2020-21Regular SeasonRound 15
December 17, 2020 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 OAKA

Greens finish strong to top ALBA

Panathinaikos OPAP Athens bounced back from a painful double-overtime loss against Real Madrid 48 hours before by defeating visiting ALBA Berlin 92-69 at OAKA on Thursday night. The Greens, who improved to 5-9, built a 25-18 lead after 10 minutes and never trailed after that, as a 16-0 run in the last 4 minutes of the game collapsed ALBA’s last comeback attempt. Ioannis Papapetrou led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Nemanja Nedovic and Howard Sant-Roos, who provided 13 apiece. Georgios Papagiannis posted 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks for the winners. ALBA, which saw a four-game winning streak snapped and fell to 7-7, was paced by Niels Giffey with 13 points. Peyton Siva tallied 11 points and 6 assists and Luke Sikma added 11 points in defeat.

Even though Sikma dominated inside with two baskets in the early going, the hosts adjusted their defense soon after and took a 14-6 edge on a 9-0 run boosted by the duo of Papagiannis and Papapetrou. The visitors recovered their offensive rhythm right after the timeout, as Giffey provided a couple of buckets, Jonas Mattiseck hit a three and Maodo Lo joined from mid-range to reduce the gap to 17-15. Lo continued punishing from outside and made it 19-18, but Papapetrou and Aaron White connected on back-to-back triples to help Panathinaikos build a 25-18 lead at the end of the first quarter. Dinos Mitoglou and Papapetrou continued the run by dunking twice to make it 29-18. ALBA didn’t panic. As soon as they evened the rebounding battle, the visitors found their poise on offense. Siva nailed a three, Sikma contributed a three-point play and Tim Schneider hit from deep to get within 31-29. Papapetrou aborted the rally with a timely basket, followed by free throws by Leonidas Kaselakis and Papagiannis that restored a safe margin, 37-29, for the hosts. The latter provided two more from the line to close the first half with the Greens in front, 39-32.

ALBA switched to zone defense right after the break, but the hosts broke it in style with 3 triples in a row to extend the lead to 48-35. Sikma showed up to carry the visitors, but he found little help from his teammates and the Greens only needed a couple of buckets by Sant-Roos to keep a double-digit margin, 52-41, midway through the third quarter. Back-to-back threes by Nedovic enlarged it to 60-45, beginning a shootout from deep between the squads. Louis Olinde and Lo provided a three-pointer each for ALBA and Kaselakis and Nedovic responded to make it 66-52 entering the last quarter. Giffey opened fire with another three and then Mattisseck and Siva joined from deep to prevent Panathinaikos from escaping. The three-point rain didn’t finish yet, as Giffey connected twice from downtown to bring ALBA within 74-67 with 5 minutes to play. However, that would be the closest ALBA would get, as free throws by Nedovic and White gave the hosts some room to open the door to what became a 16-0 run over the last 4 minutes, in which Papaetrou made back-to-back three-pointers and a couple of free throws.

Panathinaikos got big from deep

Even though the hosts were unable to score any three-pointers in the second quarter, they had a great shooting performance from deep the rest of the game, especially in key moments. Seven threes in the third quarter were good enough to keep ALBA under control and back-to-back bombs from Ioannis Papapetrou late in the fourth sealed the outcome.

ALBA shot well, too

The visitors trailed after Papapetrou set an early 7-6 lead for Panathinaikos, but never surrendered despite being down 66-52 entering the fourth quarter. Five three-pointers in a row - 3 of them from Neils Giffey - tightened it to 74-67 with less than 5 minutes to play.

Tired? Who’s tired?

Both teams came from overtime games 48 hours before. The hosts lost against Real Madrid after two extra periods, while ALBA defeated Crvena Zvezda after 45 minutes. Surprisingly, the team that finished stronger was the one who had played more, as Panathinaikos signed off 16 points in four minutes to close the game. ALBA got 0 in the same span.

Pivotal performers

Ioannis Papapetrou and Georgios Papagiannis were the perfect combo for Panathinaikos in this game, providing solid contributions to help the hosts keep a good balance, both in offense and defense. The former posted 22 points and 4 assists and the latter had 12 points and 4 blocks.

Next round

In Round 16 next week, both teams hit the road; Panathinaikos visits Israel to challenge Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Tuesday, December 22. ALBA Berlin travels to Spain to face Real Madrid the same day.

Ioannis Papapetrou - Panathinaikos OPAP Athens - EB20
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; MOGULKOC, EMIN; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens25142726
ALBA Berlin18142017
End of Quarter1234
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens25396692
ALBA Berlin18325269
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 30:11 12 4/8   4/4 4 2 6 3     4   1 2 22
7 BOCHORIDIS, ELEFTHERIOS 9:51   0/1       1 1 4 1 3     2 2 2
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 28:48 22 5/7 3/7 3/3   4 4 4   2 1   3 2 22
14 KASELAKIS, LEONIDAS 15:30 7 1/2 1/1 2/2 2 1 3 1 3       2 3 14
15 VOUGIOUKAS, IAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
16 KALAITZAKIS, GEORGIOS 1:16                         1   -1
17 FOSTER, MARCUS FRANKLEE 13:26 9   3/4     1 1 1         3   7
26 NEDOVIC, NEMANJA 22:16 13 1/2 3/9 2/2   2 2           3 4 9
30 WHITE, AARON 25:44 9 0/1 2/4 3/4   8 8 3 1 1     1 3 18
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS 7:57 2 1/1     1   1               3
50 BENTIL, BEN 16:08 5 2/3 0/2 1/1   1 1 1   2 1     2 5
74 SANT-ROOS, HOWARD 28:53 13 2/3 3/7     2 2 4 2 1     2 2 15
Team           3 3 6               6
Totals 200:00 92 16/28 15/34 15/16 10 25 35 21 7 9 6 0 18 20 122
        57.1% 44.1% 93.8%
Head coach: VOVORAS, GEORGIOS
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
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 LO, MAODO 23:29 8 1/2 2/6         3   2   1 1   2
3 SIVA, PEYTON 19:58 11 1/1 2/3 3/4   3 3 6   2     3 5 18
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 27:36 13 2/5 3/6     3 3 2   1       2 13
6 DELOW, MALTE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 MATTISSECK, JONAS 15:58 8 1/3 2/4     2 2         1 1   4
10 SCHNEIDER, TIM 14:39 3 0/1 1/2   1 1 2 1   2     4   -2
16 NIKIC, KRESIMIR 6:45   0/1     1   1           1 1  
19 OLINDE, LOUIS 27:16 9 1/2 1/2 4/4   3 3 1 1       2 2 12
20 FONTECCHIO, SIMONE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
32 THIEMANN, JOHANNES 18:18 3 1/7 0/1 1/2 4 3 7 2   1   3 4 2 -2
33 GRANGER, JAYSON 20:35 3 0/3 1/3     2 2     1     1 3 1
43 SIKMA, LUKE 25:26 11 5/7 0/2 1/1 1 4 5 2 3 2   1 3 3 14
Team           1   1     1          
Totals 200:00 69 12/32 12/29 9/11 8 21 29 17 4 12 0 6 20 18 60
        37.5% 41.4% 81.8%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO

Head Coaches

VOVORAS, GEORGIOS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"I think it was a very serious game by us for the whole 40 minutes. The key point of the game was our defense and that was our target. Even before starting the game, we had to stay alert and focused even though it might seem hard to do for the whole 40 minutes of the game, but that was the key to this game... When you play defense for the 40 minutes, a great defense, which is what you need against this team, you can win. They know the fundamentals; they play great offensively. If you play good defense, good feelings come and we can score, this is what basketball is all about... We were also effective with their offense, with their passing game and we read their tactics, so it’s a fair win for us after all."
GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
"I want to congratulate Panathinaikos, because they played very well, with good energy. They beat us by a lot of points in the end, but with 7 minutes left we still had options, although but they played very well in those minutes."

Players

KASELAKIS, LEONIDAS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"It was a difficult week for us with three home games. We came from two defeats and today's game was a must-win game. Our coach showed us the standings. From now on we must be on alert to correct our position. Our mood must be at its maximum; this is non-negotiable."
PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"There is not tiredness, I have motivation inside me for every game, no matter how much I play, in every practice and every game I give a 100%, to the maximum of my capability. We lost a really important game against Real Madrid two days ago, and It was really great motivation for us to come here and play against a really good team. We played our game and we got the win, which is really important."
PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"We try to keep building and getting better every game. I think what’s next is a little rest as now we are tired, we played too many games in the last 10 days and we need to rest and prepare for the next week."
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