A bad loss on the road (80-68) against Zalgiris Kaunas for Panathinaikos AKTOR in the 25th round of the EuroLeague. Ataman’s team was hurt by its dead spells on offense, but also by its 15 turnovers.
Panathinaikos AKTOR was hurt by its mistakes and dead spacing in offense, suffering an 80-68 loss on the road against Zalgiris Kaunas in the 25th round of the EuroLeague.
Ergin Ataman’s team thus fell to 15-10, while Andrea Trinchieri’s team, who got their second big win in this devil week after the one against Anadolu Efes, improved their record to 10-15. The Turkish coach had sounded the alarm about his team’s attack after the win over Armani, but he ended up being a fortune teller of evil.
The race
Laurinas Birutis made it very difficult for Panathinaikos AKTOR’s defense at the beginning of the game, scoring 10 quick points with 5/5 2-pointers in 7 minutes, to help Zalgiris to lead 20-16. But the quarter ended with both teams tied at 25-25, with Kendrick Nunn already having 13 points (3/3 3-pointers) and Marius Grigonis another 10 (2/2 3-pointers).
The scoring baton was passed to Mathias Lesor, who scored 9 of the 13 points of the clover in the second quarter. During this period, the hosts pulled down 12 rebounds, 5 of which were offensive, which allowed them to control the pace and go to the locker room with a 6-point difference (44-38, 20′).
Panathinaikos managed to pick up the difference and stay within striking distance until 24’30” (54-52). From that point and for the next 3 minutes, the Greens were again offensively blacked out. Kendrick Nunn again provided the solution, with a 3-pointer and a won unsportsmanlike foul by Arnis Butkevicius, to make it 59-56 (28’18”), but Zalgiris closed the third quarter with a 5-0 run to pull away for a 64-56 lead (30′).
Andrea Trinchieri’s team took its first double-digit lead of the game at 6’29” before the final buzzer (68-58). Ergyn Ataman called a time-out to slow them down, but upon returning to the court, Kendrick Nunn committed his 5th foul and Evans made it 70-58. Five more points from Nunn brought the Green and Gold closer to 74-67 with 3’20” to go. But from there on, the Greek team didn’t have the way to do better, knowing a bad defeat.
10 MINUTES: 25-25, 44-38, 64-56, 80-68.
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