Barcelona smashed Panathinaikos, Zalgiris lost from Siena

Ersan Ilyasova (Photo: ACB.com)

31-10-2008 01:05

A showdown between superpowers turned into a one-sided affair in Group B on Thursday as Regal FC Barcelona blew away visiting Panathinaikos 90-66 in a game that was never close after the first few minutes. Barcelona raised its record to 2-0 and shares first place in the group with Montepaschi Siena, while Panathinaikos fell to even at 1-1.

A variety of offensive firepower and a defense that allowed Panathinaikos very few options spelled early dominance as Barcelona led by double digits after one quarter and never looked back.

Juan Carlos Navarro paced the winners with 21 points and 4 assists. Ersan Ilyasova followed with 14 points and Fran Vazquez with 12. Roger Grimau and David Andersen added 9 each.

Barca absolutely ruled the inside, winning 36-23 on the boards rebounds and holding Panathinaikos to 10-for-39 (29%) two-point shooting through three quarters, after which the difference rose as high as 32 points.

Nikola Pekovic led the Greens with 15 points, while Mike Batiste had most of his 14 in the final quarter and Dimitris Diamantidis added 10. Panathinaikos saw 5 different players miss all of their two-point attempts, 13 in all among them.

Montepaschi Siena had a trick or two up its sleeve when visiting Zalgiris Kaunas in Group B on Thursday - its own Lithuanians. Two of those Montepaschi imports - Rimantas Kaukenas and Ksistof Lavrinovic - led a second-half surge that let the Italian champions win going away, 67-93, to stay undefeated. Zalgiris, meanwhile, dropped to 0-2 despite leading for much of the first half.

Kaukenas exploded in the second and finished with 27 points. Lavrinovic finished as his team's top performer with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Romain Sato added 18 points to the cause and Henry Domercant 11.

For Zalgiris, Paulius Jankunas dropped 16 points and Loren Woods 15, but most of that came in the first half. Montepaschi's defense held the hosts to just 24 points after halftime, at which time Zalgiris had led 43-40. In the end, however, Zalgiris cold not stop Montepaschi near the basket, as the visitors hit an amazing 30 of 40 two-point shots (75%) to win despite shooting only 4 free throws all game.