The home team won 91-77
Panathinaikos returns from Spain empty-handed, as after Barcelona it also “fell” in Vitoria, seeing its record drop to 13-9. The European champions were defeated 91-77 by Baskonia, for their 22nd game euroleague, paying for their 15 mistakes and the offensive… lack of rain of Kendrick Nunn, who for the second consecutive match was limited to 7 points, with 6 mistakes! On the contrary, the Basques “recovered” after the home defeat by Olympiakos and celebrated their ninth victory.
The match
It was a very bad start for him Panathinaikos paying in the worst way for the transition defense as Baskonia kept getting points, either from primary or secondary surprise. Something that was also reflected in the score as after the 5-6 of the “greens”, Baskonia ran an 8-0 streak for 13-6, taking the reins on the score and the momentum in the match. And the points in the open field were a result of the miss as the “clover” had in the first quarter 5/11 two-pointers and 0/4 three-pointers, as well as 3 assists for 5 turnovers! So the +9 of the Basques (22-13) was a logical consequence based on the image the two teams had on the floor as the home team shot 80% on two-pointers while they were also 2/5 outside of 6.75 meters.
On the contrary, in the first half of the second quarter, Panathinaikos presented itself transformed. Lorenzo Brown (9 points, 5 assists in the half) was the one who gave the trigger for the “green” comeback, while there were also many assists from Panagiotis Kalaitzakis (7 points) in order for the match to be even (32-32 at 16′) with individual scores (19-10) in a span of six minutes. But a timeout by Lasso turned things upside down. The Basques not only responded but went so far as to “answer” with their own individual 16-6 (!) until the end of the half for the first “double-digit” lead in the score (48-38). For four minutes, Panathinaikos suffered a “black out” and saw Baskonia escape the score.
In this played a role the zero help from Kendrick Nunn was bad in the first half of the game having only 2 points with 0/1 2-pointer, 0/1 3-pointer, 2/2 shots and 3 turnovers! Essentially, the match of… Barcelona continued. Slukas closed the half with 6 assists and 1 steal, while in total the “greens” had 14/23 two-pointers, only 1/8 three-pointers (!), 7/10 shots, 11-6 rebounds, 13 assists, 7 steals and 6 errors.
On the contrary, Baskonia shot at excellent rates, having 13/19 2-pointers, 6/12 3-pointers, 4/6 shots, as well as 10-3 rebounds, 9 assists for 7 turnovers. The trio of Louvavou-Cambaro (13p., 2/4dp., 2/4tr., 3/4b.), Baldwin (12p., 3/4dp., 2/2/tr., 4as., 2r.) and Moneke (10pt., 2/2dp., 2/3tr., 2rb., 2ast.) was also her who had done the most damage for Ergin Ataman’s team in the first half.
In contrast to the first part, Nan entered the 3rd period strongly and with five consecutive points reduced the score for Panathinaikos to 48-43, putting the “greens” back in the match. In fact, the difference was reduced to one basket (53-51 in the 25th minute), however, another oligarchy brought the match to the highest value for the first time, namely to +11 for the home team (62-51) with a 9-0 run! But the biggest value was to be +13 (70-57) at the end of the 3rd period. Since then, the Greek team tried to get back into the match, falling to six points (76-70) midway through the final period and could have gotten even closer if the shots that followed found the target. This did not happen, Baskonia again reached +12 (82-70 at 36′).
Even then there were mental reserves in the “green” for the final counterattack and with a series of 0-7 they reduced to 82-77 three minutes before the end of the game in Vitoria. Slukas missed a three-pointer that would have brought the match to the basket, followed by a cheap mistake Baskonia scored, regained the momentum and led the “greens” to frivolous actions which they took advantage of until the final 91-77.
The quarters: 22-13, 48-38, 70-57, 91-77
Source: gazzetta
