Both head coaches stressed that their respective outfits needed to improve ahead of Game 2
Opening act leaves Ataman and Banchi wanting more
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Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens scraped an 87-83 win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Game 1 of their Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoff series, but the overall performance left the reigning champion's head coach Ergin Ataman largely unhappy.
Despite the victory which left the Greens on course to reach the 2025 Final Four in Abu Dhabi, Ataman demanded a more balanced display from his men in Game 2 on Thursday after they erased a 12-point deficit in the second half.
While hailing the heroic efforts of big man Juancho Hernangomez, who posted career highs of 20 points and 16 boards in 39 minutes on the court, Ataman challenged his back-up Konstantinos Mitoglou to do more and give the Spaniard some breathing space.
“Players like Mitoglou need to do more, so I hope he wakes up and enables Juancho to get some rest,” Ataman told reporters after an exhausting contest inside OAKA Arena.
“We were up by 10 points in the second quarter and then we stopped sharing the ball. We started taking hasty shots after five seconds of possession and that’s not our system. We lost offensive discipline and the control of the game.”
A 2-20 run saw Efes take the game by the scruff of the neck in the closing stages of the first half as it took a 32-40 lead, and the Turkish side was 60-72 ahead late in the third quarter before a 12-0 run by Panathinaikos eventually forced the final twist.
Ataman emphasized that despite a monumental defensive effort in the fourth quarter which saw Efes score a mere 11 points in the final 10 minutes of the contest, a more concerted team effort on offense will be required in Game 2.
“It wasn’t a good performance today,” he said. “We played great defense in the last quarter but we need to go back to playing like we did all season, which means to share the ball and be more patient. We need to play better in Game 2 because Efes is a very dangerous team.”
Efes head coach Luca Banchi saw his team’s eight-game winning streak snapped after the Turkish side came agonizingly close to snatching home-court advantage away from the Greens, who were roared on by a fervent home crowd.
Poor long-range shooting in crunch time cost Efes, which went 9 of 31 from downtown and also committed 16 turnovers against 18 assists against a rock-solid Panathinaikos defense which closed shop when the chips were down.
“We still have to learn and minimize our mistakes because we are playing against the defending champions who know how to punish them,” the Italian tactician said. “Our performance was excellent for long spells but to win here you have to be perfect.”