2017-18Regular SeasonRound 12
December 15, 2017 CET: 20:15
Local time: 21:15 OLYMPIC SPORTS CENTER ATHENS

Rivers stars but Calathes hurt as Panathinaikos beats Milan

Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens overcame early difficulties to keep its 100% home record intact with an 80-72 victory over AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan. The visiting team was up by 13 points early, but KC Rivers hit five three-pointers in the second quarter to spark Panathinaikos. The hosts took charge in the third quarter with another barrage of triples, and there was no way back for a Milan team which welcomed back Andrew Goudelock from injury but lost fellow guard Jordan Theodore for two technical fouls. The negative of the night for Panathinaikos was the sight of Nick Calathes heading to the bench, and later to the hospital, with a shoulder injury sustained in the third quarter after contributing 9 points and 12 assists. Rivers led the scoring with 20 points, while Matt Lojeski netted 14 and James Gist added 11 points and 7 rebounds for the winners. The Greens totalled 15-of-28 three-pointers, with seven different players connecting from deep. Milan was paced by 13 points from Vladimir Micov, while Arturas Gudaitis scored 11.

Theodore opened the scoring with a jumper but a trademark alley-oop between Calathes and Gist along with 5 points from Lojeski allowed Panathinaikos to enjoy an 8-0 run. Milan bounced back, with Micov scoring 7 and Cory Jefferson throwing down a two-handed slam on a 2-13 run. Chris Singleton got the Greens moving from downtown but Milan flexed its muscles again, with Goudelock returning to action for the first time since Round 7 to convert free throws before finding Kaleb Tarczewski for a slam, and it was 14-23 at the end of the first quarter. The hosts found its rhythm at the start of the second as Rivers twice connected from downtown on an 8-0 run. Gudaitis netted a trio of close-range baskets and Curtis Jerrells scored Milan’s first three-pointer for a 24-32 lead, before Amath M’Baye finished a fastbreak to make it a double-digit game. But Rivers hit his third and fourth triples to reduce the deficit to 4 points, and after Micov hit free throws Rivers again struck from long range to make it 39-41 at half-time.

Gist scored a triple and a big dunk early in the second half as Panathinaikos moved ahead, with the lead stretched further by a long-range strike from Lojeski to complete a 10-0 run. Three-pointers from Theodore and Mantas Kalnietis tied the game, but that was Theodore’s last involvement as he picked up a second technical foul. Then an unsportsmanlike foul was called against Jefferson and Singleton took advantage with another triple, making it 57-51. Calathes joined the three-point fun and Gist exploded another dunk, but there was concern for the Greens before the end of the third quarter, which ended at 64-57, as Calathes went to the bench with a shoulder injury. Both offenses struggled early in the final quarter, before Rivers hit his sixth triple and Kenny Gabriel also struck from downtown as Panathinaikos moved into a double-digit lead, and Lojeski added another three-pointer to effectively seal the deal. A showtime slam from Gabriel highlighted the closing stages as Panathinaikos cruised home.

KC Rivers - Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens - EB17
Friday, December 15, 2017
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; ROCHA, FERNANDO; CORTES, CARLOS
Attendance: 8863
By Quarter1234
Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens14252516
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan23181615
End of Quarter1234
Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens14396480
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan23415772
Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 SINGLETON, CHRIS 30:21 7 0/2 2/5 1/2   3 3 2 1 2 2 1 3 5 8
3 RIVERS, KC 25:24 20 1/4 6/9   2 1 3 2 1 1   2 5   12
11 PAPPAS, NIKOS 24:31 8 1/3 1/3 3/4       2   5     3 5 2
12 DENMON, MARCUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 GIST, JAMES 27:14 11 3/3 1/1 2/2 2 5 7 1 1 1     2 1 18
15 VOUGIOUKAS, IAN 3:44 1     1/2 1   1     1     2 1 -1
19 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 17:31 2 1/2       1 1 3   1     1 3 6
22 GABRIEL, KENNY 13:57 5 1/1 1/2     4 4           1   7
23 AUGUSTE, ZACH 4:44                   1     1   -2
24 LOJESKI, MATT 24:03 14 2/4 3/4 1/1   1 1 1       1 3   9
33 CALATHES, NICK 22:29 9 3/7 1/3 0/2   1 1 12 4 3     2 1 14
43 ANTETOKOUNMPO, THANASIS 6:02 3 1/1 0/1 1/2   2 2 1 1       1 3 7
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 80 13/27 15/28 9/15 7 19 26 24 8 15 2 4 24 19 83
        48.1% 53.6% 60%
Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI
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
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 GOUDELOCK, ANDREW 18:09 7 1/1 1/5 2/2   1 1 4 2 2     2 2 8
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 27:01 13 4/7 0/3 5/5   1 1 2   1     2 4 11
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS 31:43 7 1/6 1/1 2/2 1 1 2 1 1 3     2 2 3
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 27:06 9 2/2   5/6   3 3   2   2   3 5 17
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA 17:04 7 3/4   1/1 1 3 4 3         2 1 12
22 CUSIN, MARCO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
24 M'BAYE, AMATH 6:04 2 1/2               2     1   -2
25 THEODORE, JORDAN 17:06 9 3/6 1/2         2   3   1 3 3 3
34 JEFFERSON, CORY 19:53 2 1/2   0/2   2 2 1   1   1 1 2 1
45 BERTANS, DAIRIS 11:56   0/1               1     2 1 -3
55 JERRELLS, CURTIS 11:04 5   1/2 2/3                 1 1 3
77 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 12:54 11 4/4   3/4   3 3   1   2   1 3 18
Team           4 5 9     3         6
Totals 200:00 72 20/35 4/13 20/25 6 19 25 13 6 16 4 2 20 24 77
        57.1% 30.8% 80%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE

Head Coaches

PASCUAL, XAVI
Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens

“It was a very difficult game. At the beginning it was difficult to find a way to play on defense. Milan has incredible quality. They have lost a few games by a small number of points and deserve to have more victories. We’ll have to wait for the results of the medical reports on Calathes.”

“In the second half we changed our mentality on defense, then we started playing well on offense and we changed the game. In the second half we held them to 31 points – 15 and 16 – and this is why we found the way to win.”

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
“I think we have been very unlucky this season in EuroLeague, because we have played at the same level as many top teams. We’ve had many problems with injuries – today Goudelock came back after a month so wasn’t in his rhythm, Jerrells is injured and we lost our point guard [Jordan Theodore]. But the numbers show we played more or less at the same level as Panathinaikos and that’s great for a new team in a court like this where nobody wins easy. This is the kind of experience we need to arrive at that level, and my players fought until the last quarter. We are a new team but our goal is to compete and to build something to give us experience for next season.”

Players

SINGLETON, CHRIS
Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens
“It was a good reaction, we’ve got to protect our home court and that’s what we did. We started sluggish, making lots of turnovers, and they took advantage of our mistakes. But our defense helped us out, we reacted well in the second half and I’m glad we got the win.”
RIVERS, KC
Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens
“We just played hard. Our leader Nick [Calathes] went down so we as a team had to pick up the energy. We had to overcome adversity, Nick does a lot for us and in the fourth quarter we had to find a way to score without him.”
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