GRE - Batiste, Diamantidis save Panathinaikos

ATHENS (A1 League Play-offs) - Greek international Dimitrios Diamantidis earned MVP honours at the Euroleague Final Four after leading Panathinaikos past Tau Ceramica and CSKA Moscow.

He was again the hero for Pana on Wednesday night as his last-gasp rebound and put-back in overtime clinched a thrilling 86-85 victory over arch-rivals Olympiacos in game three of the A1 League play-off finals.

The victory at Panathinaikos' Olympic Indoor Hall home meant Zeljko Obradovic's reigning champions took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series ahead of game four on Sunday night.

With the Greens trailing 85-84 in overtime, Diamantidis stepped into the breach to tip home the rebound from team-mate Kostas Tsatsaris' missed three-point effort with five seconds to go to send the home fans into raucous celebrations.

Buoyed by their battling late victory in game two to level the series, Pini Gershon's Olympiacos was more than a match for a Panathinaikos outfit that has won eight Greek titles in the last nine seasons.

With big displays from Scoonie Penn - who was the game's top scorer with 22 points - and Giannis Bourousis in particular, Olympiacos led the game at both half-time (42-40) and the end of the third quarter (60-63).

However, spurred on by their huge and fervent home support, Panathinaikos - for whom powerful American Mike Batiste was in awesome form - showed their teeth to pull the game level and send it into overtime with the scores locked at 78-78.

An already dramatic encounter reached new heights of tension as Olympiacos - who ended Pana's 16-game winning streak in play-off contests last Sunday - threatened to repeat the trick in audacious fashion.

Lithuanian international Arvydas Macijauskas, the Reds' hero in game two, missed a free-throw but scored with his second to tip the scores 82-81 in Olympiacos' favour before a turnover allowed Gershon's team to stretch the lead to three.

Shortly afterwards came one of the biggest moments of the game from Panathinaikos' man of the hour, Batiste.

The 29-year-old power forward scored with an impossible three-point effort from wide out on right court to level the scores. It was a shot which almost lifted the roof off a stadium which has already seen its fair share of epic gamess in its three-year life to date since hosting the Olympics in 2004.

Penn, who had played an almost flawless match, made one of two free throws to give Olympiacos a one-point lead with 17 seconds left.

It was in those dying moments when Tsartsaris launched Pana's final attack which climaxed with Diamantidis being the right man in the right place to grab the headlines.

The teams meet again on Sunday at Olympiacos' Peace and Friendship stadium in Piraeus where Gershon will be hoping his team can level the series to make for a grand finale the following Wednesday.

Graham Wood, Athens
FIBA