By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Vintage Shane Larkin led Anadolu Efes to a big road win against the defending champion Panathinaikos.
Shane Larkin, who scored 20 points and had the biggest plays down the stretch, and Vincent Poirier, who scored 16 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks, were the stars of the night.
Poirier managed to stop a potential tying three by Kendrick Nunn – in what was a non-call protested by Panathinaikos, but with Poirier first blocking the ball and then hitting the hand of Nunn – as Efes prevailed 79-76 and tied the series at 1-1, moving on to the next two games in Istanbul.
“We just had to stay together, they are a great team, their coach is great, they are a championship caliber team, but we just had to stay poised, even if we had a young team”, said Larkin after the final buzzer as he team managed to comeback and win the game after trailing by 15 points.
PJ Dozier added 14 points, and Dan Oturu had 11. For Panathinaikos, Cedi Osman was the top scorer with 16 points, Kendrick Nunn contributed 14, and Jerian Grant added 11.
A thriller in the end
After starting the game with an 8-0 run, Panathinaikos managed to get a 27-17 lead entering the last minute of the first period with Osman scoring already 11 points.
Nunn pushed the Greens’ advantage to 12 points (29-17) at the end of the period, and Efes already had a mountain to climb with Panathinaikos getting an early 10-4 advantage in rebounds.
The lead extended to 15 points (32-17) with a three by Yurtseven entering the second quarter, and Efes reacted with a 7-0 run (32-24).
Sloukas with a three pushed the distance back to double digits (35-24), and the game turned into a dogfight.
At halftime, Efes managed to trim the lead to six (42-36) by tooth and claw, but Panathinaikos opened the third quarter with an 11-3 run, getting again a 14-point advantage (53-39).
Efes didn’t back down and made it a five-point game (55-50) with their own 11-2 run; however, the Greens, with two shots by Nunn and Sloukas and a steal by Lorenzo Brown, entered the last period leading by 10 (60-50).
The slugfest continued with Efes scoring five unanswered points (60-55) and keeping Panathinaikos scoreless for three minutes.
The guests made it a two-point game (66-64) with four minutes left. Kendrick Nunn answered back with a crucial goal foul (69-64), still with 76 seconds left, Larkin tied the score at 73.
Juancho Hernangomez missed a three in the next play, Larkin made it, and gave Efes a 76-73 lead with 34 seconds on the clock.
Nunn missed, Poirier got the rebound and got fouled, making one of two free throws (77-73), and Panathinaikos had 21 seconds left to save the day.
Nunn made a big three, his first of the game, to trim the lead to one point (77-76). Larkin was fouled, made two free throws (79-76), and with 16 seconds left, Panathinaikos needed one more big shot to send the game to overtime.
Nunn tried to make it, Poirier stopped him with no call made for a foul, the home side got the deflected ball, and the season MVP had a second chance, but missed again.
Photo credit: Eurokinissi