The big time has arrived for Panathinaikos AKTOR!
The “greens” face the Maccabi Tel Aviv in between them Game 5 for this year’s Euroleague playoffs (9:15 p.m., Novasports Prime, News Bulletin 247, sport-fm.gr), looking for the coveted victory in the crowded and “hot” OAKA so as to qualify for Final 4 for the first time since 2012!
Riding the momentum of last Thursday’s (5/2) 95-88 victory in Belgrade, which tied the series at 2-2 and regained home-court advantage from Game 1, the Shamrocks will look to coveted victory in front of his world, so as to book the coveted ticket to Berlin! In the most important game of… twelve years, absolute concentration is required for all 40 minutes, against the only team that has managed to come away victorious twice this year from OAKA.
Regarding the racing, Ergin Ataman stated that the Juancho Hernagometh will be in the starting lineup, having overcome the problem that kept him out of the previous three games of the series. To get the victory against a team that has proven to be a very… tough nut, Panathinaikos AKTOR is called upon to show its good competitive image again and allow its biggest “weapons” (Sluka, Nan, Lesor) to be in good night while limiting Maccabi’s strengths (energy, speed, offensive rebounds).
“It’s a very good series, now we have home advantage once again with the big win in Belgrade. We won a lot of big games this year in OAKA. Maccabi is also a very big team and we will play at 100% to win the game. We have to show improvement and not repeat the mistakes of the previous races, but honestly I don’t want to change my whole tactics. It will be a tough game. I think from the whole season we deserve to be in this position, we played good basketball and finished in second place, which is a great success for Panathinaikos. But we want more”stated among other things in view of the match o Ergin Atamanwhile on the part of Panagiotis Kalaitzakis stated:
“It is the most important match not of the year but of the decade for the club. We will have the support of 20-25 thousand people and we will play in front of our people. Which will help us from the first minute, the first contact, in defense. The world is also in the game. We must be focused. We are well prepared”.
On her part, Maccabi she missed the chance to end the series last Thursday and now she needs to emerge victorious from the OAKA hell if she wants to be the one to be in the Final 4 in Berlin. It managed to surprise Panathinaikos in Game 1, when it celebrated its dominance with 91-87, in a game that had as its protagonists Coulson (18p), Brown (16Ï€) and Baldwin (15 points, 7 assists).
However, the latter will not be able to help his team in the crucial Game 5, after suffering a recurrence of the injury that continues to bother him and is expected to be out of action for several more weeks. “There is a disappointment about the opportunity we missed. Panathinaikos scored some big baskets at the end and we certainly could have avoided some mistakes. But we want to be competitive and claim victory. In OAKA there will be a very hot atmosphere, but we have already won twice there and I believe we can do a third. We should be focused and cool and stay united. We are proud of what we have achieved so far and we will go with faith to play our basketball. We proved in both OAKA games that we are a team that does not bend. It will be a crazy atmosphere but we have players with experience and we want to enjoy it.”said the Maccabi coach ahead of the big match, Odent Katasby Lorenzo Brown to add:
“We will have to improve defensively in this game. I think in the last game we were good in the first part of the game, but then we made a lot of mistakes and didn’t get enough rebounds. If we improve in these areas, I am sure we will win. We will have to be focused, limit their pace and stop Lesor, but it will not be easy. The pressure will be on Panathinaikos, because they are playing at home”.
The referees of the match will be Ilya Belosevic (Serbia), Emin Mogulkots (Turkey) and o Maddy Difala (France).
The course of the series in detail:
23/4 Panathinaikos AKTOR-Maccabi Tel Aviv 87-91
25/4 Panathinaikos AKTOR-Maccabi Tel Aviv 95-79
30/4 Maccabi Tel Aviv-Panathenaikos AKTOR 85-83
2/5 Maccabi Tel Aviv-Panathenaikos AKTOR 88-95
7/5 Panathinaikos AKTOR-Maccabi Tel Aviv (21:15)
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
