Despite missing two key players, the reigning champion clawed out an important road win at Fenerbahce
Panathinaikos's depth helped it bounce back from adversity
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Regular Season
Round 5 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens got back on track in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with a gritty 76-81 win at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul on Friday night despite missing forward Ioannis Papapetrou and swingman Konstantinos Mitoglou in the cauldron of Ulker Sports and Event Hall on Friday.
With both men sidelined with injuries, the Greens relied heavily on powerhouse in the paint Mathias Lessort to provide size and muscle in the battle of the boards, but someone still needed to step up and provide a helping hand against Fenerbahce’s big men.
Omer Yurtseven, who joined the club from the Utah Jazz during the off-season after the 26-year also had a two-year stint with the Miami Heat, stepped up against his boyhood club.
Yurtseven racked up 12 points and 6 boards in 15 minutes on the court, as shorthanded Panathinaikos collected 32 rebounds to 33 taken by Fenerbahce with Yurtseven doing a job on the home team’s big men Nicolo Melli and Boban Marjanovic.
Melli was confined to 8 points and 2 rebounds while Marjanovic was held scoreless and restricted to 3 boards in 7 minutes on the floor, as Khem Birch also struggled and finished with 4 points and 3 rebounds.
The usual suspects also delivered for Panathinaikos as Kendrick Nunn sank 15 points and most of them were tough shots contested by Fenerbahce defenders. Then, of course, there was captain Kostas Sloukas who came back to haunt his former club with 13 points, 8 of them in the fourth quarter including a clutch triple when the chips were down.
Last but not least, Lessort did his bit with 14 points and 6 rebounds, epitomizing a smooth team effort and roster depth that helped Panathinaikos storm back from a 70-65 deficit in the last few minutes, having spilled a 47-60 third-quarter lead.
The win allowed head coach Ergin Ataman to breathe a huge sigh of relief as his team snapped a two-game skid following a shock defeat at EuroLeague debutant Paris Basketball and then a tough loss at last season’s runner-up Real Madrid.
“We played very smart offensively the first three quarters and also did a great job defensively, especially on Wade Baldwin,” Ataman said at the post-game press conference. “In the fourth, we lost control, allowed too many offensive rebounds and committed some turnovers,” he added in a stark reminder to his players that Fenerbahce had turned the match on its head with a 23-5 run.
The home team’s head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius was incensed with the lack of cohesion and fighting spirit among his men, who showed flashes of individual brilliance and resolve, but looked disjointed for much of the contest against a team built to take advantage of cracks in the armor.
“I was very disappointed with how we entered the game. Basketball-wise we were very bad and mentality-wise we were even worse as we acted like a bunch of individuals,” Jasikevicius said. “The third quarter was better but after turning the game around in the fourth, we lost control again. What bothers me the most is that the team is not together and we can’t achieve anything if we’re not together.”
Clearly, the former Lithuania guard has plenty of work to do to translate the team’s individual quality into a sum of its parts, the next opportunity being against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Tuesday when Fenerbahce’s new arrivals Wade Baldwin and Bonzie Colson face an emotional clash with their former club.
