The Greens' guard helped his team shift into another gear on defense in the second half
Panagiotis Kalaitzakis brings the hustle to fuel Panathinaikos’s surge against Dubai
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 12 of 38
Regular Season
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
10382
Dubai BasketballDUB
Overview
w
w
w
l
l
l
w
w
l
l
Nothing seemed to be going according to plan for Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in the first half of its clash against Dubai Basketball on Thursday night. Cedi Osman suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter and didn't feature for the remainder of the game, with key players Kostas Sloukas, Kendrick Nunn and Juancho Hernangomez all in foul trouble before the break.
The hosts were giving away easy buckets, as McKinley Wright was cooking on the floor, ending the first half with 6 assists. All the Greens needed was a game-changer and they found one in the form of Panagiotis Kalaitzakis.
“In the first half, we played a terrible defense,” Ergin Ataman told EuroLeague TV after the game. “We were too soft and our guards didn’t pressure the ball. At halftime before we entered the locker room, we discussed in the coaches' room and [assistant] coach Christos [Serelis] insisted on putting Panagiotis Kalaitzakis on defense to improve [our] aggressivity and he was right. So, I accepted his opinion and with Kalaitzakis on the court we improved the pressure on the point guard, McKinley Wright, who created a lot of possessions in the first half.”
Despite not getting playing time before the intermission, Kalaitzakis came out of the locker room as a man on a mission, bringing the defensive hustle his team was desperate for. The hosts instantly tightened up their defense, holding Dubai to just 14 points after the visitors bagged 48 in the first half. Numbers can be misleading, as Kalaitzakis scored just 2 points in 11 minutes on the floor, but he was the player who tilted the game and shifted the momentum in the second half.
Fueled by the guard trio of Sloukas, Jerian Grant and Nunn on the offensive end, Panathinaikos went on a 16-1 run to end the third quarter and kicked off the fourth with a 10-0 surge to finish the game off, securing a 103-82 victory.
Team captain Sloukas pulled off another outstanding performance, turning back the clock for yet another game and finishing on 15 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds.
“Kostas is probably the best point-guard over the last six or seven years in the EuroLeague,” Ataman added. “To create on the court at 36 years old is not a problem with a player like Sloukas, because he’s amazing, a good professional who takes care of his body and gives great contribution to this team.”
Nunn scored 18 of his 22 points after the break and Grant pulled off his finest performance this season by netting 13 of his 15 points in the second half. With the fans at a sold-out Telekom Center Athens buzzing during Panathinaikos’s comeback, the hosts reached the 100-point mark for the second time in three games as they outscored Dubai 58-34 in the second half.
“We didn’t manage to answer, especially in the second half, to their aggressivity,” Dubai head coach Jurica Golemac admitted in the post-game press conference. “We started playing individually and looked for individual solutions and that resulted in a couple of easy turnovers and easy baskets [for Panathinaikos]. We knew that when OAKA gets involved, it’s very hard to stop their momentum.”
Following a four-game road swing, Panathinaikos returned to its home court with a victory that allowed it to improve the team's record to 8-4. Both their next two games are set to take place at Telekom Center Athens too and the Greens proved on Thursday night that they boast the depth to find solutions and get the fans involved even when they get off to a slow start on home soil.
