Panathinaikos – Alba 84-75: First he was nervous, then he celebrated – 2024-04-12 02:36:35

With enough stress, Panathinaikos managed to defeat the trailing Alba and seal the 2nd place of the regular season: 84-75, in front of 18,000 fans at OAKA.

Panathinaikos finished the regular season with 23 wins and 11 losses, so they finished in 2nd place in the standings, behind the undefeated Real (27-7). In the playoffs, which begin in two weeks, they will face Maccabi or the winner of tomorrow’s Virtus-Vasconia match.

The “greens” entered the game lukewarm and found themselves losing in the first part (5-12, 17-23, 33-35). At the break, the score was 38-37 with Costa Antetokounmpo’s spikes, while a Kendrick Nunn burst at the beginning of the 3rd period brought Panathinaikos to +7, but Alba, who was indifferent to the score, quickly returned to the game (57-59 with a series of 0 -9). The three-pointers of Marius Grigonis and Kostas Sloukas gave new impetus and the hot Nan helped the Greek team to get away in awe (78-66).

The “greens”, who count 9 consecutive victories in the OAKA and 9 in total in the last 11 matches, will have the home advantage in the quarterfinals. The qualification to the final four in Berlin (May 24-26) will be decided on 3 wins.

Kendrick Nunn had a career-high 28 points and 5/8 three-pointers, while Kostas Slukas led the way with 16 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds. Kostas Antetokounmpo finished the match with 9 points and 4 blocks. Ergin Ataman also used Vildosa 3, Grant, Kalaitzaki, Grigonis 11, Hernangomet 5, Mitoglou 4, Lesor 8, Balcherovski.

For lackluster Alba, who finished 18th with 5 wins in 34 games and suffered their 11th straight defeat, former “green” Matt Thomas scored 8 points. Koumatze 13, Brown 12, Samar 12 also stood out.

Olympiacos, in 5th place with a 21-12 record, will host 6th-ranked Fenerbahce (20-13) on Friday night at SEF and, depending on the outcome of the match, will face one of Monaco in the playoffs , Barcelona, ​​no home advantage. Efes, which secured 10th place, will also participate in the play-in round.