page_title: Panathinaikos B.C.
section_title: Obradović era (1999–2012)
hierarchical_section_title: Panathinaikos B.C. / History / Obradović era (1999–2012)
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Le joueur grec Dimitris Diamantidis sous le maillot du Panathinaikos en novembre 2007 (Clermont-Ferrand)
context_page_description: Panathinaikos B.C., also known simply as Panathinaikos, or by its current name Panathinaikos B.C. OPAP for sponsorship reasons, is the professional basketball team of the major Athens-based multi-sport club Panathinaikos A.O. It is owned by the billionaire Giannakopoulos family.
  The parent athletic club was founded in 1908, while the basketball team was created in 1919, being one of the oldest in Greece. Alongside Aris, they are the only un-relegated teams with participation in every Greek First Division Championship until today.
  Panathinaikos has developed into the most successful basketball club in Greek basketball's history, and one of the most successful in European basketball, creating its own dynasty. They have won six EuroLeague Championships, thirty-eight Greek Basket League Championships, nineteen Greek Cups, one Intercontinental Cup and two Triple Crowns. They also hold the record for most consecutive Greek League titles, as they are the only team to have won nine consecutive championships, as well as for the most consecutive Greek Basketball Cup titles, winning six from 2012 to 2017.
context_section_description: The arrival of Željko Obradović to Panathinaikos, during summer 1999, marked the beginning of an extraordinary period for the club, with many major successes, and the establishment of the team as one of the strongest in the history of European club basketball.
  The first thing that Obradović did, was to adapt the team to Dejan Bodiroga, who was the absolute leader of Panathinaikos. As a result of the success of his strategy, PAO managed to capture 2 EuroLeague titles (2000, 2002,) after 3 consecutive EuroLeague Finals appearances (2000–2002), and also won 3 consecutive Greek League championships (1999–2001). In 2000, at the Thessaloniki EuroLeague Final Four, Panathinaikos became EuroLeague champions for the second time, after beating Macabbi Elite Tel Aviv, 73–67, in the final. In 2002, in Bologna, at the 2002 EuroLeague Final Four, Panathinaikos won the most prestigious European trophy for the third time, after beating hosts Kinder Bologna, by the score of 89–83, in the final.
  Nevertheless, in this period they failed to win the Greek Cup, even though they played in two Greek Cup finals. Rebrača, Gentile, Middleton, Alvertis, Kattash, Kutluay, and Fotsis were some of the team's players who excelled during these years. The dominance in the Greek League was finally interrupted in 2002, the year that PAO won their 3rd EuroLeague championship. Also, at the end of the year, there were many significant changes in the team, starting with the withdrawal of Bodiroga, making a renewal of the team's roster an imperative.
  2002–03 was the year that Obradović used to restructure Panathinaikos, and return them to the top of Greece. He emphatically achieved this objective by leading the team to 9 straight Greek League championships (2003–11), with 6 doubles in Greece, and 2 triple crowns (i.e. Greek double plus EuroLeague champions) in the following years, thus creating a dynasty. Panathinaikos had radically changed the style of their game, after replacing Bodiroga. The game contribution of the Serbian player was replaced by an unprecedented model of teamwork, that proved that a superstar was unnecessary. Players such as Lakovič, Alvertis, Diamantidis, Fotsis, Tsartsaris, Batiste, and later Spanoulis, Šiškauskas, and Jasikevičius, who played not for themselves, but for the maximum success of the team, led to the transformation of PAO, into a title-winning machine, that was not hampered by irreplaceable players, and this quality was widely recognized.
  At the 2007 EuroLeague Final Four, which was held on their home court of OAKA, in Athens, Panathinaikos became EuroLeague champions for the fourth time, after beating the defending champions at the time, CSKA Moscow, by a score of 93–91 in the final.
  The same teams (PAO and CSKA), competed in the final of the 2009 EuroLeague Final Four in Berlin, where Panathinaikos won the trophy again, for the fifth time in their history. The score was 73–71. On 14 December 2009, Panathinaikos was voted the top Greek sports team of 2009, by the Greek Sports Journalists Association, with 1,291 votes. In addition, head coach Želimir Obradović, was voted the top coach, with 1,399 votes.
  At the 2011 EuroLeague Final Four in Barcelona, Panathinaikos, after a great performance by Calathes in the semifinal against Montepaschi Siena (17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals), won 77–69, and reached the EuroLeague Final against Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv. In the final, the "Great Club" won its sixth EuroLeague title, by holding off Maccabi, by a score of 78-70.
caption: Dimitris Diamantidis lead the EuroLeague in all-time assists, steals and PIR since the 2000–01 season, and was a six time EuroLeague Best Defender.
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