The Greens have flipped the switch since Round 16
Kendrick Nunn inspiring Panathinaikos’s historic stretch at OAKA
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6 Mins read
In mid-December, some doubts were starting to surround Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens. Despite being the reigning Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion, Ergin Ataman’s men had an 8-7 record and had lost four of their five games between Rounds 11 and 15.
Coming off back-to-back road losses at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and Anadolu Efes Istanbul, the Greens’ Round 16 clash against an in-form EA7 Emporio Armani Milan at OAKA had all the makings of a shock result, which could have seen Panathinaikos fully enter crisis mode.
Kendrick Nunn, however, made sure that wasn’t the case. Having missed the Round 15 defeat to Efes due to a one-game suspension, the 29-year-old erupted for a career-high 39 points – the joint second most by a Panathinaikos player all-time – after draining 8 three-pointers, also the joint second most in the Greens’ history, in a thumping 103-74 win. Suddenly, all seemed well in Athens.
Those 103 points were the most scored in a game in the Coach Ataman era at OAKA, and also the biggest winning margin on his watch (13th best all-time for Panathinaikos), but it was a sign of things to come – as was the scoring of Nunn.
A couple of days after downing Milan, Panathinaikos enjoyed another huge result by beating Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 104-69, setting a couple more records – the joint third-best winning margin in the club’s history, a new high under its Turkish tactician, and the most points scored with Ataman at the helm.
That Baskonia game had a bittersweet feel to it after Mathias Lessort was forced off with a horrific injury in the third quarter, with the All-EuroLeague center having to undergo surgery on a fractured fibula that will rule him out for most of, if not all, the season. Still, Nunn kept doing his thing, scoring 26 points that night as Panathinaikos poured in 100 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time in club history.
Then came an impressive 69-80 win at FC Bayern Munich, ending the German team’s perfect 8-0 start to life at its brand-new SAP Garden arena on a night that saw Nunn finish with 27 points, before a return to OAKA, where Panathinaikos and Nunn kept doing what they have been doing of late: scoring… a lot.
In a 111-90 triumph over Virtus Segafredo Bologna, the Greens’ fourth straight win – their longest winning streak this season – saw Nunn have to share the mantle of being the team’s top scorer by netting 27 points, the same as center Omer Yurtseven, who enjoyed a career night. As such, Ataman’s side has now scored 100 or more points in three successive home games, making more history in the process, and Nunn has averaged a stunning 30.7 points per game over those three wins at OAKA.
Panathinaikos has risen to third in the standings with a 12-7 record thanks to its recent winning run, and this Thursday night (20:15 CET) it hosts Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, a team that has not given up 100 points or more in a game this season. With Nunn playing at an MVP level and Panathinaikos full of confidence, it should make for a fascinating spectacle as Zeljko Obradovic returns to the place where he lifted five EuroLeague titles.