The ex-Panathinaikos Athens center impressed once again for Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.
Georgios Papagiannis overcomes emotions in victory over former club
Članak
4 Min čitanja
Back in the summer, Georgios Papagiannis decided to turn down Panathinaikos Athens’s contract extension offer and instead joined forces with Dimitris Itoudis, his head coach with the Greek national team, at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. From the moment he penned his arrived in Turkiye, he knew that his first game against his former team was always going to be tough emotionally.
Papagiannis stepped onto the court with one minute to go in the first quarter of Tuesday's Round 3 contest against the Greens to give Johnathan Motley some rest. It took the former Panathinaikos center just a few seconds to score his first points of the game, doing so from the free-throw line.
The 26-year-old went on to sink a couple of three-pointers in the second quarter and another one after the break, meaning that he had gone an impressive 6-for-6 from behind the arc this season. A miss at the end of the fourth quarter brought that 100% streak to an end, though.
“The game for me, even before and during the game, was tense,” Papagiannis said after Fenerbahce secured its second win of the season. “It was a mix, professionally and emotionally.”
Nerves may have gotten on top of him in the second half, when Panathinaikos tried to mount a comeback and Papagiannis was forced into a couple of turnovers, but Fenerbahce took a 22-point lead, 67-45, into the last quarter.
“We had a really good game,” he added. “Personally, I made some turnovers at the end of third quarter and [in the] fourth quarter that were actually going to cost us, but it was a good game for us in front of our fans. We are happy for the win.”
Praise for Fenerbahce’s guards
Yam Madar came off the bench to ditch a couple of wonderful alley-oop passes that ended with two-handed slams by the Fenerbahce center, as the hosts offered spectacle to their fans. Meanwhile, Nick Calathes stepped up after Tyler Dorsey’s injury and finished the game with 12 points and 5 assists.
“It’s great to have point guards like [Madar and Nick Calathes],” Papagiannis continued. “They can see the floor really well. Nick has the experience. After so many years he is great at doing that, and Yam is being taught to see the right pass and make the right decision. It’s great for us to have them.”
Coming out on top
In a game that saw Panathinaikos head coach Ergin Ataman and former Fenerbahce guard Kostas Sloukas experience a sour return to Istanbul, Dimitris Itoudis got one over the team where he spent several years as assistant coach to Zeljko Obradovic, while Papagiannis managed to overcome his emotions and scored a team-high 15 points.
The Fenerbahce big man has stood out so far this season, recording an average of 12.7 points, going 9-for-15 (60%) on two-pointers, 6-for-7 (85.7%) from deep and 2-for-2 (100%) on free throws in his first three Turkish Airlines EuroLeague games as a Fenerbahce player.
Papagiannis and Motley make quick the one-two punch at the center position, and that should spell good news for Fenerbahce during this season.