Panathinaikos and… Hines gave it their all in the end

Panathinaikos found the strength to bounce back even as Armani Milanou’s Italians seemed poised to ‘clean up’ the game in OAKA thanks to their superb third-quarter display. The defense of the Greens, the awakening (and intelligence) of Nedovic with this imaginary theft from Sergio Rodriguez got them breathless.

And that’s where the details matter. A shot that didn’t come in, a shot, a whistle (two-three better) that the hosts didn’t get and, most importantly, the rebound 2” written by Kyle Hines before the end. Rodriguez had missed for three, Panathinaikos had to secure the ball, not so much for him to make the final attack (he didn’t have much time left) until what happened happened.

Hines, Armani’s best player in the second half, jumped higher or at least had the timing to catch the ball first, Panathinaiko’s block-outs didn’t work and a veteran American went to the line, laying down the first, losing that on purpose second shot and picked up the ball again and handed it to the referees. Ok he’s not just anyone but maybe the top American in terms of performance and offering that we’ve seen in the Euroleague. Hines was born for phases like this, it’s his… main job and the reason he remains valuable even now at 35…

Milan were in danger with a defeat that probably… favored Olympiacos, although such a thing was not in the minds of the Priftis players. He brought her to the “Chuck”. And Panathinaikos has suffered several such defeats in this year’s EuroLeague. If he had taken them, he could theoretically look at the score where he is stuck in the last places.

Contrary to what he did against Zalgiris, Panathinaikos had both focus and plan but also a usually poor third quarter. Where Milan played their favorite game. Very strong defense where Messina players are first on the ball, running in the open field when they get the chance and going against the guards in either a pick and roll with Hines or in action.

The weakness of both Makon and Nedovic in this personal defense is well known, Panathinaikos’ opponents cover both guards and usually do not make mistakes.

The hosts – in this period – lost contact with the basket from afar (0/5 three points), which Armani suffered … in the last ten minutes when the return of Panathinaikos worried him, marking only irons (0/7 three hands). Makon accelerated a little, Nedovic, who was under a lot of pressure, made two big shots and everything counted in the final.

In the course of the last few games, it’s a given that Panathinaikos will beat the… almost veteran Vassilis Kavvadas, who is now missing important breaths from Papagiannis and even surpassing Jeremy Evans in the rotation (not wrongly, of course).

In the absence of Papapetros, Leonidas Kaselakis takes his time at ‘3’, always trying his best and being a drawing unit whether starting as a key player or coming off the bench. The same cannot be said for Lefteris Bohoridis, who continues to fail to “take” chances. Somehow Panathinaikos remain at “1” options where Jovic’s injury sent Makon back to the point guard position.

recycling the problem

It’s not easy for a player making his debut in the Euroleague to adapt to what Panathinaikos is asking of him this year, perhaps that’s why he doesn’t keep a cool head when it comes to difficult decisions. The point is that even for Jovic’s return, the Greens will still have to be patient as the Serb comes back from a bad break. That’s what we say, when something goes wrong from the start, it’s difficult to correct.

In any case, due to his several-month abstinence (particularly in the way he came into battle), Jovic was afraid to strike, and Panathinaikos knowingly took a significant risk. Only the problem in “1” has existed since the beginning of the season, two players have already left (Central Perry, Yogi Ferrell), the third who came has pitted and the misspellings are being recycled. Macon is confused, Bohoridis cannot, Sant Ross can only give solutions for a while …

Date the Eternal

But if Panathinaikos loses like that, the EuroLeague final doesn’t scare him, even if his program is not so passable. On March 17, Mani-Mani will be at SEF to meet Olympiakos again, almost a month after the cup final in Heraklion. For the “Greens” it is a good opportunity to compete with their eternal opponent, not so much for prestige, which is already important in the duels between the two teams, but for the fight for the playoffs that will follow later .

Of course, there’s another game (in OAKA, for the second round of the Stoiximan Basket League) that decides regular-season first place, but next week’s game will reveal some of the dynamics of this year’s Panathinaikos.