Maccabi Tel Aviv appeared hampered in the opening half but demonstrated their ability to overpower the opponent with its offense to beat Panathinaikos 87-91 and get the home court advantage from the Greek giants. Maccabi outscored Panathinaikos 17-28 in the final quarter to come back from a first-half double-digit deficit.
Panathinaikos used an explosive offensive run in the second quarter to take a 43-32 lead before finishing the half ahead 50-44. The Greens received a boost from their bench and used Mathias Lessort as the spearhead of their offense to take advantage inside the paint. However, Maccabi remained in the game due to a staggering 15 offensive rebounds.
Bonzie Colson led all Maccabi scorers with 18 points including some crucial baskets in the fourth quarter for the Israelis who had to play without superstar guard Wade Baldwin as he headed to the bench with an injury in the fourth quarter.
“It was a win that was achieved by the whole team, we did a better defensive job in the second half and we stuck to our plan, we stuck to what we wanted to do until the end. We made big shots,” Bonzie Colson noted in the post-game presser.
Baldwin finished with 15 points and seven assists, while Lorenzo Brown added 16 and Josh Nebo had 12 with 8 rebounds.
For Panathinaikos, Mathias Lessort had a game-high 22 points, Kostas Sloukas added 12 points and 13 assists but made a crucial turnover with the score at 87-89 and less than 26 seconds remaining on the clock. Maccabi got the possession and Josh Nebo sealed the deal with 3.3 seconds remaining, pushing the lead to 87-91.
Panathinaikos struggles from three despite shooting excellently on two-pointers
Panathinaikos struggled to pull away from Maccabi despite shooting 73% on 2-pointers in the game. Despite having a sold-out arena by their sides, Ergin Ataman group only shot 34% from deep and allowed Maccabi to remain close.
The 5-time EuroLeague champions were down 70-63 entering the 4th quarter but they had the composure and the physical presence to beat the home side and run away with a huge victory on the road that gives the upper hand in the series.
Baldwin was able to spark a run before exiting the game in the fourth quarter after earning three free throws, while Kostas Sloukas was trying to stop the American guard from running the floor. Baldwin threw the basketball towards the basket and the officials deemed that he was in the act of shooting. Head coach Ergin Ataman wasn’t happy with the refs’ decision.
“We didn’t play well, but the fouls given to Baldwin are ridiculous, I don’t understand, it’s not fair for the game to give six points to Baldwin in this position,” Ergin Ataman noted.
It is not fair. We didn’t play well, we had a chance to win, we missed a lot of shots. We made a mistake in the last attack. It’s just 1-0, we’re going to win this series.”
The two teams meet again on Thursday in OAKA for Game 2 of the EuroLeague Playoff series.
