Zeljko the 'king' was back, but his kingdom beat him

 Obradovic returned to Athens with Fenerbahce, but Panathinaikos triumphed buy nine

By George Georgakopoulos

In a night of high emotions at the Olympic Sports Hall of Athens, Panathinaikos welcomed back its coach for 13 years, Zeljko Obradovic, honored him and then beat his team, Fenerbahce Ulker by nine points to edge closer to a spot in the last eight of the Euroleague.

The Greens won 76-67 on the night to cover the deficit of their five-point loss in Istanbul a few weeks ago, but the result pales in significance in front of the amazing reception Panathinaikos and its fans reserved for the Serb coach who led the team to five Euroleague triumphs from 1999 to 2012.

Over 20,000 Panathinaikos supporters held a standing ovation upon Obradovic’s entering the court and chanted his name continuously for about five minutes. A massive green banner ran along the height of the stands reading “The King is Back”, in English.

At half-time Panathinaikos honored Obradovic offering him a specially made frame with an artwork of photos reminding him of some of his glorious moments on the Greens’ bench, under torrential clapping by the fans.

The Serb wiped a tear off his eye, took the microphone and told the fans in Greek: “You cannot understand how difficult this is for me. I thank you all very, very, very much”, in what was the first time he ever spoke publicly in Greek. The public responded with a chant asking Panathinaikos president Dimitris Giannakopoulos to reinstate the Serb at the team’s bench.

The match was nowhere near as pleasant for Obradovic, as he saw his disciple, Fragiskos Alvertis coach Panathinaikos to a precious home win, that belongs to a large part to Mike Bramos.

The Greek-American shooting guard...