By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With a decent performance in the fourth quarter (30-20), Anadolu Efes beat Panathinaikos at home (91-86) and prevented the Greens from taking the home-court advantage in the playoffs.
For the winners, Dario Saric (who was expected to miss the game) had 15 points and seven rebounds, with four more players scoring in double figures, as Thomas Heurtel came close to make a double-double (nine points, nine assists), although he was also expected not to play against the Greek team.
On the other hand, six players scored in double figures for the losing squad, which eventually claimed the third place in group E, with Nick Calathes making a double-double (14 points, 10 assists).
Panathinaikos made a better start to the game and earned a slight advantage (0-5), which retained it until the end of the first quarter (12-16, 17-23).
Later, the visitors continued to play very well on both ends of the floor and extended their lead to double digits (22-32). However, Anadolu Efes responded and went on an 18-11 run to cut the deficit to just three (40-43). But, the Greens stood tall and closed the first half in front by nine points (43-52), behind a 9-3 run of their own.
In the second half, Panathinaikos brought the lead back to double digits (48-58), but the Turks came back again and were down by five, after 30 minutes in the game (61-66).
In the fourth quarter, things changed. The hosts executed perfectly both defensively and offensively and went on a 27-14 run to earn an eight-point advantage, with 60 seconds to go. The Greeks, though, tried to respond (89-86), however two free throws from Jon Diebler let Dusan Ivkovic’s team secure the victory.