Panathinaikos kept pushing for home-court advantage in the playoffs, thanks to Kendrick Nunn's game-winning shot
Honest Ataman wants improvement after thrilling road win in Bologna
After watching his team take what looked like a blowout win and turn it into a nail-biting finale before finally sealing a vital road victory, Ergin Ataman was honest enough to admit that Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens left Friday’s 79-81 thriller against Virtus Segafredo Bologna with plenty of room for improvement.
The Greens were unstoppable early on, racing into a double-digit lead by scoring 28 points in the first quarter, making its first six three-point attempts and leading the rebounding battle 15-5 as Virtus struggled to contain the Greek team’s confident ball movement and physicality in the paint.
By halftime Panathinaikos led 39-51, and there was no sign that any trouble lie around the corner when the second half started with Mathias Lessort and Dinos Mitoglou scoring inside the arc.
But then the Greens totally lost their way as Virtus veterans Toko Shengelia and Marco Belinelli – who combined for 36 points – led their team back into the game and close to a famous victory.
Small details ultimately decided the game, as the final two possessions saw Iffe Lundberg miss a three-pointer and Kendrick Nunn sink a buzzer-beating, game-winning floater that took a couple of hops off the rim before dropping through the net.
Ataman unimpressed, despite the win
Two-time champion Ataman, though, was not in a mood to celebrate too much as he acknowledged the flaws of his team’s performance.
“After the fantastic first half, in the second half we didn’t play well,” admitted the Turkish coach. “We made a lot of mistakes, we missed shots, we made turnovers, we missed free throws. Thirty points in the second half is not enough."
It was just about enough on this occasion, leaving opposing coach Luca Banchi to reflect on a worrying slide as his team lost for the fifth game in a row.
“Details can decide games like this,” said the frustrated Virtus boss. "And we need to be sharper after such a long season, not repeating the same mistakes.”
Whatever the complaints of the coaches, however, the back-and-forth battle certainly provided plenty of thrills for fans.
Leading scorer Kostas Sloukas, with 20 points, was caught up in the excitement as he reflected: “The desire of both teams was amazing. It was not a normal game, it was a playoffs game. Virtus is a great team, they fight incredibly over here. We fight also, and I think fans enjoy that kind of game.”
We certainly did... even if the coaches didn’t.