Panathinaikos Athens coming back from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat visiting Zalgiris Kaunas 89-65 was historic in many ways.
After trailing 27-42 at the break, Panathinaikos outscored Zalgiris 62-23 in a furious second half, tying a EuroLeague and club record for score difference in any half of a game this century. The only other time that any team won a half by 39 points was Panathinaikos outscoring EWE Baskets Oldenburg 60-21 in the 2009-10 season.
On Thursday, Panathinaikos established a high lead at 89-64 before Zalgiris added a final free throw to its total. The full swing from 15 down to 25 ahead equalled the EuroLeague record for the biggest turnaround within a game, 40 points, previously set by Anadolu Efes Istanbul against Olympiacos Piraeus in Round 25 of the 2020-21 season.
At the same time, Panathinaikos set a new record by any team coming back from at least 15 points behind to win by 24. That was one point more than the winning margin of Efes against Olympiacos in what was the previous best final margin in such a comeback.
Finally, in terms of difference from any deficit of 15 points or more to the final score, Panathinaikos tied the record of 39 points that had been set by AS Monaco last season in a win over CSKA Moscow. In that game, Monaco had trailed by 22 points and won by 17.
