Basketball
The bench talent limits Panathinaikos from thinking
Panathinaikos showed with “Good Morning” that the bench can make life easier for him this season. The pick and roll, the characteristics of Matias Lessor and the second picks. Alexandros Trigas writes.
Panathinaikos secured their ticket to the Super Cup final at the expense of PAOK. Actually not news for the team led by Ergin Ataman.
After all, this club is obliged to win the four titles of this year’s season, regardless of opponents and conditions. He has a “must” in him from the first day of pre-season, a “must” that he must accept until the season finale.
The semi-final with PAOK does not provide the necessary certainty to draw conclusions. Not because of Dikephalos’ quality, but because we’re talking about the first game of the year without Ioannis Papapetrou, Dino Mitoglou and Alexander Balcherovski in the rotation.
However, there are some points that can be stood by:
- The presence of Kostas Sloukas in the five makes it clear that Panathinaikos will invest heavily in the pick and roll. In any case. Either to execute yourself or to find the easy points of height and the open shots of the perimeter. The 6 assists that the national player had in the first third show his initial determination.
- Matias Lessor has developed his game quite a bit in the last few months, he is not (as) one-dimensional as he was in the past. At the same time, however, he is the first winner of the creative skills of Panathinaikos’ small players. He completed most of the phases in the first part, so he dominated.
- Kyle Guy (sic) has made the most of the space created by Luka Vildosa’s injury over the last two weeks to – and deservedly so – secure a larger role in the rotation, more shots and boost his confidence.
- Juancho Hernangomet will have his moments, but his own impact won’t just be captured by stats. In many cases he is the “cheese” for the opposing defense to limit assists (of his player) from either the strong or weak side.
- Jerian Grant and Marius Grigonis seem to play a minor role (creative and managerial) but seem to have accepted the situation.
Quality is not only evident in the top 5
So Panathinaikos won not only because the starting XI has a wide range of talent, but also because their bench is nothing like that of the recent past. In terms of names and CV, it even surpasses that of 2016/17, when Xavi Pascual led a team of extremely high quality (ps: this team was of course built by Argyris Pedoulakis).
Luka Vildosa’s instant goal, Costa Antetokounmpo’s high defense and Jerian Grant’s diverse contribution show how Panathinaikos can overcome this year’s bad nights.
In other words: to bring some players from the bench who have the manner and characteristics to change the pace.
The capture of reality
The result of the final with Olympiacos will not predict the course of a whole season. It is obvious that the victory will further improve the psychology of everyone within the Panathinaikos organization, it will further increase the hype surrounding the team led by Ergin Ataman.
However, the opposite will not bring destruction. And it shouldn’t be a big problem if the first title of the season is lost.
Yes, Panathinaikos was built with the most expensive materials of the decade, but the physiognomy of soulful potential and the (large) number of new members in the green dressing room show that time will work in its favor. Now if every week that goes by is combined with two wins, everything becomes easier…
Source: sport 24
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.
On 30 November, a series of matches of the 12th round of the regular season were played as part of the EuroCup.
“Shlensk” Issouf Sanona It played away against Cluj-Napoca and was defeated in the tie game, where the leader changed 18 times. The decisive factor in the match was Miletic’s two-point shot with 2 seconds left, which gave the home team a 94:92 victory.
Sanon spent 18 minutes on the field and became the team’s most productive player, scoring 17 points (5/6 free throws, 3/6 two-pointers, 2/7 three-pointers) during this time. Issouf also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
“Buducnost” Alexandra Kovlyara It played at home against Türk Telekom and lost the first quarter 20:23, but won the next three quarters to achieve an overwhelming victory with a score of 91:81.
While Kovlyar played 9 minutes, he had 1 rebound and 2 assists.
European Cup. Regular season. 12th round, 30 December
Cluj-Napoca – Slensk – 94:92 (22:17, 27:34, 21:23, 24:18)
Cluj-Napoca: Russell (30 points + 7 rebounds + 7 assists), Miletic (19+14+5), Guzman (14+5+1), Molinar (13+1+4), Siser (7+6+1), Kulvetis (5+4+1), Woodbury (3+2+2), Patrick (3+1+1).
Shlensk: Sanon (17+4+4), Kirkwood (16+7+3), Djordjevic (16+9+2), Penawa (13+3+1), Niesel (8+4+3), Kulikowski (6+1+2), Urbaniak (6+7 rebounds), Czerniewicz (5+1 assists), Nunez (3+4+1), Wisniewski (1+2+1).
Budućnost – Türk Telekom – 91:81 (20:23, 24:21, 20:18, 27:19)
Budućnost: Sulaimon (25+1+1), Tanaskovic (17+13+1), Ferrell (16+4+3), Mace (15+2+5), Butey (8+2 rebounds), Mega (5), Jovanovic (2+1 rebounds), Thompson (2+3 rebounds), Butsiel (1+2 rebounds), Kovlyar (1 rebound + 2 assists).
Turk Telekom: Smith (18+1+1), Allman (17+3+4), Özdemiroğlu (12+5 assists), Bankston (9+5+1), Deveaux (7+2 rebounds), Trifunovic (6+1 rebounds), Alexander (4+5 rebounds), Durmaz (4+1 assists), Simonovic (4+4+1), Usher (3 rebounds + 2 assists).
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
Denver Nuggets announced Nikola Jokic He will miss at least four weeks due to left knee hyperextension.
The Serb is expected to miss all 18 matches in January and his maximum appearances this season could be limited to 64 matches. So Jokic will lose the opportunity to compete for the NBA’s main prizes – MVP and inclusion in the All-NBA, as this requires playing at least 65 games in the regular season.
Theoretically, he could return for the January 31 game against the Brooklyn Nets, which would give Nikola the opportunity to play 65 games before the end of the season, but that scenario is unlikely.
Jokic was injured in the last seconds of the first half of the match against Miami Heat (123:147) and did not return to the field after a long break. Before his injury, he managed to score 21 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds in just 19 minutes.
Jokic averaged 29.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 11.1 assists per game this season.
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
Denver Nuggets announced Nikola Jokic He will miss at least four weeks due to a left knee injury.
Star center was diagnosed with left knee hyperextension. At the same time, tests confirmed that the three-time NBA MVP’s knee ligaments remained intact.
Jokic was injured in the final seconds of the first half of the 123-147 loss to the Miami Heat and limped heavily on his way to the locker room. He did not return to the site after a long time.
Before his injury, Nikola managed to produce 21 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds in just 19 minutes on the field.
Losing Jokic could be a big blow for Denver, as starters Christian Braun (ankle injury), Aaron Gordon (hip issue) and Cam Johnson (knee injury) remain sidelined.
Jokic averaged 29.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 11.1 assists per game this season.
Injury Update: Nikola Jokić suffered a Hyperextension injury in his Left Knee in last night’s match against Miami Heat. Nikola will be re-evaluated in four weeks. pic.twitter.com/NIDmlKAN81
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 30, 2025
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
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