By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Despite some absences, Panathinaikos managed to bounce back in front of its fans in OAKA after losing against Olympiacos. Playing another red-and-white side, the Greek team got a 78-71 victory against Bayern Munich.
Mathias Lessort and Luca Vildoza demonstrated to have already found good chemistry on the Greek powerhouse P&R. The French center powered his team early in the game and ended with 16 points and 6 rebounds, while the Argentinian playmaker dished him some pretty cool passes to end with 4 dimes, adding 8 points and 4 rebounds. Starting next to him, Jerian Grant grew as time passed during the clash against the Bavarian team, ending with 14 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists.
“It was important to get the win because we didn’t want to spend other eight hours in the gym. We just got to get better every day, tonight was a good night for me. The most important is to get to know each other and be in the best shape at the end of the season”, the former Partizan Belgrade center commented after getting the victory and the MVP award. “It feels good, we didn’t play well but it’s a victory”, Ergin Ataman commented after the game where both Kostas Sloukas and Dinos Mitoglou weren’t available.
On the opponents’ side, Leandro Bolmaro was dominant before halftime, going to the locker room with 15 points and ending by adding four more with 9/12 from two-point range. Devin Booker provided a consistent game on the glass and went close to a double-double with 11 points and 7 rebounds, while Isaac Bonga had 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals for the Germans.
“We started 10-0, we lost by seven and we were trailing the whole game. That punished us. We tried, and they got offensive rebounds in the right moments. But that’s like “Welcome to the EuroLeague”, it’s very difficult to fight back. I’m proud of my team, but we couldn’t make it. This is the EuroLeague”, Pablo Laso commented right after the loss.
Panathinaikos started things off strong with a 10-0 run in the first two minutes of the game, and controlled pretty much for the whole encounter, even finding the 16-point lead (30-14) before halftime.
In the second portion of the game, the home team kept on rolling but almost wasted its lead late in the clash against Pablo Laso’s team when Isaac Bonga converted a 2+1 play with 0:11 seconds left to make it a three-point game (74-71).
However, OAKA was relieved by finally getting the victory as Jerian Grant was ultimately clutch at the line for the Greens, while Marius Grigonis powered up his fans with a fastbreak dunk in transition after getting the steal. That’s Pana’s first victory of the EuroLeague Regular Season after the loss in the Greek derby against Olympiacos in Round 1.
In Round 3, Panathinaikos will travel to face Fenerbahce in what will look like a clash with the past for Dimitris Itoudis, playing on the yellow-and-blue side of Istanbul on October 17 at 19:15 CET. Later on the same day at 20:30 CET, Bayern Munich will be in Vitoria to face Baskonia, which was victorious in Germany against ALBA Berlin.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague