Partizan books clash with Real after beating Panathinaikos, 83-81

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade booked a mouth-watering playoff series with Real Madrid after a clutch three-pointer from James Nunnally gave the Serbian side a dramatic 83-81 home win over Panathinaikos Athens in the last round of the regular season on Friday night. Partizan finished sixth with a 20-14 record and will take on the third-seeded Real (23-11), which will have home-court advantage, but the winner of a record 10 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titles will take nothing for granted against the competition’s 1992 champion.
Partizan’s backcourt was instrumental in grinding out a hard-fought win over Panathinaikos, as Dante Exum paced the home team with 18 points, Kevin Punter added 17 and Aleksa Avramovic chipped in with 14. Big men Zach LeDay and Matthias Lessort netted 9 points each, with the latter also picking up 9 boards. At the other end, Dwayne Bacon led all scorers with 19 points, Matuesz Ponitka scored 12, Arturas Gudaitis amassed 11 and Marius Grigonis posted 10 for Panathinaikos.
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The visitors dominated for 35 minutes and led by as many as 18 points, but a never-say-die Partizan side launched a fourth-quarter comeback driven by Exum and Punter, which allowed the home side to prevail in a tense finish in front of a full house at Stark Arena.
Panathinaikos, which had lost any chance of making the postseason some time ago, made the brighter start and opened up an 18-26 lead at the end of the first quarter against a subdued Partizan, whose offense only got going after it trailed 20-38 midway through the second. A three-pointer from Punter ignited a 10-0 run and Partizan was able to slash the deficit to 6 points, 39-45, at halftime, having shored up the defensive leaks in the latter stages of the second period.
It seemed Partizan was on the brink of turning the game around when the hosts closed in on Panathinaikos, 45-46, early in the second half, but the visitors pulled away again thanks to superb three-point shooting from Bacon, who made three long-range attempts in the third quarter to keep his team in the driving seat, 58-66.
The game appeared to be slipping away from Partizan after Panathinaikos pulled away to 60-71 early in the fourth, but the home team then displayed the kind of grit which epitomized the fighting spirit which saw the Serbian side bounce back from a 5-9 start to the regular season.
The effervescent Exum capped a 12-0 streak which allowed Partizan to take the lead, throwing the home fans into raptures ahead of a dramatic climax. The lead then changed hands several times before Nunnally sank the game-winning three-pointer in transition, with Partizan enjoying a slice of luck in the final 10 seconds.
Bacon got round his marker on offense but his slam-dunk attempt cannoned off the rim and with the ball fnding its way to Ponitka, the Pole's desperate last-gasp effort fell way short.