The frontcourt pair caused all sorts of problems for Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Lessort, Mitoglou provide a glimpse of Panathinaikos’s potential
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Regular Season
Round 5 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Panathinaikos Athens fans came into the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign looking forward to many things, one of which was the big man combination of Mathias Lessort and Dinos Mitoglou.
Although Mitoglou only made his season debut in Round 4, the dynamic duo showed in Round 5 against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz what the Greens’ supporters can expect to see this season.
They had just under half of the Greens’ points
Lessort collected 23 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks, while Mitoglou also tallied 23 points with 3 rebounds and 1 block in Panathinaikos’s 95-81 victory at OAKA on Friday night.
Afterward, both big men were quick to congratulate each other for their respective performances.
“I am very happy for him. He worked really hard at practice and we missed him a lot at the beginning of the season,” Lessort said of Mitoglou. “He’s coming back. He’s not even in shape yet. He helped us a lot in the last two games and I am very happy for him.”
The Greek forward, who had been dealing with a calf injury, also praised Lessort, who came into the game averaging 14.2 points and 6.2 rebounds.
“I want to give credit to Mathias because he played very well tonight,” said Mitoglou, who in Round 4 played his first EuroLeague game since March 2022.
When asked about not yet being in game shape, Mitoglou added: “I’m not 100 percent yet, but I try all the time to give my best to the team. But for sure, the best is still yet to come.”
Coach Ataman was left impressed
Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman was happy with how the duo played, especially in the final 20 minutes.
“In the second half we controlled the game inside, going to Mathias and Dinos. They dominated on the boards,” the coach stated.
Ataman then admitted that Mitoglou’s injury gave the team some problems early on in the season.
“All of our injuries at the beginning of the season started when Mitoglou and [Ioannis] Papapetrou got injured,” he added. “Before that we were stable and had team chemistry. But we suffered a lot when Dinos was out.
“Tonight and also against Maccabi, Dinos played very well. He showed his potential. He is a very experienced player.”
If Lessort and Mitoglou can continue to improve their chemistry, this fearsome pair could be a nightmare on a night in, night out basis. The rest of the EuroLeague has been warned.