Panathinaikos defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv on their home court by 95:79 in the second game of the EuroLeague quarterfinals.
In this game, coach Oded Kattash couldn’t count on Maccabi Tel Aviv’s top scorer, Wade Baldwin. On the other hand, Panathinaikos couldn’t rely on Juancho Hernangomez.
KOSTASSSS SLOUKKAAAS! ๐ฅ
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) April 25, 2024
He scored 13 points in the second quarter. #paobc #EuroLeague pic.twitter.com/7olLUcTTfv
Everything started to go in favor of Ataman’s team. Minute by minute, their lead grew larger. Kendrick Nunn found his rhythm, and Papapetrou continued to play a crucial role. On the other side, only Lorenzo Brown was in form, which wasn’t enough to threaten the opponent. Maccabi Tel Aviv tried to switch to zone defense, but even that didn’t work, so the game slowly slipped away from them. However, they capitalized on their opponent’s lapse in focus and cut the deficit to minus 11 before the fourth quarter.
Maccabi Tel Aviv opened the final period with a 6:0 run, bringing the score to 71:66. They reduced the deficit to minus three, after which the “greens” woke up, stabilized their game in the paint, closed off the approaches to the basket, and regained control once again. Maccabi Tel Aviv tried to make a comeback until the end of the game, but the hosts calmly maintained their lead.
The top scorer for the winning team was Kostas Sloukas with 29 points, setting a new career record. He was followed by Dinos Mitoglou and Ioannis Papapetrou, each with 12 points. In Maccabi Tel Aviv, the top performer was Lorenzo Brown with 18 points, while Antonius Cleveland and Jake Cohen each had 12.
The third game between Panathinaikos and Maccabi Tel Aviv will be played on Tuesday at 7:00 PM.ย