By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The first game of Panathinaikos after being excluded from the EuroLeague Final Four (22-24/5) at OAKA was the first for Mykonos after 20 days and the conclusion of the regular season, which coincidentally was again against Panathinaikos and at the same venue (97-64).
The two teams will meet again on 17/5 at “Panagiota Chanioti” on the “Island of the Winds”.
Panathinaikos continues without captain Kostas Sloukas (torn lateral meniscus in the left knee), lined up without Kendrick Nunn (neck spasm) and Kenneth Faried (bone edema in the left tibia), while Panagiotis Kalaitzakis left injured in the 25th minute (66-41) after twisting his left ankle on Tyree Appleby’s right foot.
Panathinaikos made sure to set the tone early and left no room for Mykonos to react. Vasilis Toliopoulos and Dinos Mitoglou immediately took action (13-0 at 4′ with 9+4 points respectively) and the “green” lead continued for quite some time with a Greek signature (25-7 at 8′ with 8 points from Toliopoulos, 10 points from Mitoglou and 2 points from Kalaitzakis).
T.J. Shorts became the first foreign player of Panathinaikos to score (layup for 27-7 at 9′) while Nigel Hayes-Davis stood out in defense with 3 of his team’s 5 steals in the first period (31-9 with 8 points from Panathinaikos from opponent’s mistakes).
T.J. Shorts continued – more – in creation (5 assists in the first half), Marius Grigonis quickly became the third double-digit scorer for Panathinaikos (10 points at 52-24 at 17′) and the difference reached 30 points (54-24 at 18′) before the first half even concluded (56-31), which found Tyree Appleby scoring 7 consecutive points and becoming the first double-digit scorer (12 points) for Mykonos.
Dinos Mitoglou continued up to a season-high 24 points and the difference reached a maximum of 31 points (80-49 at 29′, 82-51 at 30′). Until the end, PAO easily maintained the lead and got a lead in this series.
Mitoglou finished a game with 24 points, while Grigonis and Toliopoulos added 15. On the other side, Briggs had 19 and Appleby scored 16 points.