) – 15 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals (PE 23)
Dnepr forward was chosen as the MVP of the tour Vladimir Konev. The leader of the Ukrainian champions helped his team to two confident victories in Nikolaev. He recorded 13 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists (RE 16) in the match against Niko-Basket (96:56) and 18 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists (RE 24) against Kryvbas (77:58). In these two games, Vladimir showed high efficiency in attack, converting 7 out of 11 three-point shots and 4 out of 6 two-point shots.
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
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