2020-21Regular SeasonRound 19
January 13, 2021 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 OAKA

Nedovic, Papagiannis carry Greens to victory

Nemanja Nedovic scored 33 points and Georgios Papagiannis netted a career-high 18 as Panathinaikos OPAP Athens snapped a three-game losing streak with an 88-71 victory over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Wednesday night at OAKA. Nedovic made 5 three-pointers and 6 assists and Papagiannis added 8 rebounds and 3 blocks for the Greens, who improved their record to 6-12 on the season. Dinos Mitouglou contributed 11 points and 9 rebounds to the winning effort, the first victory for Kostas Charalampidis as the club's interim head coach. Norris Cole paced the ASVEL attack with 15 points, David Lighty netted 13 and Moustapha Fall amassed 10 points and 9 rebounds. The loss dropped ASVEL to 5-13 on the season. The game was tied 42-42 late in the second quarter before a Nedovic three gave Panathinaikos the lead for good and the Greens' defense held ASVEL to just 29 points in the second half.

Cole made an instant impact with a steal and layup followed by a three-pointer all in the first minute. Lighty struck from deep to give ASVEL a 2-8 lead, but soon committed his second foul as Nedovic heated up with 5 straight points for the Greens. A three by Guerschon Yabusele prompted a Panathinaikos timeout at 7-15. The duo of Nedovic and Papagiannis led an 18-2 run that turned the game upside down. Papagiannis gave the hosts their first lead, 18-17, with an alley-oop slam and by the end of the run, the Greens led by 8. Ismael Bako and Allerick Freeman trimmed the gap to 25-21 after 10 minutes. Howard Sant-Roos had good minutes for the Greens early in the second quarter, though a three by Freeman kept ASVEL close, 30-26. Fall took charge for ASVEL with a put-back and a dish a cutting Cole to get the visitors within 2. Lighty tied it at 36-36 before the teams started to trade baskets. A three by Nedovic gave the home team a 45-42 advantage at the half.

Nedovic remained hot with a three to open the second half. Fall and Yabusele kept ASVEL close, however, Nedovic's fourth three of the night made it 55-48 midway through the third quarter and prompted an ASVEL timeout. Papagiannis and Mitouglou helped the Greens add to the lead despite the best efforts of Bako for ASVEL. A steal and layup by Mitouglou gave Panathinaikos a double-digit lead and a Nedovic layup made it 70-60 through three quarters. Derrick Walton Jr. converted a three-point play for ASVEL early in the fourth quarter to trim the gap to 7. The Greens replied with 11 straight points to take a commanding 83-65 lead with less than 4 minutes remaining. The lead peaked at 19 shortly after on a three by Mack as the hosts rolled to the win.

Star of the night

Nemanja Nedovic did not set a career-high in scoring – he did that with a 39-point effort in Tel Aviv last month, but the star guard was just as impressive this time with all 33 of his points coming in the first three quarters. Nedovic scored 13 points with 4 assists in the first quarter alone and erupted for 15 third-quarter points to help his team to a double-digit lead. Nedovic's PIR of 40 was also the second-best of his career.

Papagiannis's bests

Georgios Papagiannis was at his best playing against another one of the league's biggest and best centers, Moustapha Fall. Papagiannis set career-highs in scoring (18 points) and PIR (28), while flirting with a double-double. He added 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks. He is now tied with Real Madrid's Walter Tavares for the league lead with 2.0 blocks per game.

Telling numbers

Panathinaikos outrebounded the visitors 41-32 and recorded twice as many assists – 23 to 10. Ultimately, the biggest difference was in shooting; the hosts outshot ASVEL on two-pointers (63.2% to 49.0%), threes (33.3% to 25%) and free throws (84.2% to 66.7%).

What's next?

Both teams play their Round 20 games on Friday night on the road. Panathinaikos travels to Turkey to take on Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. ASVEL will remain in the Greek capital to take on Olympiacos Piraeus.

Nemanja Nedovic - Panathinaikos OPAP Athens - EB20
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; ALIAGA, JORDI; LAURINAVICIUS, JURGIS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens25202518
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne21211811
End of Quarter1234
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens25457088
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne21426071
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 18:13 7 2/4 1/3         3   1     1   4
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 30:50 18 8/10   2/2 1 7 8 2     3   3 2 28
7 BOCHORIDIS, ELEFTHERIOS 16:26 2 0/1 0/1 2/2   3 3 1   2     2 2 2
8 AUGUSTE, ZACH 9:10 4 1/1   2/3 2   2 1 1 1     5 2 3
14 KASELAKIS, LEONIDAS 17:17 2 1/3 0/1   1 2 3 1   1     1 1 2
16 KALAITZAKIS, GEORGIOS 8:49 2 1/2       2 2     1 1   2 1 2
17 FOSTER, MARCUS FRANKLEE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
26 NEDOVIC, NEMANJA 28:22 33 6/7 5/10 6/6 2 3 5 6   4 1   1 6 40
30 WHITE, AARON 9:40 2 1/1 0/2   1 1 2 1     1       4
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS 30:20 11 4/4 1/4 0/2 1 8 9 1 1 2 1     2 18
50 BENTIL, BEN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
74 SANT-ROOS, HOWARD 30:53 7 0/5 1/3 4/4 2 2 4 7 2 1   1 3 3 11
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 88 24/38 8/24 16/19 12 29 41 23 4 13 7 1 18 19 117
        63.2% 33.3% 84.2%
Head coach: CHARALAMPIDIS, KOSTAS
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
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 FREEMAN, ALLERIK 13:35 5 1/2 1/1     1 1           1   4
5 KAHUDI, CHARLES 16:48 3   1/1     2 2   1 1     1   4
6 LACOMBE, PAUL 11:19   0/2 0/1     1 1     1     3 2 -4
8 DIOT, ANTOINE 27:03 4 2/6 0/4   1 3 4 3 1 1   1 2 2 2
10 FALL, MOUSTAPHA 25:19 10 5/7   0/2 5 4 9 3 1 2 1 1 1 3 19
13 HAYES, KEVARRIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 WALTON JR, DERRICK 14:10 5 2/5 0/2 1/1   1 1 1       1 2 2 1
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 13:24 9 3/5   3/5 1   1         1 5 3 3
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 24:21 13 4/6 1/3 2/2 1 1 2 2 2     2 3 3 13
28 YABUSELE, GUERSCHON 24:29 7 2/5 1/2   1 2 3 1 2 1       1 9
30 COLE, NORRIS 29:32 15 5/11 1/6 2/2   2 2   1 2   1 1 2 5
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           3 3 6     1         5
Totals 200:00 71 24/49 5/20 8/12 12 20 32 10 8 9 1 7 19 18 61
        49% 25% 66.7%
Head coach: PARKER, TJ

Head Coaches

CHARALAMPIDIS, KOSTAS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"We tried to communicate with the players. I think they understood the situation and that they had to make a step up. I believe that defensively they dominated the game, they tried a lot and I think they deserved to win."

Players

NEDOVIC, NEMANJA
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"It's Serbian New Year's Eve tonight and I wanted to give myself a reason to celebrate and I will go crazy somewhere… Just kidding, there's a lockdown, so I have nowhere to go. We all had to step in for Pap [Ioannis Papapetrou]; he's a very important player for us. And I think we did a great job. I said at halftime, defense will eb key and we kept them to 29 points [in the second half]. I think it's a great accomplishment. We really needed this win, we really wanted this win and we finally got it."
PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"[Fall] is really good, especially in the low post. He's tough. It's really good to play against him. I learned from it and I wish him the best. I tried to play faster than him, set screens and dive fast to the basket. I'm just taking it day by day, practice by practice, game by game. I have the motivation inside me to give 100% every game."
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