The veteran guard scored a season-high 26 points at ASVEL on Friday night
Ageless Kostas Sloukas inspires Panathinaikos to victory on milestone night
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 25 of 38
Regular Season
LDLC ASVEL VilleurbanneASV
7879
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
Overview
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Kostas Sloukas has been proving week in, week out since the start of the season that he is aging like a fine wine. On Friday night, the veteran guard delivered yet another masterclass, leading Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens to a 77-79 road win at LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne.
Sloukas finished with a season-high 26 points – more than 30% of Panathinaikos’s total – after going 2-for-4 from inside the arc, 4-for-5 from three-point range and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Two of those 10 free throws saw him seal the outcome in the final seconds.
With Kendrick Nunn – this season's top scorer in the EuroLeague – sidelined by injury, Sloukas stepped up to fill the void, earning praise from head coach Ergin Ataman after carrying the team at LDLC Arena.
“Kostas is a winner,” Ataman said in the postgame press conference. “He knows that without Kendrick Nunn we have a problem on offense, and he brought his winning character to the game. He had good day, he feels good and he played his game. In these three seasons (that I'm here), we’ve had a lot of games like this with Kostas. It’s important that he’s in good shape, because he always brings his winning mentality to the court.”
Sloukas narrowly missed what would have been his fifth double-double of the season, finishing with 9 assists. His standout performance came on the night of his 450th EuroLeague appearance, marking another milestone in his 16th season in the competition.
Coming off the bench four minutes into the first half, the Panathinaikos captain scored 7 of his team’s 15 points in the opening quarter before reaching double figures as the guests took a 29-35 lead into halftime.
Panathinaikos was solid defensively after the break, holding ASVEL without a field goal for the first six minutes of the second half. During that stretch, Sloukas dictated the tempo with 7 points and 3 assists in the third quarter. He then added 9 of Panathinaikos’s 24 points in the fourth period, guiding the Greens back to winning ways.
“I think that we basically had the control of the game,” Sloukas told EuroLeague TV afterward. “For us it was a must-win game after some bad results that we had. We’re talking about a marathon. The EuroLeague has many games and competitive games. The most important is to compete and play solid offense and defense. I think that today we did a pretty good job against a very athletic team that has talent.”
Only Sergio Llull (468) has made more EuroLeague appearances than Sloukas, who is also the league’s all-time leader in minutes played. The two EuroLeague legends are set to face each other on Tuesday, when Panathinaikos hosts Real Madrid in the first game of the upcoming double-round week.
Despite being 36 years old, Sloukas has repeatedly turned back the clock this season, leading by example for a Panathinaikos team looking to climb the standings after a recent dip in form.
