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Deep roster allowed Real to overwhelm Panathinaikos in crunch time

Deep roster allowed Real to overwhelm Panathinaikos in crunch time

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3 Mins read

Zoran Milosavljevic

Deep roster allowed Real to overwhelm Panathinaikos in crunch time

The hosts looked capable of staging an upset before they were blown away by the champs.

Regular Season

Round 13 of 34

game Real Madrid vs Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens

Regular Season

Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO

7890

Real MadridRMB

Overview

Reigning EuroLeague champion Real Madrid proved its title credentials in the most challenging circumstances after a balanced team effort saw them engineer an impressive 78-90 win at Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, which completed a perfect week in Greece.

Real’s victory in the OAKA Arena’s fervent atmosphere came on the back of Tuesday’s narrow 73-77 victory at Olympiacos Piraeus, again demonstrating that Real have a champion’s mettle as well as the deepest roster in the competition.

Panathinaikos was in seventh heaven after a 14-0 run in the first half saw the home team gain the upper hand, throwing the home fans into raptures as center Mathias Lessort galvanized them with 3 monstrous slam-dunks.

The visitors appeared to be reeling, but player-of-the-game Mario Hezonja then nailed a three-pointer and Facu Campazzo allowed Real to nose ahead 45-46 at halftime with a long two on the buzzer.

Game Videos

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A vicious dunk from Hezonja! Motorola Magic Moment
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00:17
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Tavares smashes the rim! Motorola Magic Moment
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Show all

That set the tone for the second half, which featured one-way traffic as Real ran riot and went on a 22-1 rampage which turned a 51-48 deficit into a 52-70 lead and effectively killed the game off as a contest.

With Hezonja showing nerves of steel from the perimeter, Walter Tavares did his thing in the paint and Campazzo pulled the playmaking strings for the visitors. Former Panathinaikos forward Hezonja, who paced the visitors with 19 points, was humble in victory after he was given a rising ovation by the home fans at the end of a rip-roaring contest.

“It was great to see everybody again, you know what my feelings are for Athens and Panathinaikos,” Hezonja said. “The guys who came out in the second half established a very important balance for us and got some great stops on the defensive end.”

Tavares, who climbed up to 7th position on the EuroLeague’s all-time rebounds list, made it a double milestone as he also reached the 2,000 points mark in the competition: “Playing in the EuroLeague is a blessing, because day you come out to play against teams like this in a fantastic atmosphere,” he said. “I am happy to get those numbers and I will keep going.”

Panathinaikos relied heavily on Kendrick Nunn and Mathias Lessort, with the former pouring in 20 first-half points and the latter giving Real’s big men a roasting with some spectacular slam-dunks. However, they were subdued in the second half by the visitors, who ended the contest on 13-of-26 shooting from downtown while they also racked up 36 boards to the home side’s 28.

Panathinaikos, which made only 7-of-23 shots from three-point range, was also undone in sharing the ball as the hosts managed a mere 12 assists to Real’s 21, prompting head coach Ergin Ataman to concede that his team was second-best on the night.

“When you miss as many open shots as we did, Real will punish you,” he said. “They are a very good team and they know how to manage the game. They deserved to win.”

Counterpart Chus Mateo lauded his players for weathering the first-half storm. “We stayed together through the bad moments in the second quarter, we kept fighting and in the third quarter we broke away with some very good shooting,” he told the post-game press conference. “A great effort to beat two big opponents on the road this week.”