The greens now have their backs once morest the wall and on M. Thursday they only want a win to avoid being eliminated.
The Israelis’ front line, ball movement and zone defense led Maccabi Tel Aviv to a comfortable victory for 36 minutes, but the perseverance of Ioannis Papapetrou and Kendrick Nunn brought Panathinaikos one… breath away from the ups and downs . The “greens” equalized at 83-83 with 42 minutes to go, with 1/2 shots by Lessor, but Brown’s accuracy from the line of… charity (85-83) and Nan’s miss on the most crucial shot from 6.75, gave the Israelis a 2-1 lead in the playoff series.
Huge performance by Ioannis Papapetrou with 17 points and 3/3 three-pointers, as well as by Matias Lessor with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block, while the player who trumpeted the counterattack of the “cloverleaf”, Kendrick Nunn, stood out leading scorer of the “greens” with 22 points, in a night that… missed Kostas Slukas (he was 0 on offense), concentration (11 mistakes) and accuracy from the free throw line (12/20).
From Maccabi Josh Nimbo shone with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals, while Lorenzo Brown stopped at 16 (with 8 assists).
In “Aleksandar Nikolic Hall” was the “strong man” of KAE Panathinaikos, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, while around 1,000 Israeli fans gave their team a boost.
The quarters: 23-11, 46-37, 67-56, 85-83
The anxious start of Panathinaikos gave impetus to Maccabi, which imposed its fast pace with… good evening, had an excellent passing game and in the 2nd minute wrote on the light board 7-0. The entry of Sloukas, Papapetrou “tied up” the “green” defense for a while, with the “clover” collecting the difference once morest them and getting closer to 6′ at -2 (13-11), but that’s it… No three-pointer ( ended the first quarter with 0/4) and the opposing zone defense creating problems for him, Panathinaikos received a 10-0 run, closing the first period at -12 (23-11).
With Vildosa hitting Panathinaikos’ first three-pointer in the 12th minute, the “greens” dropped the difference to single digits (25-16), Papapetrou from 6.75 kept it (28-19), while Grigonis formed the 28-21 at 14′. However, Katas’ tall formation, with only one guard on the floor, allowed Maccabi to control the rebounds and dominate near the basket, running individual scores 16-8 and giving the difference its maximum value (+15, 44 -29 at 18′). Mitoglou and Nan, however, made sure to find an immediate goal from 6.75, making it 46-37 at halftime and keeping alive the dream of Panathinaikos, who counted 6 errors in the first half, compared to only 2 of Maccabi.
Without… an antidote to the tall Maccabi and the defense not following, Panathinaikos saw Maccabi dominate the floor in the third period, run an individual score of 11-2 and escape in the 24th minute for the first time with 18 points (57- 39). The “greens” woke up aggressively until the end of the period, Papapetrou, Nan and Mitoglou provided solutions from the perimeter and the “clover” once more began to gnaw away at the difference until -8 at 25” at the end of the quarter (64 -56). However, Brown found the long shot at the end of the quarter, building from 6.75 to 67-56 at 30′.
With Brown entering “hot” in the… epilogue of the match, Maccabi escaped with +13 in the 35′ (78-65) and +11 in the 36′ (81-70), but Nan had not said his last word … With NBAer catching fire from 6.75 (3/3 three-pointers) and Lesor following inside the opponent’s racket, Panathinaikos responded with individual scores of 2-12 for 83-82 in the 76” before the end. Lessor with 1/2 shots tied the game at 42” (83-83) and then tipped Brown with a tap, but the referees saw the phase in the replay and gave a jamball. The Israelis won the ball, Brown took the foul with 2.6 seconds left to make it 85-83. The ball ended up in the hands of Nan, who tried for the winning three-pointer, but his shot did not find the target and Panathinaikos stayed in the effort…
THE REFEREES: Radovic, Mogulkots, Khardum
The compositions:
MACCABI TEL AVIV (Odent Katas): Cleveland 5 (1), Webb 8 (1), Brown 16 (2), Sorkin 6, DiBartolomeo 2, Rivero 8, Cohen 3 (1), Meyer, Thomason, Niebo 22, Blatt 2, Colson 13 (1).
PANATHINAICOS (Ergin Ataman): Kalaitzakis, Vildosa 9 (3), Balcherovski, Slukas, Papapetrou 17 (3), Grant 6, Nunn 25 (5), Lesor 14, Antetokounmpo, Grigonis 2, Mitoglou 10 (2), Mantzoukas.
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