By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona overcame absences and injury problems during the game to beat Panathinaikos Athens 97 – 89 at home in overtime and improve its EuroLeague record to 3-1. It was the second straight win for the Blaugrana that were missing Nikola Mirotic (COVID-19) and Victor Claver (leg) while seeing Alex Abrines getting injured (ankle) early in the match.
Brandon Davies scored 20 points, six of them in the extra period, including the basket for the 91 – 84 which put his team at a three-possession distance with 45 seconds to play. Howard Sant-Roos answered with five quick points but Barcelona players were good in their free throws to retain their lead. The Greens fell to 1-2 (game vs. ASVEL will be rescheduled).
“It was a hard-fought battle. In the first half, we didn’t do things too well, but we grinded it out and got that win for our injured players,” Davis said. “We just have to keep grinding. There were some tough times in that game, but we stuck together in those moments and came out with the win. That’s what’s important.”
Panathinaikos, that had Keifer Sykes sidelined in the first quarter, forced the overtime thanks to three free throws by Leonidas Kaselakis after a foul by Sergi Martinez on a 3-point shot. Cory Higgins, Barcelona’s top scorer with 24 points, then missed in his game-winning attempt from downtown.
“I told my players before the game that they need to fight for 40 minutes,” Panathinaikos coach George Vovoras said. “In the end, we fought for 45 minutes because we played against a team that plays very tough.”
Marcus Foster dropped a career-high 24 points for Panathinaikos in his third EuroLeague game and was responsible for setting the tone for his team early with 16 points on perfect shooting in the first 13 minutes. The Greens led 13 – 18 at the end of the first quarter before Barca launched a counterattack via Kyle Kuric (14 points) and Nick Calathes (14 points, six rebounds, six assists against his former team).
Panathinaikos began the second half even better than starting the game and Foster handed his team a 44 – 55 lead with a powerful slam in transition. Barcelona’s response was swift though with a 12 -0 run, courtesy of Calathes, Kuric, and Davies. The game remained closed until the end.
Sant-Roos added 17 points for Panathinaikos while Dinos Mitoglou had 16 points plus 12 rebounds and Nemanja Nedovic 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. The latter hit multiple 3-pointers in overtime in an attempt to keep his team close but Barcelona always answered back to ultimately reach the win.
Adam Hanga, who was scoreless in regulation, added two key triples for Barca in overtime.
A work in progress
Sarunas Jasikevicius hopes that once Barcelona manages to have all players available and at full strength, then his vision for the basketball that the team should play will begin to unfold on the court.
“At this point, we are only worried about building our program, building good habits and just picking up some wins along the way,” Jasikevicius said. “Most important is to get healthy. We lost two more players today. Most important is building for the future and when we get everybody back, we want to play our best basketball. In EuroLeague, every game is tough. With the EuroLeague and ACB, it’s going to be like this for 10 months. It’s not any kind of surprise.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball