Ataman won’t bite his tongue: the Grigonis club is on its way to the final four, which hasn’t been sniffed in 12 years

Maccabi started the decisive match more calmly and led 15-8. E. Ataman’s students caught up with their opponents at the beginning of the second half, but were unable to take the initiative in the nervous battles.

The first 20 min. marked both a completely even fight and the corresponding result – 41:41.

The dogfight continued after the break, with the teams flashing impressive episodes more often in defense than in attack. Only as the last quarter progressed, the hosts, who had completely locked up their opponents, pulled away with a difference of 8 points (64:56).

Lorenzo Brown came to the Tel Aviv club’s rescue, but Kendrick Nunn immediately provided his answers, and Panathinaikos pushed their rivals step by step from the path to the semi-finals.

And as soon as the final siren sounded, hundreds of triumphant fans flooded the floor of the OAKA arena.

Marius Grigonis, who lost his place in the starting five of the Athens team, played 7 minutes. and during them he had only 1 rebound and 1 assist.

Oded Kattash’s foul tactics in stopping Mathias Lessort worked – PAO’s main midfielder converted only 3 of 14 free throws. However, the Greeks grabbed as many as 19 offensive rebounds.

Wade Baldwin, one of the most productive Euroleague basketball players this season, could not help the guests due to an injury.

Panathinaikos: Kendrick Nunn 26 (6/10 treys), Kostas Slouks 15, Juancho Hernangomez 11, Ioannis Papapetrou 10, Mathias Lessortas 9 (11 rebounds, 3/14 penalties);

Maccabi: Lorenzo Brown 19 (7 assists), Josh Nebo 14 (7 rebounds), John DiBartolomeo and Tamir Blatt each 9, Jasiel Rivero 8.

“Panathinaikos” reached the final four after a 12-year break. By the way, in 2012, PAO also eliminated Maccabi in the quarter-finals, and it took all five games to do so.

Maccabi, on the other hand, have not been to the final four since 2014, when they became champions.

To Berlin (Germany), where on May 24-26 the EuroLeague season will end, the traveling winners will compete in the semi-finals against the winners of the pair between “Monaco” (France) and Istanbul “Fenerbahçe” (Turkey). This quarter-final series has also reached the decisive fifth leg stage and will conclude on Wednesday in Monaco.

The culmination of the battle between “Barcelona” (Spain) and “Olympiakos” (Greece) awaits on Wednesday. And in this series, the result is 2:2, and in the semi-finals, the defending champions Real Madrid are already looking for future opponents, having beaten the other Spanish team Vitoria-Gasteiz Baskonia 3:0.

We remind you that Maccabi won the first (91:87) and third (85:83) confrontations of the series, Panathinaikos responded with victories in the second (95:79) and fourth (95:88) clashes.