Panathinaikos ACTOR and Grigonis in the green courtyard of miracles

It was time for Panathinaikos AKTOR to experience such a victory. It was time to return to the basketball wonderland with a huge double in Monaco.

Well, the home team also had a hand in the game until the “Greens” with Marius Grigonis as an attacker marked the Monegasques in… the glory of their home country and won straight away with three points. They managed to come back from -15, they never gave up, but they didn’t say no to the Principality’s gifts to the team. They have achieved a great victory and come to Milan with a different attitude to slowly build the character of their new team.

At first, Panathinaikos AKTOR naturally tried to commit suicide. With Sluka’s foul at midfield, Mike James was ready for the famous trick shot (and good one), for three points. The demonic American had managed to catch the ball with both hands at the time of the Greek international’s foul, prompting the referees to declare that a foul had been committed at the time of the shot. Three shots and a +4 point lead for Monaco with less than a minute left.

But even when PAO was quickly reduced to the basket in the ensuing attack (Slukas found a full lane for a layup), Vildosa was unable to properly defend Okobo. Two and a half seconds before the end, the French guard found his balance on the top of the stick and received the maximum from the Argentine: a goal foul.

Okobo looked at the bench, obviously Obradovic told him to miss on purpose to pass the time, but of course not like that. When he threw the ball, the referees could only call a foul. Monaco’s ace had done exactly the opposite of what he wanted. He stopped the time and gave Ataman the opportunity to take a timeout and Panathinaikos AKTOR to attack from the second half of the field.

The clover said “mille merci” and didn’t miss the chance. Bam and down, from Grigonis, all players down, defeat in the hotel in the locker room in a nice atmosphere that Dinos Iliopoulos would say, but this time he would mean it. Ataman had planned for Mitoglou to shoot, but in the last seconds they often saw the coaches’ drawings on their board, they went for a walk.

Grigonis pulls up the zipper

Alexandros Trigas spelled it correctly. This match, in addition to being… crazy at the end, was also a vindication of a person who was wronged. What Marius Grigonis heard last year is indescribable. As if he was responsible for the poor and topsy-turvy design of the Panathinaikos AKTOR, he was forced to do things that he couldn’t do and that didn’t match his talent, but also his basic characteristics as a player.

The strongly controlled Lithuanian defender is developing into an excellent player in a team with clear roles and fits harmoniously into an ensemble. A great shooter, a good defender who makes his presence known because the team is good.

Last year they asked him to play LeBron James. He almost knew obsolescence, “not, not showing, not, not.” Now he’s simply racing through those who doubted him, averaging 10.5 points per second and shooting at a rate of 43.1%. in three-point shooting. You know what? Last year he was a little more accurate (43.5%), but everyone remembers a player… who didn’t do that and even had to leave in the summer because he had no other choice.

Ataman disagreed. And the 29-year-old star is now his normal self. It’s not (like last year) the player, but the team itself…

To get the gift, he chased after it with passion

Okay, everyone is surprised. Panathinaikos AKTOR is no longer the same team. The Nutcracker who has been back and forth in the Euroleague for the last two or three years. He has not yet achieved the glory of the past, but he is inspired by it and sees the prospects that open up to him. Ataman, with the self-confidence that defines him, begins to transfer to his players the winning mentality with which he thrived in Ephesus.

His return after Monaco’s dominant performance for much of the game is a sign of the ‘green’ intentions. At other times -15 would become -30, now things are different. Ataman’s players were not fazed by the slaps from the home team. On the contrary… they have woken up.

Despite the three fouls, Lessor became a rock in the game, pulling all opposing players forward and causing the surprise at the end with a decisive goal foul. Kendrick Nunn suffered under the Monegasque defense for thirty minutes and only scored one point. Until he scored his first basket, he only scored points from shots, going 0/6 two-pointers and 0/1 three-pointers. He finished the game with 14 points, including 13 in the crucial final quarter!

Kostas Sloukas, with 17 points and 4 assists, was the first to believe in the turnaround and work harmoniously with the other Kostas (Mitoglou), and so the top scorer of the game, Marius Grigonis, made the final decision to… execute Monaco

Take me to Milan

Such victories and such surprises shape the character of the team. Grigonis also said it after the game, I think everyone will agree with me. These doubles also forge the well-being of victory, the connection of the players with the (for most) new jersey, the world, their coach. Everything that makes a great team. You don’t start at the top, but approach it slowly, climbing the steps one by one.

And this triumph in Monaco is one of the steps that Panathinaikos AKTOR can take. Of course, it’s enough that he doesn’t rest on his laurels and continues with the same intensity that he showed at the end of the game. He clearly needs to forget his general defensive behavior (particularly the way the home team got into the stick too easily (52.5% 2-point shots) or found free 3-point shots).

He wants to maintain the determination and passion of the fourth period (23-35), of course his aggressive streak, but he knows that he won’t be given gifts like Okobo’s every time, so he has to make sure that the game is achieved no moments of basketball madness. Not that this feeling isn’t nice too. On the other hand. But now that he’s going full throttle in Milan, he can avoid such Hitchcock finals, so that the eight wins become nine more easily…