101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
where the ball would go, he was really useful under the
rims. He was also pretty good at offensive rebounds,
which always is a great asset to minimize your own
team’s mistakes. His lack of height was made up for
by his basketball IQ, technique, high shot and speed.
His build, at first sight, did not intimidate opponents
much, but they all realized soon enough that they
were facing one of the most dangerous and smart big
men in Europe.
After an off year in 2008, when they missed the
playoffs, Batiste and Panathinaikos won another EuroLeague
title together in Berlin in 2009, with a great
big-man duo that Batiste formed with Nikola Pekovic.
The Greens defeated archrival Olympiacos Piraeus in
the semis (84-82), where Pekovic had 20 points and
2 rebounds and Batiste 19 points and 6 boards. In
the title game, again against CSKA Moscow (73-71),
neither of them was as efficient (6 points apiece), but
the greatness and the variety of resources available to
Coach Obradovic proved that the team could adapt to
any kind of game. During that game, the leaders were
Vassilis Spanoulis (13 points), Antonis Fotsis (13),
Sarunas Jasikevicius (10) and Drew Nicholas (7), all of
whom contributed to great accuracy from the arc (13
of 27, 48.1%).
Two years later, in Barcelona, Mike Batiste lifted his
third EuroLeague crown. He nailed 16 points and pulled
6 rebounds in just 22 minutes against Montepaschi
Siena in the semis. He didn’t miss a shot, going 5 for
5, and was one of the key players. In the title game
against Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, Batiste shined again
to lead his team to the title with a 78-70 win. In 24 minutes,
he scored 18 points on 7 of 10 two-pointers plus 6
rebounds. In the last minute, with a 69-64 scoreboard,
he received the pass from Dimitris Diamantidis to score
the bucket that would break the game open for the
Greens.
Away and back
Batiste was a much-loved player by the fans, teammates
and the media. His popularity was huge in Athens,
to the point that there was a book published in
Greek about his life and professional career. And the
feeling, from his own perspective, was mutual. “Just
growing up as a little boy, seeing the neighborhood
I grew up in, all the different distractions – gangs,
drugs, all types of violence – I’d never thought in a million
years I’d be in this position, let alone make it out of
the circumstances I grew up in. So, it has brought me a
lot of joy,” Batiste said in a EuroLeague.TV interview after
winning his three EuroLeague titles. “And I’m very
happy with the decisions I’ve made to keep coming
back here to play every year for an organization like
Panathinaikos, but also to live in a country like Greece.
It’s very enjoyable here. My players and the people of
Panathinaikos treat me as family. Also the people in
society. I’ve embraced it. I’ve adjusted. And I can really
call Greece a second home.”
Nowadays, when it’s not rare to see players switching
teams season to season, Batiste’s case is rather
extraordinary, deserving of respect. He stayed eight
seasons in Panathinaikos. He became a symbol of the
club much like Juan Carlos Navarro for FC Barcelona,
Felipe Reyes for Real Madrid, Derrick Sharp for Maccabi
or even Diamantidis himself for Panathinaikos.
“Growing up, I never thought I’d be around guys
from Greece, guys from Lithuania or other parts of the
world,” Batiste said. “And it’s really a special feeling to
look at the next man like, that’s my brother right there,
man. We would do anything that is necessary to win for
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