The Greens powered past desperate Partizan with a dominant second half in Athens
Kendrick Nunn targeting another MVP award after leading Panathinaikos to record run
Rapport de match
3 Minute de lecture
Regular Season
Round 13 of 38
Regular Season
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
9169
Partizan Mozzart Bet BelgradePAR
Overview
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Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens leaned on a record-breaking run to gather more momentum on Tuesday night, taking a fourth straight victory by cruising past Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, 91-69, and climbing into a share of the top spot of the EuroLeague standings.
The outcome was hardly surprising when you consider that Panathinaikos had won its three previous games, while Partizan headed into the meeting well and truly in the doldrums, having lost six of the previous seven.
At first, however, you would never have known it, as the Serbian team shrugged off the pressure to deliver a free-flowing first quarter which yielded 31 points. That was achieved with impressive numbers, as Zeljko Obradovic’s men went 7-of-9 from two-point range and converted 4 of their 7 three-point attempts, while dishing 6 assists without a single turnover along the way.
The problem for Partizan, however, was that Panathinaikos was also moving smoothly on offense. All five of the Greens starters scored inside the opening 3 and a half minutes – latterly the irrepressible Kenneth Faried delivering the first of his many highlight reel plays by connecting with TJ Shorts to throw down a fastbreak alley-oop.
That meant Partizan’s first quarter offensive excellence was only enough for a narrow lead – 27-31 – which was soon overturned when the home team tightened its defensive grip in the second quarter, stringing together an 11-2 run over the course of 4 minutes to turn the scoreboard around by halftime, 48-44.
The game was then taken over for good by Kendrick Nunn, who netted 10 points in the third quarter – including 8 straight in just 67 seconds – to give Panathinaikos a double-digit lead. And the margin quickly grew to a game-sealing difference of 28 points (78-50) by the early stages of the fourth quarter, when a remarkable run of 25 consecutive Panathinaikos points finally came to an end.
That barrage equalled the EuroLeague’s record scoring sequence since that particular statistic started to be tracked in 2007, levelling the 25-0 runs compiled by LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne against Valencia Basket two years ago and by FC Bayern Munich against Crvena Zvezda last season.
The chief architect was reigning EuroLeague MVP Nunn, who was on fire throughout the game as he registered a PIR of 39 by blasting 26 points on 4-of-5 two-point shooting, 3-of-4 from three-point range and 9-of-12 free throws along with 4 assists, 7 rebounds and a steal.
Unlike most players who routinely play down individual achievements and espouse the collective ethic, Nunn is not afraid of openly admitting his personal goals. Asked on EuroLeague TV whether he has targeted a second consecutive MVP award, he did not hold back.
“Yeah, of course,” Nunn smiled. “I ain’t going nowhere! I want more. So that’s what it is. I got my double-double early on, but I need that triple-double.”
This convincing victory was not just about Nunn’s scoring, though, because there have to be two sides to any big run like the 25-0 blast that sealed this particular deal. And Greens coach Ergin Ataman was keen to emphasise the defensive work carried out by his team to hold Partizan scoreless for more than 8 minutes.
“In the third quarter defensively, we played completely different than the first half,” Ataman said.
“We played very aggressive, we started to make very good help, we closed the paint very well, we took the rebounds. When the team plays with this aggressivity the arena gets also involved on the court, and it’s very difficult for the opponents to resist this atmosphere when we play with this motivation.”
Panathinaikos was definitely difficult to resist on Tuesday night, but visiting coach Obradovic was left perplexed and bewildered by his team’s latest capitulation.
“I believe after the first quarter we shot something like 0-17 for three-pointers,” he shrugged. “A lot of them were open shots, very bad. So what is the reason for this? The problem is for sure something that in that moment… I don’t know what is the real reason. Honestly, I don’t know…
“The same players that played in the first quarter scored 31 points, in the third quarter, we scored 6. The same people. How to understand this is very difficult.”
The final scoreline, however, was easy to understand and fully reflects Panathinaikos’s superiority in a time of sharply contrasting fortunes for these two famous clubs.
