2019-20Regular SeasonRound 8
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 105
ALBA Berlin 106
November 14, 2019 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 OAKA

ALBA stuns Panathinaikos in 2OT

ALBA Berlin snapped a six-game winning streak on Thursday with a 105-106 double-overtime victory over Panathinaikos OPAP Athens at OAKA. Luke Sikma's three-point play with 8.9 seconds left in the second overtime proved to be the game-winner in lifting his team to 2-6. It also ruined a historic night from Ioannis Papapetrou, who set the Panathinaikos single-game scoring record in the EuroLeague with 39 points. That number is also tied for the eighth-most in EuroLeague history. Martin Hermannsson stepped into the shoes of injured point guard Peyton Siva to shine with 20 points and 10 assists for ALBA. Landry Nnoko added 17 points, Rokas Giedraitis scored 15, Luke Sikma amassed 14 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, Niels Giffey also scored 14 and Johannes Thiemann posted 11 points and 7 rebounds. In addition to Papapetrou, Jacob Wiley recorded a career-high 22 points for the Greens, DeShaun Thomas netted 16 before fouling out, Nikos Pappas - who started in place of the injured Jimmer Fredette - added 14 and Nick Calathes had 10 points, 10 assists and 9 turnovers. With the loss, Panathinaikos fell to 4-4.

Sikma scored the first two baskets of the game and Giedraitis knocked down a three-pointer for a 2-7 ALBA start. The Greens got going through Calathes and Papapetrou scored on the offensive glass to even the score at 11-11. Hermannsson hit a three and ran the ALBA attack well to put the visitors back on top, but Panathinaikos stayed close and took its first lead, 19-18, through Thomas. Papapetrou and Wiley took charge to lift the hosts to 26-22, which prompted a timeout by ALBA. Nnoko stepped up for ALBA and Makai Mason's jumper at the end of the first quarter evened the score at 31-31. Giffey and Hermannsson led a 0-8 ALBA start to the second quarter. Georgios Papagiannis ended a 3 and a half minute Panathinaikos drought with a slam, but ALBA kept powering along and Mason sank free throws for the game's first double-digit difference, 35-45. Pappas scored once and dished a pair of assists in an 8-0 Panathinaikos run. ALBA fought back and led 44-53 on a Tim Schneider triple. Giedraitis's jumper in the final second of the half sent the teams to the locker rooms at 49-58.

Giedraitis dunked and flexed to start the second half and Sikma extended the lead to 13. ALBA got many good looks in the following minutes, but failed to connect on most of them as Panathinaikos went on an 11-2 run to get within 60-64 on a three by Papapetrou. His next basket made it a 2-point game, but Mason connected from downtown and Nnoko dunked on the offensive glass to keep ALBA rolling. A Papapetrou triple made it 69-74 at the end of the third quarter. Papapetrou's fifth three of the night closed the gap to 74-76 only to see Nnoko score the game's next two buckets. Papapetrou continued his historic night with a three-pointer to draw within 81-84. Wiley leaped for a steal that he took in for a slam before Thomas completed the comeback with a triple that made it 87-86 with just over a minute remaining. Hermannsson restored the ALBA lead with a jumper. Calathes went to the line with 26 seconds remaining in regulation and split free throws to tie the game at 88-88. Hermannsson and Thiemann both missed in the final seconds and the game went to overtime.

Pappas started the extra session with a triple, but Mason's finger-roll high off the glass and Giffey free throws put ALBA in front again, 91-92. The lead switched hands on each of the next three possessions before Nnoko tied it at the line, 95-95, with 2:39 to go. The seals on both baskets remained intact until Giffey split free throws with 55 seconds left. Pappas drained a triple on the next possession, however, Hermannsson put on a move to hit a jumper that tied it at 98-98 with 20 seconds left and Panathinaikos came up empty on its last possession, leaving the game to go to a second overtime period. Giedraitis dunked to give ALBA the lead early in the second overtime. Panathinaikos did not score for nearly 3 minutes until Thomas sank free throws. Then Papapetrou split free throws to tie the game at 101-101 and set the Panathinaikos single-game scoring record with 37 points. Thiemann's putback was matched by Papapetrou to keep the sides even inside the final minute. Wiley free throws lifted the Greens to 105-103 with 21.4 seconds left, but the home crowd was stunned when Sikma scored in the low post and was fouled with 8.9 seconds on the clock. He made the bonus free throw for a 105-106 lead and Tyrese Rice missed for Panathinaikos at the buzzer.

Key numbers

Nine. That is how many turnovers Nick Calathes committed. In a game where the Greens were missing their other starting guard, Jimmer Fredette, ALBA Berlin put a lot of pressure on the All-EuroLeague point guard to take Calathes out of the game for stretches. Panathinaikos only had 5 more turnovers, but ALBA converted the Greens' 14 turnovers into 19 points. Conversely, ALBA committed 19 turnovers, but Panathinaikos got just 17 points off of them.

A new Panathinaikos record

Entering the game, Ioannis Papapetrou's season-high in scoring was 14 points and his career-high was 18. He left both those numbers in the dust with a 39-point outburst to shatter the single-game record for points scored by a Panathinaikos player in a EuroLeague game this century. The previous mark was 36 by current ratiopharm Ulm head coach Jaka Lakovic in March 2004. Papapetrou's 6 three-pointers were also a personal best and 1 off the club record of 7 by four players.

High-scoring start

It was all offense early. The score at the end of the first quarter was 31-31 and the combined total of 62 is tied for the second-most in the first quarter in the EuroLeague since this century. The record is 64 by FC Bayern Munich and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2013-14 season. Real Madrid and Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade also combined for 62 in the 2016-17 season. ALBA led 49-58 and its number tied a club record for highest-scoring first half. ALBA also tallied 58 points in the first 20 minutes against Spirou Charleroi in December 2001.

What's next?

ALBA Berlin will try to turn this solitary win into a streak when it hosts Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade on Tuesday, November 19. Panathinaikos will play on the road at Zalgiris Kaunas that same evening.

Martin Hermannsson - ALBA Berlin - EB19
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: PUKL,SASA; PATERNICO, CARMELO; MOGULKOC, EMIN
Attendance: 8098
By Quarter1234Extra 1Extra 2
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens31182019107
ALBA Berlin31271614108
End of Quarter1234Extra 1Extra 2
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens3149698898105
ALBA Berlin3158748898106
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 45:11 16 5/11 1/8 3/4 5 4 9 4 1 2     5 4 13
5 RICE, TYRESE 9:15   0/1 0/3   1   1 1   1   1 1 2 -3
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 9:02 2 1/1 0/1     2 2   1       1   3
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 48:53 39 9/10 6/12 3/4 2 3 5 3 2   1   3 2 41
11 PAPPAS, NIKOS 37:30 14 4/9 2/4   1 3 4 4 1 2     4 1 11
15 VOUGIOUKAS, IAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
24 JOHNSON, WESLEY 14:15 2 1/2 0/2   1 1 2 1 1   1   2 1 3
25 BROWN, RION 1:34                         1   -1
33 CALATHES, NICK 42:35 10 3/9   4/8   4 4 10   9     1 5 9
35 WILEY, JACOB 40:38 22 7/11   8/8 3 1 4 1 2   1     6 32
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS 1:07           1 1           1    
50 BENTIL, BEN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           3 5 8               8
Totals 250:00 105 30/54 9/30 18/24 16 24 40 24 8 14 3 1 19 21 116
        55.6% 30% 75%
Head coach: PEDOULAKIS, ARGYRIS
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
1 MASON, MAKAI 14:07 9 2/4 1/3 2/2   1 1 2   1     2 1 6
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 31:43 14 2/5 2/2 4/6 1 2 3 1 3 2 1 1 4 4 14
6 DELOW, MALTE 4:19   0/1                     1   -2
9 MATTISSECK, JONAS 23:07           3 3 2 3 2     1 2 7
10 SCHNEIDER, TIM 15:17 6 0/1 2/3   1 2 3   1 1     2   5
11 BRENNEKE, LORENZ DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 HERMANNSSON, MARTIN 40:06 20 7/10 2/8   1 2 3 10   6     1   17
25 OGBE, KENNETH DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
31 GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS 37:14 15 6/8 1/8     4 4 2 1 2   1 4 2 8
32 THIEMANN, JOHANNES 25:41 11 4/8 1/1   2 5 7 1   1     1 2 15
35 NNOKO, LANDRY 24:19 17 7/9   3/4 1 4 5 1 1 1   1 1 3 21
43 SIKMA, LUKE 34:07 14 5/7   4/5 2 8 10 7   3     4 5 26
Team           3   3               3
Totals 250:00 106 33/53 9/25 13/17 11 31 42 26 9 19 1 3 21 19 120
        62.3% 36% 76.5%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO

Head Coaches

PEDOULAKIS, ARGYRIS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"This loss hurts us very much. In the first half, as far as defense is concerned, we were terrible. We managed to only get very few stops on defense. This gave confidence to ALBA, a team that runs very well on the floor, they like to play free basketball. In the second half, we tried to improve our defense, we had to go with lineups that are more versatile. Our bigs were able to step up. In this area, we did a better job, but on offense, we had a lot of things to do better."
GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
"It was like a practice because we know probably we are not going to win the EuroLeague, so for us, it is very important to learn. Today we learned because we did different things, but with faith we want to play always. It was both offense and defense. It was important to rebound and we did for 50 minutes and we did well a lot of minutes on offense and defense. It’s important to win here because we can have faith in the job we are doing in spite of the difficulties we have. I was surprised Landy Nnoko played well because he was sick until yesterday. He didn't have all his strength today and played well. And there are other players who are not here. But we played as a team."

Players

JOHNSON, WESLEY
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"They came in and they made shots. That's one thing that they did do. It was a hard-fought game. I can say that they made plays down the stretch. We let the game slip away from us."
SIKMA, LUKE
ALBA Berlin
"It was back and forth the whole game, two teams that really needed a win, really competing. A great atmosphere. I'm really proud of my guys; we were able to make enough plays down the stretch and when they made their runs we stayed focused. It took a little longer than expected, but we got a good victory. The first half started really high scoring. I think it kind of slowed down a little bit in the second half, whether it's being tired or tactically trying to slow the game down. It's one of those games where you have to do whatever it takes to win. I’m really proud of our guys because we made all the plays that we could to get the victory. I’m just happy to get the win, honestly. Coach called my number at the end and I was able to get the and-one. More than anything I’m just really happy we could win because of the way we work and the group of guys we have, we deserved one here."
HERMANNSSON, MARTIN
ALBA Berlin
"I think we did a really good job of surprising them with our defense today, playing a box-and-one on Calathes, who is their head and shoulders on offense. We got them hesitating a little bit and that was the key. This gives us a lot of confidence not only in the EuroLeague, but also in the German league. Coming here to one of the greatest courts probably in basketball history and beating an amazing Panathinaikos team which is full of really good players, this is going to give our young team a lot, especially because we are missing a lot of players on our team, key players, and that just shows we have guys who are willing to fight for each other. It was a team victory today."