Panathinaikos striving for unity, in the wake of Giannakopoulos' return to OAKA / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Vangelis Stolis Credit Vangelis Stolis

Panathinaikos OPAP Athens blew out Larissa with a 46-point margin (89-43) which will go down as the largest ever in the Greek League semifinals (from 1986-87 onwards).

Ioannis Papapetrou

MIN:29.07PTS:11.96 (48.18%)REB:3.17As:2.48ST:0.43BL:0.09TO:1.52GM:23ProfileEuroLeague2021/2022

For the 19th consecutive year, the Greens clinched a spot in the final, while their main rivals Olympiacos Piraeus will have the home-court advantage in the best-of-five series commencing upcoming Saturday (20:00 CEST).

The game needs no further analysis, as the hosts were determined to take their opponents down in front of 4,000 fans. This number is a direct reflection of the importance that any tie-breaker holds, but also of what a lot of fans interpreted as a provocation from Larissa's side in Game 4 in Thessaly.

Hence, the most interesting part didn't take place on but rather off the court of the OAKA arena - and it didn't just include 15-year-olds shouting, cursing, and making obscene gestures above the guests' bench in an attempt to bully them. The main focus of attention was elsewhere, though.

After a two-year absence, Panathinaikos' owner and former president, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, decided to attend a game of the reigning Greek champs.

Credit Vangelis Stolis

One day after his unannounced visit to the Greek Basketball Federation's headquarters and the brief discussion he had with its president, Vangelis Liolios, a masked Giannakopoulos took a seat in the VIP area, close to where coach Dimitris Itoudis and his Greek national team assistant, Stefanos Dedas, were seated.

However, his presence in OAKA turned out to be very short. The Greens' owner left the stadium almost midway through the second quarter of Game 5 after some home fans were repeatedly calling him out.

The chants against Giannakopoulos kept on for almost five minutes while the DJ was trying to drown them out by putting Panathinaikos' anthem on loudspeakers.

3-pointers this season

33%7,7Points made:7,7Accuracy:33,2%Place in standings:15Record max:15Record min:1Most made 3FGs:Nemanja NedovicTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

At this point, Giannakopoulos' return to OAKA doesn't seem to have any repercussions on the club's near future. Panathinaikos are still up for sale, and the Greek businessman has repeatedly made clear his intentions to distance himself from the team.

Over the course of this two-year period, Giannakopoulos has devoted many Instagram posts to blasting departing EuroLeague CEO Jordi Bertomeu and the league's financial structure.

If one could point to the moment when PAO's major shareholder became actively involved in the team's proceedings, that happened three months ago. Following the home loss to Olympiacos in the Greek League in the regular season, coach Dimitris Priftis was dismissed and replaced by Giorgos Vovoras. GMs Frangiskos Alvertis and Dimitris Diamantidis were also relieved of their duties.

Giannakopoulos issued a press release through the club's website, in which he was also accusing former president Panagiotis Triantopoulos of mismanagement and of a three-million euro deficit that the owner himself had to cover.

A few weeks later, a silver lining appeared. The club announced a long-awaited agreement with the Greek government regarding the exclusive use and exploitation of the OAKA indoor hall by PAO for the next 49 years. Giannakopoulos was one of the first to comment on the development that can improve the Greens' outlook and stock in the years to come.

Nevertheless, a big part of the team's fanbase is still divided. Many think that Giannakopoulos is keeping the club hostage without the slightest intention of selling it and forcing it to survive on an 'income and expenses' basis, which is the complete opposite of how it used to operate while his father Pavlos and uncle Thanasis were in charge.

The two tycoons spent enormous amounts on building a basketball empire unlike any other in the history of Greek sport.

Furthermore, the way in which both Alvertis and Diamantidis were essentially forced to leave the team was widely regarded as a sacrilege committed against the two club legends. The lack of a typical and customary 'thank you' note made things even worse.

The two were essentially held accountable for letting Oded Kattash go and selecting Priftis as his successor in the summer of 2021, in addition to adopting a rather lenient stance towards certain attitudes in the locker room that indicated a lack of discipline.

Credit Vangelis Stolis

Hence, watching Dimitris Giannakopoulos visit OAKA after a long time of abstinence was definitely weird for the casual fans and the media, but also the chance for the belligerent part of die-hard supporters to utter their discontent and frustration.

If fans had their reasons for singing chants against Giannakopoulos, captain Ioannis Papapetrou and coach Giorgos Vovoras stood on the other side of the spectrum. Finishing his post-game interview with Greek public television, Papapetrou addressed what has been a thorny issue without being afraid to take sides.

"I want to say that everyone in the club is very happy that the team owner came to the arena. We had his support after two years. It gives us a lot of strength and tremendous joy," the 28-year-old forward said on camera without being asked about it.

Then, Papapetrou went further by adding:

"I also want to talk about a small number of people who disapproved of his presence here. These people are harmful to Panathinaikos and must be isolated. I'm saying this from my heart. Everyone must support our effort, and we all should come together to achieve the team's goals."

Papapetrou also stressed that the entire squad and coaching staff "were glad that this man came to the gym. He had been close to us from a distance during those two years."

It goes without saying that as the team's captain, Papapetrou has been more than vocal lately. After Game 4, in which he sustained a minor injury in his leg when a banner fell on it, the Greek international spoke about a contest played at a temperature of "50 degrees" due to the lack of air-conditioning.

He also said that his wish to address the game's officiating was curtailed by the fear of getting punished by the league for his statements.

Now that Papapetrou came forward, praising Giannakopoulos for his "immeasurable contribution" to the club, those who thought the player was looking for excuses after another unexpected loss had one more reason to stand against him. Some called him a 'docile employee'; others praised him for being outspoken.

Whatever happens in the finals, Papapetrou will have to deal with some serious backlash following an intense celebration, a crucial missed shot, a controversial statement, or even - just like Giannakopoulos on Wednesday evening- because of his mere presence.

It will be somewhat ironic for someone who made his first public appearance at OAKA at the age of 4, witnessing PAO's first Greek championship after a 14-year drought in 1998, to be directly associated with the first season (since 1998), in which the team fails to win a major title.

Whatever happens in the finals, the six-time EuroLeague champions are still the holders of a unique European record, as they've won at least one trophy (championship, cup, EuroLeague) for 24 straight seasons.

But Papapetrou wasn't alone on that one. PAO head coach Giorgos Vovoras concurred with his captain in the post-game presser.

"I was very pleased to see that the team's major shareholder came to support us in a difficult moment for Panathinaikos. What was done by a small number of fans shouldn't cast us into a period of introversion because those behaviors don't represent the club," the Greek tactician pointed out.

Vovoras was essentially reinstated three months ago, after his first unsuccessful stint, which lasted only six months in 2020-21. Always a bridesmaid, never the bride until that point, the Greek specialist joined Panathinaikos in 2002 as an assistant to Argyris Pedoulakis.

Those 15 months (January 2021-April 2022), when Kattash and Priftis were sitting on the bench, has been the only period over a ten-year span that Vovoras, now 45, wasn't a member of the Greens.

"The only way for the club to progress is to be united. As we have shown in the past, whenever the management, the team, and fans stay together, we can achieve a lot," he noted.

With Olympiacos coming off a Final Four participation and a sweep over Promitheas Patras, Panathinaikos' task in the finals looks like a mission impossible.

By comparison, Panathinaikos are coming off a very intense semifinal series against Larissa, which tested everyone's nerves inside the team.

"Over a period of 1.5 months, we've worked very well. We have made significant progress. We will be ready for the games," Vovoras said before the semifinals.

On the court, another reality unfolded. PAO still haven't worked out ways to overcome Nemanja Nedovic's shooting slump, remaining heavily and excessively dependent on the Serbian guard. Peyton Siva hasn't been able to succeed where other point guards have failed.

American forwards Okaro White and Jeremy Evans are inconsistent and had a very hard time defending Larissa's Ousman Krubally, especially in the two away games. Greek forwards and prospects Lefteris Mantzoukas and Nikos Chougkaz mostly watch the games from the bench.

All-EuroLeague Second Team selection Giorgos Papagiannis doesn't get enough passes and, with reserve center Vassilis Kavvadas still injured, is forced to stay even longer on the court. That pretty much leaves Panathinaikos with Daryl Macon and Ioannis Papapetrou as the only players who stood tall in the semis.

But Vovoras said one more thing after Game 5, echoing the words of Rudy Tomjanovich. No, he didn't advise Panathinaikos' rivals never to underestimate the heart of a champion, but he did point out that his team "played a final" and that they "have the heart of a champion."

Heart - or the lack of it - is hardly an issue for a squad that never fails to disappoint this season. Panathinaikos have a ton of problems to resolve, and judging by their latest performances (with the bright exception of Game 5), beating the Reds in a series is a longshot.

As the Greek finals feature both Olympiacos and Panathinaikos for the first time after 2018, the perennial toxic environment surrounding those derbies is about to return as well - at the expense of both clubs, of course.

The narrative is predictable and includes but is by no means limited to officiating, evaluation of referees' performance, scheduling of games (PAO had asked for the finals to start Sunday), fans' behavior, players' reactions to provocations, inflammatory Instagram posts, and vindicated presidents (Olympiacos keep using their choice to leave the Greek League in 2019 as a reference point in every success and on any front).

In short, a slightly different version of what we saw in the recent ABA League finals between Red Star and Partizan.

It's highly doubtful whether Giannakopoulos will pay another visit to OAKA this season. After all, he's still the owner. The words of Papapetrou and Vovoras sounded like a form of encouragement for him to get more actively involved.

Regardless of the outcome of the finals and the outcry against Giannakopoulos, Panathinaikos will very soon need a generous injection of human and financial capital to even remotely resemble the team they used to be until the summer of 2020.

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