By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos has improved since the start of the season, but the same applies also to Anadolu Efes, even if Shane Larkin is still missing.
The back-to-back EuroLeague champions got an easy 88-69 win with Vasilije Micic and Will Clyburn doing their duty.
The Serb guard had 19 points and eight assists, while Clyburn was the top scorer of the game with 23 points plus he got 10 rebounds.
“Any win is a good win,” Clyburn said. “I am glad that we can get back on track with a win. We are going to go up and down with runs, but we needed to kind of keep the same defensive thing that we had today and we will be alright. If anybody knows me, [they know] that I am going to rebound well.”
Veteran center Bryant Dunston also had a very good night with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals. “I feel great,” the 36-year-old big man said after playing a season-high 3:01 minutes. “I always try to be ready no matter how many minutes I play; if I come in for five minutes or 30 minutes, it doesn’t matter. And I think all of our guys are ready for that. Whoever is called upon has to step up, and that is what we did today.”
From the other side, Dwayne Bacon finished the game with 20 points, after a scoreless first half. However, Panathinaikos couldn’t get into the game and be truly competitive against an offensively powerful Efes.
To be exact, Efes led 21-13 after the first period, the halftime score was 42-26, and the lead was 19 (67-48) after the third. The hosts dominated from wire to wire. ”
Derrick Williams added 13 points for Panathinaikos and Marius Grigonis returned to action with nine points. “Congratulations to Efes for the win,” Panathinaikos coach Dejan Radonjic said. “They played better than us. The rhythm of the game was not good for us; they played good. After 20 minutes, they had a big advantage and controlled the game after that. Congrats to them for the win.”
Efes coach Ergin Ataman liked how his players performed on defense for the larger part of the game while touching on the situation with Achille Polonara.
“The way to win the game was perfect for us, because we talked about playing aggressive defense, especially on the pick-and-roll,” Ataman said. “Only in some periods of the second half, [Dwayne] Bacon used his isolation to shoot over our hands, but all game, we had great defense, especially Bryant Dunston [who] had a lot to do in those defensive situations.”