2018-19Regular SeasonRound 27
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 72
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 70
March 20, 2019 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 OLYMPIC SPORTS CENTER ATHENS

Panathinaikos survives Baskonia comeback

In a game with big playoff implications, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens led by 23 points in the third quarter, but ended up needing to make a rally of its own to pull out a 72-70 win over visiting KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on Wednesday night in the Greek capital. Both teams now have 14-13 records, but Baskonia holds the head-to-head tiebreaker between the teams due to winning by 9 points against Panathinaikos in Round 9. DeShaun Thomas finished with 16 points, including hitting a game-clinching jumper with 14.2 seconds left, to lead all Panathinaikos scorers. Sean Kilpatrick netted 14 points and Nick Calathes had 11 points, 12 assists and 4 steals in the winning effort. Marcelinho Huertas led Baskonia with 13 points and 6 assists, Shavon Shield scored 13 points, too, and Johannes Voigtmann collected 9 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists in defeat.

Calathes had a pair of assists and a three-pointer to get Panathinaikos going from the tip-off. The hosts scored the first 13 points of the night and did not allow a single field goal for more than 8 minutes. Close-range baskets from Calathes and Ian Vougioukas and a transition triple from Keith Langford opened a 21-2 lead. Darrun Hilliard hit from long range for Baskonia and the hosts led 26-10 after 10 minutes. Another three from Hilliard and one from Voigtmann helped cut it to 31-18. But fastbreak baskets from Thomas and Ioannis Papapetrou stop the visitors' brief momentum before Kilpatrick hit a corner triple and then fed Papapetrou for an alley-oop dunk to make it 48-25 late in the first half. The halftime margin was 21 points. The teams went blow for blow early in the third, exchanging close-range and fastbreak baskets. Shields had a coast-to-coast dunk and soon after a layup that sparked a run of 15 unanswered Baskonia points to end the third quarter. Shields and Luca Vildoza hit three-pointers and Hilliard scored a tough layup to help cut it to 56-48 going into the fourth quarter. A jumper from Huertas made it a 0-17 run, which Georgios Papagiannis snapped with a close-range basket, but a jumper and a triple from Vildoza sparked a 0-11 run, with Hilliard hitting a jumper to give Baskonia its first lead of the night and go in front 58-61. But Thomas hit a second-chance three-pointer to snap the run and Panathinaikos went back in front with baskets from Kilpatrick and Calathes. The teams went into the final 2 minutes tied at 67-67, but Kilpatrick knocked down a corner triple and after the hosts made a pair of defensive stands, Thomas nailed a jumper with 14.2 seconds left to decide the winner.

Dream start

Led by Nick Calathes and behind their stellar defense, the hosts raced out to a 13-0 lead, not allowing a single point for the opening 3 minutes and 57 seconds. Panathinaikos did not stop there, but went on another 8-0 run that increased the lead to 21-2 on a transition triple by Keith Langford. Baskonia needed more than 8 minutes to make its first field goal.

Baskonia magical rally

Baskonia had a 0-17 run to end the third and open the fourth quarter, then followed it right up with a 0-11 run. Altogether, a 2-28 spurt that turned a 56-33 Panathinaikos lead with 5:25 left in the third quarter into a 58-61 Baskonia lead with 6:08 to go in the game.

Tiebreak Baskonia

Baskonia and Panathinaikos split their regular season series and it is Baskonia which has what could end up being a key tiebreak advantage over Panathinaikos thanks to its 86-77 win in Round 9. Baskonia also holds tiebreakers over Milan and Bayern and it swept Maccabi, while it got swept by Olympiacos. Meanwhile, Panathinaikos has so far split regular season games, but lost tiebreakers against Barcelona, Olympiacos and Maccabi.

Emotional night

Before the tip-off, Panathinaikos paid a tribute to its long-time president Thanasis Giannakopoulos who died on Tuesday at the age of 88. The fans gave a standing ovation before observing a moment of silence.

Next game

The teams are in action again on Friday, with Baskonia hosting defending champion and fellow Spanish side Real Madrid, while Panathinaikos travels to face AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan.

Deshaun Thomas - Panathinaikos OPAP Athens - EB18
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; PATERNICO, CARMELO; DIFALLAH, MEHDI
Attendance: 16513
By Quarter1234
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens2622816
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz10172122
End of Quarter1234
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens26485672
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz10274870
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 THOMAS, DESHAUN 26:12 16 5/10 1/3 3/4 1 4 5     2       3 14
5 LANGFORD, KEITH 16:00 8 2/3 1/4 1/2   1 1 1   1     2 4 6
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 22:31 10 4/5   2/3 3 4 7 1     1   1 4 20
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 27:43 6 3/4 0/2   1 3 4 1   2 1 1 1   5
14 GIST, JAMES 13:48   0/2     1   1   2 1          
15 VOUGIOUKAS, IAN 17:29 5 2/3   1/2 3 1 4     2 2   4 2 5
19 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 10:55 2 1/3 0/1 0/2 1 1 2 2   1     3 3  
23 KILPATRICK, SEAN 24:00 14 2/3 3/6 1/1   2 2 2 1 1     1   13
24 LOJESKI, MATT DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 CALATHES, NICK 29:05 11 4/12 1/4   2 4 6 12 4 4     4 2 16
43 ANTETOKOUNMPO, THANASIS 12:17   0/1 0/1 0/2 1   1   2 1     1 1 -2
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team             7 7               7
Totals 200:00 72 23/46 6/21 8/16 13 27 40 19 9 15 4 1 17 19 84
        50% 28.6% 50%
Head coach: PITINO, RICK
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
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 PENAVA, AJDIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3 VILDOZA, LUCA 31:11 11 1/4 3/6     3 3 2 1 1     3   7
5 GONZALEZ, MIGUEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 VOIGTMANN, JOHANNES 36:29 9 2/2 1/6 2/2 1 10 11 7 1 4     2 1 18
8 SEDEKERSKIS, TADAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 HUERTAS, MARCELINHO 27:15 13 5/6 0/3 3/3 1   1 6 2 7   1 3 3 10
12 DIOP, ILIMANE 18:11 2 0/1 0/1 2/2 1 4 5     1 1   5 4 4
17 POIRIER, VINCENT 21:39 10 4/8   2/2 4 3 7   2 1     5 3 12
21 JONES, JALEN 4:51   0/2                   1 1   -4
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 31:36 13 3/4 1/4 4/4   1 1 1 2       1 3 15
32 HILLIARD, DARRUN 28:48 12 2/8 2/4 2/4   5 5     3   2   3 5
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 70 17/35 7/24 15/17 7 28 35 16 8 17 1 4 20 17 69
        48.6% 29.2% 88.2%
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR

Head Coaches

PITINO, RICK
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"We played the best half of basketball offensively and defensively of the season; it was absolutely magnificent. Then we broke down at both ends, offensively and defensively. We stood around, we let the clock run down, we didn’t pass the ball, and defensively we made about 15 mistakes in the second half. I think sometimes the emotion of the crowd, the emotion of [Mr. Thanasis Giannakopoulos] dying and everybody being so charged, sometimes takes a lot out of you, even though we played with 10 players. We were on our way getting 35 deflections for the first time, we had 20 in the first half. I don’t think our basketball team can play any better, that was spectacular in the first half. And then we had like seven wide-open shots, not a man within 7-8 feet of us, and we missed. But that’s not a problem. The problem was we did not get to the offensive glass, we stood there. And the biggest point I make to these guys because of the type of team we have, offensive rebounding has got to be the second offense to the play you are running. So we blew a golden opportunity, we had to win by 10 points, but it isn’t easy to do when you have two teams fighting for a playoff spot. Two months ago I said there is a possibility, there is always a possibility, but it isn’t probable. Now, after two months, we have become a very good basketball team. So, we are delighted with the victory, disappointed we did not play better in the second half. We go to Milano understanding it is another big game, but the great thing is knowing if we get to ever play that type of half for just 33 or 35 minutes of the game, we can beat just about anybody."
PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"First, congratulations to Panathinaikos and I think they are in a great shape now having won a lot of games in a row. They started the game with a great energy. We started very bad, scared, without making decisions, especially on offense. And the difference of 20 points was too tough for us. That was the key. We had a very good reaction in the second half and also we had opportunity to win the game. We got a 3-point advantage, but we had two bad decisions and after that, we could not come to the end of the game with a chance to win. But we saved a [tiebreak advantage], maybe it will not be important, but maybe it will be important. We will see at the end. We have four injured important players, but in that situation other players step up. We played a lot with two point guards together today and I think our first half was not a problem of our injured players, but they played very good and we played very bad, especially defensively."

Players

VOUGIOUKAS, IAN
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"This win was bittersweet because we had a great opportunity at home, up 21 points, to be able to cover the difference with Baskonia and to have them under us in the standings. Part give credit to them for not giving up and part for us we need to stay more focused and more in the game in the future."
PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"It's a lot of hard work every day in practice. The team is playing good and every player is giving their best effort. Unfortunately, today we were playing good until the third quarter, half of it. Then we sat down for some reason. At least we got the win. We got to see our good and bad today. We have to rest tonight, we have the flight tomorrow and we are going to give our best effort against Milan on Friday."
THOMAS, DESHAUN
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"I've been making big shots all my career since I was a little boy. [I was just showing] a little love and passion. I'm glad I made that shot to put us up. My confidence has been very high. Thanks to the Lord above, my teammates and coaches for believing in me. This is winning time. I've been playing in Europe for six years. I know what it takes to be in these positions."
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