2020-21Regular SeasonRound 12
AX Armani Exchange Milan 77
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 80
December 03, 2020 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

Panathinaikos rallies to win in Milan

Panathinaikos OPAP Athens battled back from a 15-point deficit to overcome AX Armani Exchange Milan and claim a dramatic 77-80 road win. Milan took early command and Panathinaikos struggled on offense in the second quarter as the host surged into a double-digit lead, which was 42-30 at the break. Panathinaikos responded well in the second half and tied the game, 62-62, early in the fourth quarter. It was closely contested the rest of the way, before Nemanja Nedovic and Ioannis Papapetrou came up with big plays in crunch time. Nedovic led the Greens with 16 points against his former club, while Papapetrou and Dinos Mitoglou both scored 14. Aaron White came close to a double-double with 9 points and 10 rebounds for Panathinaikos, which improved to 4-7. Kevin Punter paced Milan with 16 points, and Malcolm Delaney added 14. Shavon Shields scored 13 and Zach LeDay contributed 10 in defeat for Milan, which dropped to 6-4.

Howard Sant-Roos got Panathinaikos moving with a long two, but Punter responded with a floater and Kaleb Tarczewski’s slam sent the hosts ahead. Punter and Jeff Brooks added layups to complete an 8-0 run, ended by White’s putback and Nedovic’s three-pointer. Delaney scored 6 straight, including a four-point play, for a 14-7 lead. White, Papapetrou and Mitoglou scored inside for the visitors, but free throws and a dunk from LeDay kept Milan at a safe margin. Papapetrou scored at the basket again to make it 22-18 after 10 minutes. Shields started the second quarter with a driving score before Ben Bentil answered from deep. Kyle Hines with a tip-in and Michael Roll from deep stretched the lead to 29-21. LeDay’s deep two made it a double-digit game. Delaney combined with LeDay for a big alley-oop and Tarczewski added a two-handed dunk as the lead grew to 40-25. Sant-Roos ended a 7-0 run and scored Panathinaikos’s first points in 4 minutes with a triple, making it 42-30 at the half.

Papapetrou from deep and Nedovic inside brought Panathinaikos closer early in the second half, but two driving scores from Punter kept Milan ahead, 48-37. Shelvin Mack scored twice and brilliantly assisted Georgios Papagiannis, before White hit from the corner as the visitors kept fighting, 53-48. LeDay reignited Milan in the low post and a three-point play followed by a jumper from Hines gave breathing room, 60-50. Papapetrou from mid-range and Mitoglou with a breakaway slam had the last word of the third quarter, which ended 60-54. Eleftherios Bochoridis drilled a triple to start the fourth quarter. Two scores from Mitoglou tied the game at 62-62 with 7 minutes left. Six consecutive free throws got Milan back in front, 70-64, but Nedovic drove inside to keep it close. Punter struck a three-pointer before foul shots from Panathinaikos made it 73-70 with 3 minutes remaining. Shields was good from the line, but Nedovic hit a deep three to make it 75-73. Papapetrou’s catch and shoot triple sent Panathinaikos ahead. Shields restored Milan’s lead, 77-76, with a step-back jumper inside the last minute, but Nedovic and Papagiannis hit back with an alley-oop. Nedovic then split free throws, 77-79 with 13 seconds left. But Shields missed, Papapetrou snared the rebound and Panathinaikos took a dramatic win.

Scoring when it mattered

Panathinaikos scored the first basket of the game but was then not ahead again for 38 minutes until Ioannis Papapetrou’s three-pointer made it 75-76 with 1:12 left on the clock.

Green D holds firm

Panathinaikos produced a superb defensive effort in the fourth quarter, limiting Milan to only three field goals and only 4 points in the crucial last 3 minutes.

Milan's off night from deep

Milan struggled from long range, only making 4 of its 15 three-point attempts (26.7%). Panathinaikos, by contrast, made 9 of 21 deep shots (42.9%) including a crucial pair in the last 2 minutes from Nemanja Nedovic and Ioannis Papapetrou.

Panathinaikos wins the stats battle

The visiting team won the rebounding battle 35-29, including 10 from Aaron White, and also shared the ball better with 18 assists to Milan’s 12.

Next round

Panathinaikos travels home for an all-green battle with Zalgiris Kaunas next Friday, December 11, while Milan travels to take on FC Barcelona the same night.

Ioannis Papapetrou - Panathinaikos OPAP Athens - EB20
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; RADOVIC, SRETEN; NEDOVIC, MILAN
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan22201817
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens18122426
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan22426077
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens18305480
AX Armani Exchange Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 PUNTER, KEVIN 23:22 16 4/7 1/4 5/7   3 3   1 1   2 5 4 8
2 LEDAY, ZACH 16:44 10 4/8   2/2 1 4 5     1   1 1 4 12
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 20:56 2 1/3 0/1   1 2 3 2       1     3
9 MORASCHINI, RICCARDO 9:52 2   0/1 2/2   3 3 1   2     2 2 3
10 ROLL, MICHAEL 13:51 5 1/3 1/1   1   1         1 1 1 3
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 15:11 4 2/3           1     1   2 2 5
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 30:05 14 3/6 1/3 5/5       3 2 1     2 5 16
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 25:51 13 4/8 1/2 2/2 1 1 2   1 1       1 11
32 BROOKS, JEFF 11:09 2 1/2 0/1   2 1 3 2             5
42 HINES, KYLE 21:59 9 3/5 0/1 3/5 2 2 4 1     1 1 3 3 9
70 DATOME, LUIGI 11:00   0/1 0/1     2 2 2         3   -1
Team           3   3               3
Totals 200:00 77 23/46 4/15 19/23 11 18 29 12 4 6 2 6 19 22 77
        50% 26.7% 82.6%
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 MACK, SHELVIN 21:41 8 2/6 1/3 1/2   3 3 5   3   2 1 2 5
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 22:41 8 4/6     3 2 5 1   1 3   2   12
7 BOCHORIDIS, ELEFTHERIOS 12:42 3 0/2 1/2     1 1 4 1   1   3 1 5
8 AUGUSTE, ZACH DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 33:36 14 3/5 2/4 2/4 1 4 5 2   2     3 3 13
14 KASELAKIS, LEONIDAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
17 FOSTER, MARCUS FRANKLEE 6:24     0/1     1 1           1   -1
26 NEDOVIC, NEMANJA 27:05 16 2/4 2/6 6/8       4   1     3 9 17
30 WHITE, AARON 28:12 9 2/4 1/1 2/2 3 7 10   1       3 3 18
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS 17:19 14 7/7 0/1   3 3 6 1 1   1   2 1 21
50 BENTIL, BEN 11:25 3   1/1     1 1       1       5
74 SANT-ROOS, HOWARD 18:55 5 1/2 1/2         1   3     4   -3
Team           1 2 3     2         1
Totals 200:00 80 21/36 9/21 11/16 11 24 35 18 3 12 6 2 22 19 93
        58.3% 42.9% 68.8%
Head coach: VOVORAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"Congratulations to Panathinaikos, they played very humble and very hard. They trailed all game, but came close in the third quarter and finished their work in the fourth quarter. We played a disgraceful second half defensively, giving up 50 points. And on offense, we were without creativity as the low number of assists demonstrates. Too many times we stopped the ball which is not a good thing to do against a big team like Panathinaikos."
VOVORAS, GEORGIOS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens

"The big improvement was our mentality. In 48 hours we totally changed our mentality. As I said in the locker room, if you want to win, especially away, you have to play for 40 minutes. 25 or 30 is not enough. Tonight we fought for 40 minutes, we made the small details and we won."

"It was a tough game. In the last minutes, we played excellent defense, controlled the rebounds and that was a key to the win. I want to congratulate my players. To win here you must play as a team, because Milan has many players who play excellent one-on-one defense. You must pass the ball, have better spacing, because if you don’t with the pressure Milan puts it’s difficult to score. We also took our shots with character."

Players

NEDOVIC, NEMANJA
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"Honestly it felt like just another game. Maybe if the fans were here it would be different, but it is what it is. It’s a great win for us. Milano is one of the top teams this year in EuroLeague and to win here is a great accomplishment. We played great, we executed perfectly the game plan, we arrived in the fourth quarter with chances to win, and at the end, we executed perfectly other than the missed free throws. I think we did our job."
MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"It’s a great feeling. We won, we fought for it, and I’m very happy for all my teammates. We deserved to win. It’s heart-[stopping], those last few seconds are the slowest in my life!"
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