By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
He did it again. After draining the buzzer-beater for the win at Olympiacos Piraeus, Codi Miller McIntyre hit the jumper with a second to play against Panathinaikos Athens to hand Baskonia a 75 – 73 victory following a comeback from down 17 points.
“Me and Chima looked at each other and he was like: Just take it,” McIntyre said. He was talking about teammate Chima Moneke who led the charge for Baskonia with 20 points and 13 rebounds, scoring 15 of his points in the last quarter.
“Crazy way to start the year,” Moneke mentioned. “EuroLeague is the best league, basketball-wise, in the world. I’m proud of us.”
After his team got its deficit down to single digits from a 31 – 48 margin five minutes into the second half, Moneke scored seven straight points to make it 62 – 63 halfway through the fourth period.
Panathinaikos retained an advantage and with 1:16 to play and the score 70 – 72, the Greens got an opportunity to pull off beyond a shooting distance when Kostas Sloukas won an unsportsmanlike foul by Matt Costello.
Sloukas went 1-2, Moneke pulled off a big defense on Kendrick Nunn and then drained the game-tying triple on the other end. Nunn, Panathinaikos’ leading scorer with 25 points, missed two straight 3-pointers, while on the other end, McIntyre made the shot for the win.
C0stello added 11 points for Baskonia, McIntyre finished with 10 points and Tadas Sedekerskis had 10 points plus six rebounds. “We really started to play like a team and that’s the most important thing,” said Baskonia coach Dusko Ivanovic. “We fought in the first half but didn’t play like a team. In the second half, we played like a team and we believed and that’s why we won the game.”
Apart from Nunn, who also got six rebounds and shot 11 – 25 en route to his 25 points, Marius Grigonis scored 11 points and grabbed six boards while Sloukas posted 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
“We will make it and win the EuroLeague”
“This is basketball. Sometimes you win like this, sometimes you lose like this,” Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman said.
The loss wasn’t the only blow for his team tonight since Sloukas pulled his left adductor muscle and is highly doubtful vs. Valencia Friday (5/1). “Tonight we weren’t lucky in the last minutes, we missed everything. They made incredible shots.”
Coach Ataman’s prophecy after the defeat in Baskonia: “In the Final Four and in the Final we will make this and win the title” pic.twitter.com/wGwRNeeovs
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) January 3, 2024
However, when asked in the press conference what he would change in the last possession, Ataman made the following statement: “In the Final Four and in the Final we will make this and win the title”