Congratulations go out from BallinEurope this morning to Panathinaikos, who overcame a crowd which redefined the word “hostile” to beat rival Olympiacos, 76-69, and take the EΣAKE championship series for the eighth consecutive season.
Still incensed by numerous controversial calls going the Greens’ way in game three of the championship series, Olympiacos fans were at near riot pitch from the opening tip.
Said near-riot broke out halfway through the third quarter when the Reds called a timeout at 50-42. Various incendiary devices were thrown in the area of the Panathinaikos bench, some with amazing accuracy. See right around 2.55 of the following video for the insanity.
This resulted in a one-hour delay while order was “restored,” but the relative “calm” wouldn’t last long.
With 1.03 remaining in the fourth quarter – and the game still winnable for the home team in BiE’s opinion, the Reds only down by six – the fires went up again as referees warned the Olympiacos coaching staff of imminent forfeiture. Panathinaikos players were ultimately forced to run a gauntlet of protective riot-geared enforcers for the locker room as referees called the game and awarded PAO the victory and the championship.
The YouTube video above refers to this incident as a “night of shame for Greek basketball,” and BiE unlikely may have to agree. Add to the mix the fact that much-beloved Josh Childress is mulling over his options vis-à-vis returning to the NBA – think a guy like Childress would rather play under a wartime scenario or the gentler endearment of thousands in Atlanta?
Mike Batiste topped all scorers with 20 points to go with 11 rebounds for Panathinaikos; Vassilis Spanoulis went for 20 and 11 rebounds.
[...] Greece: Panathinaikos took its incredible 8th consecutive EΣAKE championship by winning a 39-minute game four under insane conditions. [...]
Klieza, Teodosic, Schortsanitis, Bourousis said they would probably leave Olympiacos. Giannakis is said to be out as coach and Ivkovic will replace him. Childress has made no comments. You have to remember he makes what is equal to $16 million a year in the NBA, plus he has to stay 3 years in Greece or he has to pay US federal taxes on his income in Greece. So if he leaves after 2 years he has to pay back all that money he netted.
It seems that no on in America understands just how much money he makes if he stays in Greece.
Obradovic wants to leave PAO as coach after all these incidents also. Spanoulis is 95% heading to Olympiacos to become the highest paid European player.
Teodosic’s contract expires this year but Olympiacos has an option to match any offer Teodosic brings and keep him. There is no way he is going to leave, especially if Dusan Ivkovic becomes the team’s director (or coach) as it is rumored.
Bouroussis’ contract was renewed last year for two more years.
All Kleiza said that might have been misinterpreted is that he is sorry “foreign players are going to leave Greece for the summer and leave their greek teammates in such bullsh*t”.
Schortsanitis is probably going to NBA, that’s true.
And there is no way Spanoulis will join Olympiacos after these finals.
@Michael:
Spanoulis never will go to olymiacos.
This would be for a player o Panathinaikos the biggest sin he could do!
The key question is, what the reaction of the Angelopoulos brothers is like after these finals.
Will they continue to spend millions of euros for their team or will they make here an end.
If they stop helping olympiacos financialy the team is definitly going to be destroyed!
I am an agent in Europe. Every single agent in Europe knows that Olympiacos offered Spanoulis 12 million euros for 3 years. This has set the market and is now the point of reference for all players like Fernandez, Siskauskas, etc. that cannot command that much money but will have Spanoulis’ salary as a template.
It’s no secret among agents in Europe that Panathinaikos will not match the offer. They are only offering 9 million euros over 3 years, the same Real Madrid is offering. What would possess Spanoulis to pass on 3 million euros just because he played for Panathinaikos already? Loyalty to fans? He’s the most hated PAO player among the PAO fans.
Michael if you are an agent then I am spanoulis…
There is no way spanoulis is offered 3M by Panathinaikos. There is also no way Olympiacos offers 4M for spanoulis. They are going to make salary cuts to some players such as Bourousis and they will offer 4m for spanoulis?
Panathinaikos will not offer spanoulis more than 2M that’s the contract of Diamantidis which is a top of all the other contracts excluding NBAers that may shake the European Basketball (many names have circulated, as an agent I assume you know some of them, German or not!)
Whatever Nick.
Anyways, I found it hilarious that I saw this topic in the Houston Rockets fan site clutchfans.net and the Rockets fans actually thought this was the attendance for the game. It’s like you have to spell out every single detail for these people.
The attendance was 16,000. The arena was almost empty in the clip because fans attacked police, attacked TV reporters, destroyed one of the concession areas, fired rockets at the opposing teams bench that set off a smoke bomb, and last but not least………..set fire to the arena.
It’s always a good idea to evacuate the fans when the arena is on fire. Some NBA fans just crack me up……”the arena looks empty”.
[...] paucity of the Greek economy in recent years (those Angelopoulos boys notwithstanding). However, as BiE once postulated, entering contract discussions at this time of year is the incipient violence at certain matches [...]
[...] Olympiacos fell short in both the Euroleague championship game and the EΣAKE finals, the latter of which ended insanely egregiously and not necessarily due fully to the Reds – more on this momentarily. Kleiza turned in an [...]
[...] Those turning to Greece’s national league hardly found solace, however, as the biggest EΣAKE story of the week was the punishment handed down to Olympiacos for its fans’ and security detail’s actions which resulted in the Reds’ forfeiture of the final game in the 2009-10 championship series, a.k.a. “The Night of Shame.” [...]
[...] Spanoulis drives the Big Red Machine…If tonight’s Panathinaikos-Olympiacos match isn’t the most important game thus far in the 2010-11 basketball season in Europe, BiE can’t think of what would be. Of no little significance in this clash of the titans, too, is its status as the first meeting between the teams since the 2009-10 EΣAKE championship final game, a.k.a. “The Night of Shame.” [...]
[...] injury? In the first game between the Greek superpowers since last season’s capper known as “The Night of Shame,” Olympiacos ground out a 65-61 win in territory literally made hostile with the final whistle as [...]
[...] the season did begin, Olympiacos was forced to serve the penalty handed down by the league after 2009-10’s “night of shame” and thus played several games before empty stands. Plus, the Greek Cup final between Reds and [...]
[...] derby matches in Athens as Panathinaikos hosts Olympiacos at 7pm local time (6pm CET; noon EST). European basketball fans have come to know what to expect from whichever side of fans packs the house for a Greens vs. Reds war, namely this just for [...]
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