By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nemanja Nedovic scored a season-high 28 points on a career-high seven triples as Panathinaikos Athens beat Fenerbahce Beko 82 – 68 at home to improve to 2-2 (with one game less).
“I feel great. I’m really happy I helped my win get the team today,” Nedovic said to EuroLeague TV after the game. He took over on the offense of Panathinaikos and displayed valuable leadership, especially in light of the absence of team captain Ioannis Papapetrou.
“Pap is a huge part of our team and we really missed him. I had to step up and of course, my teammates did a great job. Defensively, we were amazing,” Nedovic added. Fener hadn’t scored less than 70 points in a EuroLeague game this season before facing Panathinaikos.
Lorenzo Brown scored 17 points and Ahmet Duverioglu had 15 for Fenerbahce that saw head coach Igor Kokoskov getting ejected in the first half with two technical fouls. Apart from those two players, no other Fener player contributed and the Turkish side suffered its third loss in a row.
Keifer Sykes dropped 11 points after going scoreless in his two first games with Panathinaikos while dishing out five assists. The hosts never trailed in the game and made its point early through the tough and highly energetic defense, particularly on Fener star Nando De Colo (five points on 2/8 shots, three assists, four turnovers).
Fener tried to catch up but its efforts weren’t efficient enough to threaten the Greens’ steady lead. When Brown made it 72 – 66 with 4:24 to play, Pana shut them down for three minutes while Nedovic’s 3-pointers increased his squad’s advantage.
A tale of deflections
Panathinaikos coach George Vovoras was satisfied with how his team played particularly on defense. He emphasized on how his players pulled off more than 30 deflections, a number for which former Panathinaikos coach Rick Pitino (a well-known deflections enthusiast would be proud of.”