The Greens held the Italian side to just 62 points in Round 24.
Panathinaikos’s solid defense locked down Milan
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 24 of 34
Regular Season
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
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EA7 Emporio Armani MilanEA7
Overview
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Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens proved once again why its defense is considered one of the best in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
The Greek side dominated from start to finish as it beat EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 79-62 in Round 24 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign, which is the joint lowest number of points the Italian side has scored this season.
Having kept the league’s fifth-top scorer, Shavon Shields (16.8 ppg.), to just 6 points, 2 of which came from the free-throw line, Panathinaikos also prevented Shabazz Napier from getting any momentum. The Milan guard may have finished the game with 16 points, but he netted just 4 in the first half, with Shields recording just 2 after the break.
Grant, Kalaitzakis received special praise
Panathinaikos head coach Ergin Ataman stressed before the game that his team’s defense on the two aforementioned players could lead the Greek side to the win. Pleased by their defensive performance, Ataman was full of praise for his men in the post-game press conference.
“Defensively, we played a perfect game,” Ataman noted. “Tonight, we put pressure throughout the 40 minutes on Shields and Napier. So, I think that tonight our two defensive players, [Jerian] Grant and [Panagiotis] Kalaitzakis, were great on defense.
“With their aggressiveness, our bigs did a very good job covering after the pick and after the pop against their bigs and we remained in control during the whole game. Tonight, despite our scorers missing a lot of open shots, winning the game with a large difference shows that we play with great character, especially at home.”
Milan committed 13 turnovers, with Panathinaikos recording 9 steals. The hosts netted 19 points off turnovers and kept their opponents to 62 points, 12 of which were scored in the last 2 minutes, when the game was practically over after Mathias Lessort made it 74-50 with a monster dunk in transition.
“Obviously defense [was the key to the win],” Marius Grigonis noted. “Our defense was really good. On offense we struggled a lot and it looked ugly, but with this defense you can win these kinds of games.”
Catching fire at OAKA
Panathinaikos has now recorded five straight wins on its home floor, having kept Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, Anadolu Efes Istanbul, AS Monaco and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade to 65, 76, 63 and 71 points, respectively.
The Greens’ hustle on defense has been providing them with a boost in energy on offense and when the home crowd enters into the equation, Panathinaikos looks unbeatable at OAKA.
Ataman’s team will now look to carry its exemplary defensive display into Friday’s clash on the road at Zalgiris Kaunas as Panathinaikos looks to secure back-to-back wins in this double-round week and establish itself in the top four spots in the standings.