In an agonising finale, Regal Barça lost at the Palau to Panathinaikos, which means they will still need to win two more matches to reach the Final Four in the Palau Sant Jordi.
Match stats
REGAL FC BARCELONA, 71
PANATHINAIKOS, 75
Regal FC Barcelona (17+21+19+14): Ricky Rubio (6), Navarro (19), Anderson (11),
Lorbek (7), Perovic (2) –starting five-, Vázquez (11), Sada, Lakovic (5), Morris, Ingles,
Ndong (10) i Grimau.
Panathinaikos (10+18+28+19): Diamantidis (17), Calathes (8), Sato (18), Fotsis
(3), Vougioukas - starting five -, Batiste (14), Kaimakoglou, Nicholas (10), Perperoglou,
Tsartsaris (4) i Maric (1).
Referees: Cerebuch (Italy), Dozai (Croatia) and Zamojski (Poland).
Pavilion: Palau Blaugrana. 7,319 spectators.
It wasn’t to be. Despite leading by ten at the break (38-28), Regal Barça will not be going
to Greece to defend a 2-0 lead. They may have been the better side in the first half, but the
Greeks tested the regulations to the full in the second and got the better of some controversial
refereeing decisions. Now it’s off to the OAKA in Athens for games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and
Thursday. Everything is up in the air.
Amazing atmosphere
On one of those nights when you could count the empty seats in the
Palau on one hand, Regal Barça were unable to provide their vocal support with the result they
deserved. Either side could have won it, but a late attempt from Lakovic failed to find the target
and the Greeks celebrated a big win on the road.
The result aside, FCB could feel proud, and opened the scoring through Anderson, which
generated a ticker-tape response from the crowd and raised the team’s confidence. They gave
nothing to their rival. Diamantidis missed his first attempt, and was totally smothered out of the
game for the first 20 minutes, although in the second half it would be he and Sato that
masterminded their comeback.
Ten up at the break
Barça were amazing in defensive rebounds, while Navarro led some terrific attacks.
The only downside was the free throws, but not even that stopped them storming to 11-3. The first
period ended 17-10 after Vázquez had come on to get six points in a row.
A Jaka Lakovic three opened the second period, and Panathinaikos were clearly struggling. The
biome side went +16 (28-12), but then came the Greek response, helped by some odd calls against the
Barça defence, and a 0-9 streak meant the half-time score of 38-28 had Panathinaikos still in the
hunt.
The second half started with a three from Anderson, but it was then that Diamantidis started
coming into his own. His three made it 43-33, and then two more suddenly had his side back to
within four (46-42).
Gripping finale
Xavi Pascual’s side reacted with some stunning basketball, but
two highly protested decisions ended with a technical foul against Navarro, and a tense atmosphere
in the Palau. Against that backdrop, for some inexplicable reason, Barça had thrown away all their
good work and led by just one at 57-56. Incredible!
Panathinaikos then managed to produce the goods under pressure. Tempers were boiling, but
Diamantidis made the most of it, with Sato also on fire, while the Greek defence tested the
rulebook to the limit. The Greeks went ahead for the first time in the match (57-58) and then went
on an extraordinary 0-11 streak to leave Barcelona in big trouble. It all looked lost at 62-70, but
then FCB produced a reaction. Navarro got a triple and a 2+1, to leave things at 71-72.
Diamantidis missed a free throw, but a late effort from Lakovic missed the basket and Batiste
responded by slam-dunking his side to victory. Barcelona will have to win in Greece. Just like they
did a year ago at Vistalegre.