Panathinaikos lost a golden opportunity to win against Maccabi in Belgrade, in a match where they came back from -18 but were defeated with two accurate shots 2 minutes before the end: 85-83. At halftime, the score was 46-37. The Israelis lead 2-1 and the “clover” must win the last two games of the series to go to Berlin.
The match was attended by around 1,000 Israeli fans in Belgrade’s Pionir Hall, in consultation with the Serbian government, despite Maccabi’s rumored pledge from the start of the season to play all their home games behind closed doors for security reasons. Dimitris Giannakopoulos, who traveled to Serbia to watch the match, protested strongly through social media, since there was no relevant information to the official Panathinaikos.
Panathinaikos was bad at the start of the match and found itself losing with a double-digit difference in the quarter: 23-11. The entry of Vildosa, Papapetrou helped the “greens” temporarily close (36-29), but Maccabi shot up with consecutive nails to +15 just before the break (46-31), before reducing the distance with three pointers from Mitoglou, Nan . Panathinaikos lost touch in the middle of the third period, when the score jumped to 57-39.
A Greek 0-11 run cut the gap to single digits (64-56 from 64-47), but Lorenzo Brown’s crescendo after 69-63 kept Maccabi up for several minutes. Panathinaikos attempted a complete recovery after 81-71, led by Kendrick Nunn, who reduced the score to 83-82 with three pointers.
Matias Lessor equalized with 1/2 shots, but a foul by Jerian Grant on Brown 2” before the final gave the Greek team the free shot. After the Spanish-American’s 2/2 shooting, Nunn missed a three-point shot.
Ioannis Papapetrou was again the leader of Panathinaikos with 17 points, but Kostas Sloukas was left with zero. Kendrick Nunn scored 25 points, most in the second half.
Ergin Ataman also used Vildosa 9, Grant 6, Kalaitzaki, Grigonis 2, Mitoglou 10, Lesor 14, K. Antetokounmpo, Balcherovski. Juancho Hernangomet was absent again, facing a health problem.
Wade Baldwin was on the field but did not play due to injury. From the Maccabi of the once “green” Oded Katas, Nimbo 22, Brown 16, Colson 13, Rivero 8, Webb 8 scored.
The fourth match will be held on Thursday evening, again in Belgrade. If a fifth is needed, the teams will meet at OAKA next Wednesday, May 8.
Olympiacos face Barcelona for the third time on Tuesday night, this time at Faliro, where the teams meet again the day after tomorrow. The score after the first two matches is 1-1.
In the other pairings, Real leads Baskonia 2-0, while Fenerbahce and Monaco are tied 1-1. The fourth game will take place on the evening of May Day in Vitoria and Istanbul respectively. The final four is scheduled to take place in Berlin on May 24-26.
#Maccabi #Panathinaikos #woke #late #hes #running
