The Greens pulled out a big win in a tactically unusual game
Career-best Osman, vintage Sloukas lead Panathinaikos to win at Efes
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 5 of 38
Regular Season
Anadolu Efes IstanbulEFS
8195
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
Overview
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Just a week ago, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens head coach Ergin Ataman was not a happy man.
His team had pulled off a buzzer-beating win in Vitoria-Gasteiz thanks to reigning MVP Kendrick Nunn, but Ataman didn’t hold back in his post-game comments. He called the rest of the team’s performance “terrible”.
“With only one player, we cannot reach any of our goals,” he said at the time.
Fast forward just eight days and Panathinaikos now sits atop the EuroLeague standings with a 4–1 record after earning its third straight win – an 81–95 road victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Friday night.
It looks like the message was received loud and clear.
Efes was hanging in the game until midway through the third quarter, closing within 49-51, and 52-57. But then, Sloukas, who already had double-digit assists, set up Osman’s third three-pointer of the night, which sparked a 0-16 run that opened a 21-point lead and the Greens never looked back as Osman seemed unstoppable, scoring 19 points in the second half.
“I think that’s just the confidence carrying since EuroBasket, really”, Osman pointed out after the win. “I've worked a lot. I know what I'm capable of, but also, thanks to my teammates they were finding me whenever I was open. They trusted me and I was knocking the shots down.”
“We shared the ball very well tonight,” Osman said about team’s 27 assists. “Everybody played great, especially in the second half. We were amazing. And our defense was great. And then, everybody contributed tonight. That was the most important thing. This is a very important win going forward, we need to keep playing the same way.”
“I’d like to congratulate [Kostas] Sloukas because he had a great game with 12 assists. He organized everything,” Ataman told EuroLeague TV after the win at Efes. “And of course, Cedi [Osman] had maybe his career game. He played very well.”
And they did it without needing Nunn, who had an off night.
He finished with just 2 points, 4 turnovers, and 3 personal fouls midway through the second quarter. He remained on the bench until midway through the fourth, with Panathinaikos already up by double digits and the result all but sealed.
No Nunn, no problem.
Osman stepped up in a big way against his former club. He poured in a career-high 29 points, hitting a personal-best 6 of 10 from three-point range. Sloukas, meanwhile, orchestrated the offense with 12 assists – just one shy of his career high. The four-time EuroLeague champion was in full command.
Efes kept it close into the third quarter, pulling within 49–51 and later 52–57.
But then Sloukas set up Osman for his third three of the night, sparking a game-changing 0–16 run. Panathinaikos suddenly led by 21, and the Greens never looked back.
Osman was unstoppable in the second half, scoring 19 of his 29 points after the break.
“I think that’s just the confidence carrying over from EuroBasket, really,” Osman said after the game. “I’ve worked a lot. I know what I’m capable of. But also, thanks to my teammates – they were finding me whenever I was open. They trusted me, and I was knocking the shots down.”
“We shared the ball very well tonight,” he added, referencing the team’s 27 assists. “Everybody played great, especially in the second half. We were amazing. And our defense was great. Everybody contributed tonight. That was the most important thing. This is a very important win moving forward – we need to keep playing the same way.”
Despite the strong showing, the night was overshadowed by injuries to two Efes big men.
Center Georgios Papagiannis suffered a nasty-looking knee injury in the second quarter and was carted off the floor in a wheelchair. That came shortly after big man Ercan Osmani exited the game with a shoulder injury just 2 minutes and 32 seconds into the first quarter.
The game quickly turned into a small-ball battle.
“Our guards played better tonight than Efes’s guards,” Ataman pointed out.
“After [the injuries], the game started to be strange,” he added. “They started to play with five guards. They only used Rolands Smits, and he had a problem on the pick-and-roll defense.”
Sloukas, however, didn’t find it strange at all. He read the floor perfectly and exploited every gap in Efes’s improvised setup.
“Sloukas is very smart – he sees the spacing of a player rolling or a player getting an open shot,” Ataman said. “And we played smart. We moved the ball in the last quarter and kept control of the game.”
It helped Omer Yurtseven score 15 points in the first half, while Richaun Holmes finished with 10. It was a complete team performance as Panathinaikos won its third game in a row.
Up next: a trip to Bologna to face Virtus, with the Greens riding high.
