By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Ioannis Papapetrou scored eight out of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as Panathinaikos beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 81 – 63 to more or less eliminate whatever little playoff chances the Yellows had.
“I love basketball, I love to play basketball,” Papapetrou said. “It was a hard period for me, obviously. There was the COVID and my injury before that. In the last month, I haven’t been playing and enjoying the thing I love the most, but now I’m back.”
Panathinaikos, that has already been out of playoff contention, began the final period with a 9-0 run to begin turning what was a close game into a one-sided affair. The Nemanja Nedovic-less Greens went up by 67 – 55 halfway through the quarter and then kept increasing their advantage as the match was approaching its last lap.
Scottie Wilbekin (14 points) was the only player in double figures for a Maccabi squad that was trailing from start to finish after being overwhelmed 25 – 7 by Panathinaikos in the beginning. They reacted to approach by three points at the end of the third period but succumbed down the stretch.
“We came back and got within 3 points, but we should have been more aggressive to fight for the game,” Maccabi coach Giannis Sfairopoulos said. “They showed the quality they have, we missed some shots and we had 2-3 minutes that we were not good, and that was the game.”
Maccabi is now five wins below the top eight and while they still have two suspended games yet to play, their EuroLeague season is more or less done.
Aaron White added 15 points plus seven rebounds, Dinos Mitoglou had 12 points and eight boards while Mario Hezonja contributed 12 points in his first EuroLeague win with Panathinaikos.
A victory of stops
Panathinaikoc coach Oded Kattash was particularly pleased with how his players didn’t allow their opponents from getting into rhythm on offense.
“It is a great win for us,” Kattash said. “I think we won the game defensively, on the set game we did a good job, our big guys played amazing against their guards, on switching defenses according to our game plan. As long as we didn’t turn the ball over, and we played slow offensively, we could control them. I really like how the guys reacted to the game plan. I’m very proud of the players.”