By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos Athens coach Ergin Ataman didn’t see what he’d like from EuroLeague MVP Kendrick Nunn on the offensive end in the Game 5 75 – 67 win over Anadolu Efes but was satisfied with the defense that his superstar guard put on the floor.
“It’s important that he [Nunn] put great hustle and played great defense,” Ataman said in the post-game presser after Panathinaikos punched the Final Four ticket by winning the series 3-2. “He showed his hustle. We are in the Final Four and for sure he’ll play his game in the Final Four and it’ll be good for us.”
Nunn finished with 12 points on 4-16 shots, along with five rebounds and four steals. He provided some strong defensive helps all over the place, contributing to Panathinaikos forcing Efes to their lowest-scoring game this season.
“He didn’t find his rhythm tonight,” had previously mentioned.. “It’s true that Efes played great defense against him with double team and three players against him the whole series. but tonight he found his shots and made two in the first quarter. But afterward, he became nervous and started to miss his regular shotss. It can happen.”
In the meantime, the one who took over offensively, was swingman Cedi Osman. He 28 points and eight rebounds while shooting 4 – 7 triples.
“Cedi played amazing,” Ataman commented. “His best game this season.”
Panathinaikos had a stunning entrance in the game went up 36 – 13 halfway through the second period. Efes, however, delivered 13 unanswered points and came back in the second half to make it a close game until the last minute.
“We started with confidence, amazing defense, fast break points, especially with Cedi Osman,” Ataman mentioned. “Gabriel played very good defense inside the paint. We didn’t let them play their regular offense. We put our physicality on the court and got big advantage.”
“Then we didn’t get same contribution from our bench players inthe middle of the second quarter,” Ataman added. “We lost our big advantage. The third quarter was the same. We tried to break the game but we made many turnovers. 16 turnovers is too much for us. Our key players missed a lot of a shots. But we had hustle and got many offenisve rebounds.”