By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos Athens put on an offensive show in the first half against ALBA Berlin and ultimately won 99 – 85 for its first away victory through the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.
The match proved to be an ideal opportunity for Panathinaikos newcomer Kendrick Nunn to make his debut and get a couple of minutes despite arriving in Athens on Tuesday. In his first game since last April, the former NBAer played for 7:45 minutes, finishing with 2-2 two-pointers, 0-5 triples, and 2-2 free throws.
Dinos Mitoglou led Panathinaikos overall with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Marius Grigonis delivered 16 points, Kostas Sloukas had 14 points plus six assists and Luca Vildoza scored all of his 13 points in the first half to lift the Greens towards taking a 60 – 47 advantage.
“We are very happy we got the win,” Mitoglou said. His team is now 3-4. “I’m always confident about my game. ALBA has great players. It’s all about confidence and the teammates and how they treat you. We have a really great group of guys. I’m happy we got the win, let’s build that.”
Even more noise at OAKA
“We played very smart,” Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman said. “We controlled the game throughout the whole match. ALBA is a team that never gives up and put us pressure and we made easy turnovers but we kept control of the game,” he added before tipping his hat off to the 2,000 Panathinaikos fans that were present in Mercedes Benz arena. “Thank you to all the people that came here from Athens and all around Europe. I hope that next week, the double-game week, we will have a sold-out OAKA arena.”
ALBA didn’t have issues scoring the basket but couldn’t stop the hot Panathinaikos offense and found themselves trailing 55 – 72 halfway through the third period. While the German side reacted and cut that margin to single digits, they never managed to become truly dangerous and approach by a shooting distance.
Sterling Brown (17 points), Johannes Thiemann (16 points, six rebounds) and Gabriele Procida (13 points) scored in double figures from ALBA, now 1-6.
“Congratulations to Panathinaikos,” ALBA coach Israel Gonzalez said. “They shot the ball really well and when a team like them shoots like this…. we have to improve on pick n’ roll defense and try to do better next team.”