FC Barcelona fought back from a poor second quarter and narrowly fended off Panathinaikos OPAP Athens with an 82-85 road victory to extend its winning streak to eight games. Nikola Mirotic paced Barcelona with 20 points to go with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Nicolas Laprovittola tallied 18 points, Brandon Davies chipped in 12 points and Rokas Jokubaitis tallied 9 points and 6 assists.
Barcelona survives Panathinaikos comeback, 82-85
Barcelona started better in leading 10-18, but Panathinaikos found its form and opened a 13-point lead in the second quarter. Barcelona used its tough defense in the third quarter and took charge with a 2-14 run. The lead grew to 9 points with just more than a minute left but Barcelona made its fans sweat out the win for a 14-2 record. Panathinaikos has now lost eight of its last 10 games for a 4-12 record. Nemanja Nedovic came off the Panathinaikos bench and poured in 18 points while Ioannis Papapetrou scored 16 points, Howard Sant-Roos 13 and Georgios Papagiannis tallied 11 points and 8 rebounds.
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Laprovittola drained back-to-back three-pointers to start the game for Barcelona. After Okaro White free throws to put Panathinaikos on the board, Dante Exum scored for a 2-8 lead and a third Laprovittola triple made it 6-14. Panathinaikos started going into the paint and Papagiannis threw down two dunks and had a three-point play to get the hosts within 19-23. Kyle Kuric countered with a three-pointer, but Kendrick Perry answered from deep at the other end and Nedovic converted a layup at the buzzer. The game was even 26-26 after 10 minutes.
Papagiannis’s basket to start the second quarter gave Panathinaikos its first lead. After a Jokubaitis three-pointer, Nedovic hit from long range as well and added 3 free throws for a 34-29 cushion. Jokubaitis had two scores at the other end, but Sant-Roos scored 4 straight points and Papapetrou followed with 5 as Panathinaikos went up 48-35. Barcelona gave itself some momentum though with a 1-6 spurt to end the first half down 49-41.
Papapetrou opened the scoring in the second half and a Daryl Macon Jr. free throw made it 52-41. Laprovittola got the guests going with 4 points and Rolands Smits chipped in 5 points before Laprovittola drained another triple and assisted Mirotic as Barcelona regained the lead 54-55. A Smits three-pointer pushed the advantage to 58-62 and Mirotic put in a put-back as the guests led 60-66. The score was 64-68 after 30 minutes.
Davies scored the first 4 points of the final frame and the Barcelona lead grew to 64-72. Sant-Roos finally got Panathinaikos on the board after nearly 3 minutes. The Barcelona defense continually got stops and Kuric’s jumper made it 68-76 with under 3 minutes to play. Papapetrou hit an open jumper to trim the deficit to 6 points with 2 minutes remaining only to see Mirotic punch right back with a three-point play to go up 70-79 with 99 seconds left. After a Papagiannis dunk, Mirotic added a fadeaway jumper. The hosts would not go down without a fight with Nedovic hitting a three-pointer and White converting 2 free throws with 30 seconds left to get Panathinaikos within 77-81. The Greens were not done yet with Sant-Roos poking the ball loose from Mirotic and Nedovic throwing down a slam with 20 seconds to make it a 2-point game. After Mirotic free throws, Nedovic banked in a long three-pointer with 4.7 seconds to play, 82-83. Panathinaikos then sent Kuric to the line with 3.5 seconds remaining and the veteran won the game with both foul shots.