Panathinaikos was in charge from start to finish against Crvena Zvezda with five visiting scorers hitting double figures
Powered by Lessort and Sloukas, the Greens romped through Belgrade
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens steamrolled to a well-deserved 76-89 win at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, on the back of a smooth effort which saw the visiting team’s top performers live up to their billing.
None more so than center Mathias Lessort, who is well accustomed to Stark Arena in the Serbian capital as he played for Partizan MozzartBet Belgrade from 2021 to 2023 before he joined the Greens during the off-season.
Lessort, who has also played for Zvezda during his illustrious career, hit the ground running at Panathinaikos and he’s powered the team throughout this term, shining again on Wednesday by racking up 19 points and 6 assists against the home side.
His effort was complemented by Dinos Mitoglou and Kostas Sloukas who netted 17 points each, the former collecting 9 boards while the latter dished out 10 assists. Lessort, who spent 36:48 minutes on the court, acknowledged it was a crunch win for Panathinaikos in its bid to secure a top-four finish at the end of the regular season.
“It was a big win for us, very important,” Lessort said after the game. “I’ve played a lot of minutes in this gym, I am used to it and I am ready to do whatever it takes to help my team win,” he added.
Panathinaikos head coach Ergin Ataman was pleased with his team’s effort at both ends of the floor.
“We’re heading into the last four games and to win at this stage of the season is very important,” the Turkish tactician commented. “We controlled the game from the start and played well on defense apart from early in the third quarter. On offense we moved the ball well and got a very important road win.”
Zvezda’s head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos could only lament his team’s lack of guile against a more resourceful opponent, as Panathinaikos completed the season’s double over the Serbian outfit.
“We had a chance when we slashed the deficit to 6 or 7 points, but then we had several offenses where we missed open shots,” said the Greek coach who took over from Dusko Ivanovic after Zvezda had made a 1-3 start to the season. “Panathinaikos has the quality and it was very difficult to turn the game around in the end.”
In this double-round week, Panathinaikos next hosts FC Barcelona in a blockbuster while Zvezda is at home to Virtus Segafredo Bologna, with both games on Friday.