The reigning EuroLeague champ trailed for the lion’s share of the contest before flipping the script in the last few minutes
Panathinaikos claws out big win at Crvena Zvezda, 77-81
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens improved to 5-2 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague after a brave second-half fightback in the cauldron of Aleksandar Nikolic Hall gave the competition’s reigning champion a 77-81 road win at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade.
A smooth team effort saw five visiting players finish in double digits, paced by Kendrick Nunn, who scored 13 points. Lorenzo Brown and Juancho Hernangomez added 12 each, Jerian Grant netted 11 and Kostas Sloukas chipped in with 10 for the visitors.
Zvezda, which slipped to 3-4 after a fourth successive defeat following the opening three wins, was led by Isaiah Canaan, who racked up a game-high 20 points by shooting 6 of 7 from deep and 7 of 8 in total from the floor. Nikola Kalinic scored 13 points for the hosts and Yago Dos Santos added 11.
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Zvezda led from the start until the last few minutes, when Panathinaikos forced the final twist and prevailed thanks to some second-chance points and ice-cool free-throw shooting, silencing a fervent home crowd which carried the home team throughout the absorbing contest.
Kalinic led the way for Zvezda early on, scoring 8 points in the first quarter as the home side carved out a 15-10 advantage, but the visitors were able to tie the game at 18-18 come the end of the period despite shooting 0 of 6 from deep as they collected 5 offensive rebounds.
Then came Canaan like a whirlwind, overwhelming Panathinaikos with a flurry of three-pointers as rampant Zvezda went on a 15-0 run to open up a 44-30 lead late shortly before halftime, with the atmosphere in the stands reaching fever pitch. Canaan netted 14 points in just 5:30 minutes on the court in the second quarter, but Panathinaikos responded with a late 2-8 run which slashed Zvezda’s advantage to 46-38 at halftime.
Zvezda, which made 8-of-16 shots from downtown in the first half, continued to torment the visitors from long range and again romped away to 52-38 early in the third before Panathinaikos finally beefed up its defense. That, in turn, engineered a 2-13 run which slashed the visiting team’s deficit to 58-55 ahead of the final 10 minutes.
Canaan nailed another couple of three-pointers in the fourth quarter but his heroic effort was undone by the EuroLeague champion’s depth, as Panathinaikos held firm and turned the tide in the final stretch.
A Filip Petrusev triple gave Zvezda a 77-75 lead with 67 seconds left on the clock, then Nunn scored from a second-chance situation and Brown sank a pair of free throws to put the visitors in front. Milos Teodosic missed a tough triple at the other end of the floor in Zvezda’s final possession before Nunn sealed the Greens’ victory with another pair of free throws.