By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With five scorers in double digits, and Lefteris Matzoukas adding nine on 3/3 threes Panathinaikos simply couldn’t be denied.
The Greeks beat Valencia 90-73 at home for their sixth win of the season (6-4) leaving the Spaniards at 5-5 after their fourth straight defeat.
Matthias Lessort with 17 points and seven rebounds was the first among equals, Dinos Mitoglou had 14, Jerian Grant scored 13 points, while Kostas Sloukas finished with 12 points and nine assists, and Marius Grigonis contributed 11.
“I try to be as physical as I can”, said Lessort after the final buzzer, “I am not scared of the contact, I am not scared to get hit. The most important thing is that we keep winning, we are still trying to find ourselves, we are still building, but I believe that we are on the right path”.
The guests got 16 points by Semi Ojeleye, however, no other player scored in double digits.
“We played great basketball”
Panathinaikos simply couldn’t be denied leading by 15 at halftime (49-35), then pushing their advantage to 22 points (60-38) and entering the last period with the score being 72-53.
“Our players enjoy playing together, they understand the system, and one more time, we not only won the game, but we played great basketball with a lot of hustle and we had a great synergy with our fans in the stands”, added Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman and speaking about the difference compared to the start of the season, he praised one of his Greek players: “It’s simple, Dinos Mitoglou wasn’t playing due to injury”.
Valencia’s only really good moment of the game came with a 17-8 partial score that trimmed the lead to 10 (80-70) with three minutes left before the final buzzer but it was not enough.
“We deserved this result because we are working too hard and we are getting better and better with each game and it’s important we have now four straight wins”, said Sloukas, and on a personal note he stated: “Every day I feel more comfortable. We have 13 new players and it’s not easy to find chemistry”.
On the other side, Valencia’s coach Alex Mumbru admitted that the night belonged to Panathinaikos: “They have played better than us: they have had a great percentage in triples, two-pointers… In my opinion, the first quarter was decisive for us. They made several triples, 9 in the first half, with high percentages. We tried to get back into the game in the third quarter and at the beginning of the fourth, but it was difficult because we were down 20”.