GRE - Green machine march to title

ATHENS (A1 League Play-offs) - Euroleague champions Panathinaikos added yet another Greek title to their collection on Wednesday after claiming a deserved 89-76 victory over Olympiacos to clinch the A1 League play-off final series 3-2.

The Greens' victory gave what has been an enthralling finals confrontation a familiar ending by winning their ninth crown in 10 seasons and 28th in their history in front of a packed crowd at the Olympic Indoor Hall.

More importantly for the Greek giants, the success completes an historic treble for Zelimir Obradovic's team after they also won the domestic cup earlier in the season.

An elated club captain Frank Alvertis said afterwards: "This shows that the triple crown was not a dream. You can reach dreams through hard work.

"We knew what we needed to do in all three competitions to win them and that's what we've done. I really think Olympiacos deserve credit for how they have played this season and in these finals. I hope we get to play them again [in a finals series] because the matches are a thrilling spectacle."

Greek international playmaker Dimitris Diamantis, who almost single-handedly drove the Greens to victory in a crucial game three, put in another inspirational display alongside the ever influential forward Mike Batiste.

Although he scored a relatively low eight points, Diamantidis, nicknamed 'Spiderman' by the Pana fans, lived up to his nickname once more, seemingly popping up all over the court to be at the epicentre of his team's attack and defensive play.

It was the Greens who made the early running with Dimitris Papanikolaou scoring 10 of his 12 points in the first half.

Pini Gershon's Olympiacos had not simply turned up to make up the numbers and through the excellent Greek international Panagiotis Vasilopoulos they even led the match 46-45 at half-time.

Pana seemed to find another gear after the long break and seasoned campaigner Alvertis led a 6-0 scoring streak which put the hosts 53-48 ahead. From that point Obradovic's men stretched their lead to 11 points at the end of the third quarter.

Olympiacos mounted a strong fight-back in the final quarter, with an Arvydavas Macijauskas lay-up and a Harisis free-throw putting the scoreline 77-73 in Pana's favour with two-and-a-half minutes to go.

But then a huge three-point effort from Pana's Lithuanian star Ramunas Siskauskas took the wind right out of Olympiacos' sails and the hosts coasted to victory in the closing stages.

Batiste, who has enjoyed another incredible season for the Greens, had the final say by smashing in a twisting dunk in the last seconds on the breakaway, much to the delight of the frenzied home supporters.

The big American finished top scorer for Obradovic's victorious team with 15 points. Siskauskas contributed 13 points to the win, while Dimos Dikoudis and Kostas Tsartsaris were other impressive performers, scoring 11 points each.

Alex Acker, Manolis Papamakarios and Andrija Zizic each contributed 12 points for Olympiacos, while Macijauskas weighed in with 10 points.

From Graham Wood,
FIBA