The Greens benefited from a superb second quarter to win Game 2 and draw level in a fascinating tie
Panathinaikos sinks Maccabi, 95-79, to even the series
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens romped to a 95-79 victory over Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Game 2 of their best-of-five Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoff series, leveling things at 1-1 as Kostas Sloukas poured in a career-high 29 points for the home side.
Ioannis Papapetrou added 15 points for the Greens and Dinos Mitoglou amassed 14 points to go with 6 rebounds. Mathias Lessort racked up 11 points and 8 boards while Kendrick Nunn chipped in with 10 points to underline a flowing team effort by Panathinaikos, which rallied from a 20-28 first quarter deficit.
At the other end, Lorenzo Brown paced Maccabi with 18 points, while Jake Cohen and Antonius Cleveland netted 12 each. Tamir Blatt added 11 points for the visitors, who faded after a bright start. Maccabi sorely missed guard Wade Baldwin, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury which he sustained in a blistering Game 1 performance.
Game Videos
Maccabi made the brighter start in a fast-paced encounter and came out on top in a rollercoaster first quarter, silencing a fervent home crowd as Cohen fired on all cylinders. The forward scored 10 points in the opening 10 minutes with Maccabi lethal from long range, but Panathinaikos turned the match on its head in the second quarter when Sloukas started to run the show for the home team.
Although the Greens were missing their influential big man Juancho Hernangomez, they dominated the boards at both ends and thrived from offensive rebounds as Maccabi’s game plan got ripped to shreds. Having trailed 35-38 midway through the second period, Panathinaikos engineered a 21-1 streak either side of halftime to take a 56-39 lead early in the third and never looked back.
Maccabi did storm back with a 4-17 run of its own, though, slashing the home side’s lead to 71-68 early in the fourth, but the Israeli champion was unable to force a final twist as Panathinaikos soon weathered the storm. Propelled by Lessort’s physicality and even more so by effervescent shooting from Sloukas, the Greens responded with an 11-2 run that put the game beyond Maccabi’s reach.
In the end, it was an emphatic win for Panathinaikos and its center Kostas Antetokounmpo put the icing on the cake with a monster block on Cleveland right on the final buzzer, sparking rapturous celebrations from a joyous home crowd.