Panathinaikos OPAP Athens never trailed and protected its home floor once again by downing visiting Valencia Basket 91-72 on Friday.
The Greens dominate Valencia on jubilee night
Game Report
1 Min read
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens never trailed and protected its home floor once again by downing visiting Valencia Basket 91-72 on Friday. In its 500th EuroLeague game this century, six-time champion Panathinaikos improved to 8-14 on the season, registering its third straight home win. Meanwhile, Valencia suffered its third consecutive loss, and sixth in the last seven games, to drop to 11-12. Panathinaikos took control right away, and used an 11-0 second-quarter run to pull away for good, never allowing Valencia to cut the deficit to single digits. Nemanja Nedovic paced the winners with 16 points and 7 assists. Aaron White and Eleftherios Bochoridis scored 12 apiece. And Konstantinos Mitoglou collected 11 points and 7 rebounds. Valencia's Klemen Prepelic led all scorers with 20 points. Martin Hermannsson had 13 and Vanja Marinkovic netted 11 in a losing effort.
Regular Season
Round 23 of 34
Group Regular Season
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The teams exchanged layups before back-to-back dunks by Nedovic and Georgios Papagiannis made it 8-4. Marinkovic knocked down a pair of triples for Valencia, but the Greens ruled the offensive glass and got to the free throw line often while Papagiannis scored 6 more points, including a long jumper, for a 20-10 lead. Hermannsson entered and strung together 7 unanswered points for the visitors, sinking a mid-range jumper and a triple before driving for a layup. A three-pointer from Derrick Williams cut the deficit to 22-20 after 10 minutes, but Panathinaikos started the second quarter with more second-chance baskets to stay in front. Nedovic hit a corner triple between a pair of layups by Bojan Dubljevic for Valencia. After Zach Auguste scored twice in close, Nedovic downed a long three and a fastbreak dunk to open a 42-28 difference. Mike Tobey snapped an 11-0 Panathinaikos run with a dunk but corner triples from Ben Bentil and Ioannis Papapetrou pushed Panathinaikos to a 48-34 cushion at halftime.
Mitoglou opened the second half with a three-point play and Papapetrou scored inside to extend the margin to 19 points. Prepelic scored 10 points in the opening 5 minutes of the quarter, including a triple, and Nikola Kalinic beat a shot-clock with a three-pointer to get the visitors within 59-48. However, Shelvin Mack and Bentil scored from close range to reopen a big lead, 66-48. The hosts' defense held Valencia to a single basket for almost 4 minutes, and even though the Greens started to struggle offensively themselves, they took 68-52 into the fourth quarter. Marinkovic hit a tough triple and Sam Van Rossom drove for a reverse layup, but Papapetrou and Mitoglou scored inside, before Bochoridis knocked down a corner triple for a game-high 80-60 margin midway through the fourth quarter. Prepelic hit a pair of triples in the final minutes, but Valencia never threatened as Panathinaikos cruised to victory.
Game Leaders
ELEFTHERIOSBOCHORIDIS
ELEFTHERIOSBOCHORIDIS
19
Performance Index Rating(PIR)
KLEMENPREPELIC
KLEMENPREPELIC
21
500 game milestone
This game marked a momentous occasion, the 500th EuroLeague game this century for Panathinaikos, the fifth team to reach that milestone. Panathinaikos has 301-199 record in those games.
Key quarter
Panathinaikos built a double-digit lead that it never relinquished in the second quarter. The Greens shot 4-for-8 from three-point range in that quarter, compared to 2-for-13 the rest of the game. Valencia was 0-for-5 in the second quarter from behind the arc.
Inside dominance
Panathinaikos not only outrebounded the visitors 39-27, but it made 27 of 42 two-point shots (64.3%) compared to Valencia's 13-for-30 (43.3%).
Frontcourt production
Panathinaikos got production from its entire front line. Aaron White had 12 points and 5 rebounds; Konstantinos Mitoglou had 11 points and 7 boards; Georgios Papagiannis posted 8 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks; Zach Auguste scored 8 points; and Ben Bentil had 7 points.