Panathinaikos Athens had struggled defending the three-point line coming into its home game against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Friday night. Yet, Dejan Radonjic’s men controlled the three-point stripe at both ends en route to a 77-58 win.
Panathinaikos stopped ASVEL's long-range attack, hit own three-pointers
Panathinaikos connected on 10-of-22 three-pointers for 45.5% during the victory. Dwayne Bacon drained 3-of-4 triples and Derrick Williams knocked down 2-of-4 shots from long range, while five other players hit at least 1 three-pointer. The shooting prowess was even better than Panathinaikos’ solid 37.3% average before the game, which ranked sixth in the league.
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Defensively, though, the Greens had allowed opponents to shoot 38.3% from deep, which was the third-worst percentage in the league. ASVEL, however, could not find any rhythm from long range, connecting on just 3-of-18 shots from deep for 16.7%. No player made more than one triple for ASVEL, which had been shooting 37.3% on three-pointers.
Shutting down ASVEL defensively was a big step forward for Panathinaikos, as the 58 points it allowed was 28 points fewer than Panathinaikos's 17th-ranked defense has averaged: 86.0 points per game.