By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Daryl Macon Jr. became the seventh player in EuroLeague history to hit nine or more 3-pointers in a single game to lead Panathinaikos to a 95 – 69 blowout win over reigning champion Anadolu Efes.
Macon finished with a European career-high 34 points on 9-12 triples in a phenomenal scoring night for him and Panathinaikos. The Greens had their best performance this season to improve to 2-4 while Efes suffered its biggest loss to sink to 1-5. The visiting side was without head coach Ergin Ataman in the last 15 minutes of the game since the Turkish manager was ejected with technical fouls halfway through the third period.
“These are probably one of the best sets of fans I’ve ever experienced,” Macon said. Ηe had 21 of his points in the first half without missing a shot. “It was an unbelievable experience tonight. All credit to my teammates, without them I couldn’t have had a night like this. As long as we continue to stay together and learn from it and realize who we really are, we’ll be okay. [Playing at OAKA] is unbelievable.”
Macon also set a new Panathinaikos record for most 3-pointers by a player in a EuroLeague game, passing former champion and Final Four MVP Tyrese Rice (eight 3-pointers and 41 vs. Olympiacos in 2019).
Panathinaikos went on to make a 14 – 0 run after Ataman’s ejection to go up 71 – 45 and push back a comeback effort by Efes from down 19 in the first half. Nothing really changed in the rest of the match and the only question from one point onward was whether Macon will make a new EuroLeague record for 3-pointers made.
Rodrigue Beaubois (16 points) and Elijah Bryant (15 points) stood out from Efes that was missing EuroLeague MVP Vasilije Micic and center Bryant Dunston. Micic traveled to Athens and made some warm-up shots but wasn’t included on the 12-man lineup.
“We missed all the shots, even open shots, and they played with huge confidence, made all the three-point shots, pushed the ball, scored easy fastbreak points and they broke the game at the beginning,” Efes assistant Yakup Sekiszok said. “We tried to turn the game around in the third quarter, but still they fought back and didn’t allow us to come back to the game. I congratulate them. Great game. And now we have to focus on the next game, Zalgiris on our home court. Hopefully, we will take a win from the double week.”
Apart from Macon, Nemanja Nedovic scored 17 points on 5-5 shots for Panathinaikos. George Papagiannis had 12 points and 10 rebounds while Howard Sant-Roos dropped 13 points and got five boards.
An honest acknowledgement
After Panathinaikos’ biggest win this season, coach Dimitris Priftis (who also had his birthday) made a special mention to Efes’ problems (injuries, overall condition) that were a factor in the game.
“Obviously numbers say that we played better on defense but if you don’t score a couple of good shots, it makes you hesitant on defense,” Priftis said. “They both play a part. We kept a talented team to low scoring. They are in a good shape, they have absences and that plays a role. We have to admit that. Our performance was better on both areas, we have to played defense tobe better and increase our [scoring] chances.
We played good. We are happy. We needed this win. We had a convincing game. We have to continue like this. We have to work on that.”