The Greens prevailed on the back of a rock-solid performance from their leader
Kendrick Nunn steers Panathinaikos past champs
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 16 of 38
Regular Season
Fenerbahce Beko IstanbulFBB
7781
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
Overview
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Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens eked out a 77-81 win at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul thanks to a majestic performance from the 2025 EuroLeague MVP Kendrick Nunn, who produced a brilliant first half and a mature fourth quarter against the competition’s holders.
The Greens, who won their seventh EuroLeague title in 2024, got some measure of revenge on Fenerbahce for an 82-76 semifinal loss at last season’s Final Four, as Nunn scored 15 points in the first half and 10 in the fourth quarter.
Crucially, he sank 4 successive free throws and TJ Shorts added another in an error-strewn finish, as Fenerbahce closed in to 75-76 with a 7-0 run but fell short in the home straight. Nunn, who led all scorers on a game-high 25 points, heaped praise on his high school buddy Talen Horton-Tucker, who paced Fenerbahce on 22 points.
“Hell of a player, that’s my brother,” Nunn said in his postgame comments. “It’s hard to stop him, but we got the victory and that’s the most important thing.”
Nunn, still nursing an ankle injury, shook off the knock and provided the much-needed long-range firepower as he sank a couple of clutch three-pointers, including one from almost the halfway line with a defender in his face. He added 4 assists and as many steals as the Green’s ended Fenerbahce’s 12-game winning streak in all competitions, improving to 10-6 while the Turkish side dropped to 9-6 in Europe’s premier club competition.
“It was a big game and I had to step up. I was undecided pregame whether I was going to play or not because of the ankle, but it was against the defending champs, so I had to come and get the victory tonight. It’s still hurting, but I’m a warrior,” Nunn added.
Cedi Osman contributed with 11 first-half points and big man Juancho Hernangomez made a telling impact with 9 points and 5 boards, as Panathinaikos forced a staggering 22 turnovers from Fenerbahce and picked up 13 offensive rebounds in a physical game. The defensive steel compensated for poor shooting, as the Greens made only 19-of-44 shots from inside and 7-of-21 from downtown, although the visitors were clinical from the foul line as they banked 22 of 25 free throws.
“It was a tough game in a tough environment against a great team,” said Hernangomez. “A great win for us and now we turn our focus to Thursday (at home to Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv). “We have a lot of talent on this team and my job is to get the stops and be aggressive.”
Fenerbahce head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius conceded that his shorthanded unit was below par, with an 11-0 run at the start of the third quarter turning out to be a false dawn. For all his prowess when driving to the basket, Horton-Tucker was 0-of-4 from downtown and misfiring from long range ultimately cost Fenerbahce as the Turkish side fell short when the chips were down.
“We didn’t have it today, from the first minute,” said Jasikevicius. “We were a little bit short in the rotation, but in general, we slept through the first half completely. We just weren’t ourselves; we had too many turnovers and we made it easy for PAO. We lacked some freshness as it’s a tough and busy schedule, but it’s not an excuse.”
