By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After beating Milan by 29 points, Panathinaikos didn’t slow down against Baskonia, getting the 104-69 win.
However, the mood at OAKA was not festive after Mathias Lessort’s gruesome injury which may end up being a huge setback for the player and the team.
Kendrick Nunn with 26 points, nine assists, and four steals stole the show, Lorenzo Brown with 18, and Juancho Hernangomez with 11 points led the Greens, while Lessort scored 10 points before leaving the game.
“Just prayers up for him”, said Nunn for his teammate after the final buzzer, “we pray that he is healthy, that the injury is not as serious as it looks. We just need everybody to keep him on his prayers. That’s our brother and we are going to have his back”.
“It was very bad luck. I think he has broken his leg”, added coach Ergin Ataman, “and also a fan in the stands had a heart attack after that, I hope for the best for both”.
As it was clarified later, nine fans felt discomfort after the injury of Lessort, but thankfully non of them suffered a heart attack.
Chima Moneke with 16 points was the top scorer of Baskonia which dropped to 7-10, while Panathinaikos has a solid 10-7 record.
One more Green show
Panathinaikos opened up the game with Nunn scoring 14 points in the first period and leading 33-12, while at halftime the score was 53-35 with Nunn having 20.
Baskonia managed to trim the lead to 13 points (48-35) momentarily, however, the game was over before the start of the third period.
Unfortunately, the game after that was overshadowed by Lessors’s injury and also it stopped for 10 minutes a little bit after due to a spectator having a heart attack.
Still, Panathinaikos led by 31 points (69-37) after the first five minutes of the second half and never looked back.
However, nobody was in the mood to celebrate in the end, as the official news about the extend of Lessort’s injury were still pending.