Panathinaikos couldn’t stand Barcelona’s “hard” game

He found a “block” in Barcelona and was defeated 82-73 by Barcelona in its 21st race losing the opportunity to stay within range… of the top of the ranking. After a series of positive appearances and five wins in Euroleague, Panathinaikos met the defeat at the headquarters of Barcelona and retreated to the 4th place of the ranking, behind Olympiacos, Fenerbahce and Monaco, with the Monegascus however having the same record. CORVERSE Erkin Ataman stood after the game in the Catalan “hard” defense and the truth is that the “greens” did not find an answer to Barcelona’s… wood in the second half, which also disorganized Kendrick Nan. The dependence on Nan Kendrick Nan this year claims the MVP award with his Euroleague appearances, but Panathinaikos’ dependence on his performance has also increased at the same time. In the winning streak of the five wins of the “trify”, the American guard was unstoppable and scored over 25 points in all games. CORVERSE But his first bad match also brought defeat for Panathinaikos. Nan faced tough defenses from Barcelona in the second half of the race and stayed away from his good face, having just 7 points and 5 errors, which contributed to the “veal” third quarter, with the Catalan +17. Only by chance, then, that Panathinaikos was defeated for the first time after the game with Anadolu Ephes, when he did not have Nan’s help again, as he was then punished by the match with Partizan. Lesor’s energy lacked Omer Jurcheven once again had good numbers as the main center of Panathinaikos and was even more appropriate to the bad second half of his team, but against Barcelona, the absence of Matias Lesor was first felt. Panathinaikos had managed to cover so far the absence of his main center, which remains injured, but against Barcelona missed the player who will give the team energy. When the “greens” were aggressively stuck in the third quarter, they did not have the sure solution and the “fights” of the French in the Catalan racket. Thus, their winning streak is a past in Euroleague, but Panathinaikos remains favourite for the first 4th of the ranking, which will bring him with a home advantage in the playoffs of the event.