By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos was trailing until the start of the fourth period and dominated the last eight minutes of the game on the way to the 99-92 win over Maccabi.
The defending champions have a 20-11 record, good enough for the third spot of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings, and remain on course for the home-court advantage in the playoffs.
Once more Kendrick Nunn with 26 points was the top scorer, Juancho Hernangomez added 18 points and eight rebounds on his EuroLeague-best career night, Lorenzo Brown scored 14 points, and Wenyen Gabriel added 13 points.
Nunn, who was the MVP of the Round, did have a hard moment in the game, however. As he said with a smile that revealed the issue: “Losing my tooth again, that’s never fun, so I am back to the dentist”.
Levi Randolph, with 21 points, had a great game for Maccabi and Jake Cohen, with 15 points, had his best game of the season. Four more players scored in double digits, but it was not enough for the Israelis, who dropped to 10-21.
Due to injury woes Panathinaikos had 11 players available for the game and they proved to be enough.
A great Green finish
Panathinaikos opened the game leading 24-19 after the first quarter, but Maccabi took the 29-27 lead after three minutes in the second, thanks to a three by Jake Cohen.
While the Greeks stayed close, they couldn’t regain the lead with Maccabi playing without pressure and being up by five (47-42) at the end of the first half.
Nunn had already scored 17 points in the first two periods, but it was not enough yet.
On the contrary, Maccabi pushed the lead to 11 points (68-57) with Panathinaikos trying to keep up but stumbling and trailing also by 11 in the end of the third period (78-67) after a three by Randolph.
Maccabi opened the last quarter with four unanswered points, extending their advantage to 15 points (82-67), and Panathinaikos had to react and did it with a 10-0 run (82-77), forcing coach Oded Kattash to call a timeout.
That didn’t change much; Panathinaikos made their run 18-0 and got the 85-82 lead with Lorenzo Brown making a three and Dinos Mitoglou adding a two-pointer to complete it.
Still, Maccabi didn’t back down, took the lead back (90-86), but Nunn, with one more three, put Panathinaikos up by two (92-90). Brown stole the ball in the next play from Randolph, he scored on the break, and Panathinaikos was leading by four (94-90) with one minute and 13 seconds left.
Randolph, from the free throw line, made it a two-point game (94-92), and Juancho Hernangomez with a three created enough distance (97-92) for the Panathinaikos win.
Photo credit: Eurokinissi