From day to night. From heaven to hell. From everything to nothing, in short. Because the average that Laprovittola equaled with two free throws almost at the buzzer is no consolation for a Barça that has not lived up to the task in the most decisive week. If against Fenerbahçe only a fourth appeared (the third), against Panathinaikos he provided an encouraging first half but disappeared after the break (55-35) against a Panathinaikos made bigger by the eternal Sloukas. The Barça team falls to fourth place, with three games left to try to secure home field advantage in the playoffs, a factor that is seen as decisive for going to Berlin.
And we saw a very different Barça from the one in Istanbul at the beginning. He started very seriously, very intense in defense and moving the ball non-stop in attack, driving a Panathinaikos team crazy that was unable to decipher where the blows were coming from. A run by Kalinic ended the score at 11-19 (minute 8), the first big difference of the night in Athens. Only Nunn, very inspired, prevented Barça from making the wound bigger.
OAKA was encouraged with Lessort trying to command the comeback but Willy Hernangómez always responded well, inventing points where there were none. Even in bad times you could see a comfortable team in the Barça ranks. So much so that, suddenly, Barça got on the Concorde and took off. From 24-23 it went to 24-40 after a spectacular partial of 0-17, signed in a very choral manner. Satoransky and Ricky shared the baton, Laprovittola collaborated with some triples and Willy continued doing his thing. This time it was Mitoglou who was the Ataman’s best weapon. The Greek broke the set and cut back to keep his team in the game.
The passage to the locker room was a huge burden for Grimau’s team, which gradually lost confidence and disappeared from the OAKA pitch at the same rate as the green fans increased their decibels. With Sloukas in charge – the Greek legend is the Duracell rabbit that never ends – Ataman’s team equalized the forces in the light with a powerful third quarter, preparing the ground to finish the job in the last. There, the green hurricane swept away Barça, whose refereeing with a flavor of the 80s did not help either, leading 89-76. With the average as the only incentive against possible draws – the Blaugrana had won by 8 at the Palau – Barça was able to cut to the final 89-81 that Laprovittola drew after a gift from Sloukas. It didn’t matter because the green party was a big one.
Barça has become an indecipherable team and not in a good way.
89 – Panthinaikos (20 14 26 29): Jerian Grant (9), Nunn (22), Grigonis (8), Mitoglou (19), Lessort (13) -starting five-, Kalaitzakis (0), Vildoza (0), Balcerowski (0), Sloukas (18) and Juancho Hernangómez (0)
81 – Barça (23 23 15 20): Satoransky (12), Jokubaitis (6), Kalinic (4), Parker (9), Vesely (13) -starting five-, Da Silva (2), Rubio (4), Willy Hernangómez (13), Laprovittola (6) and Abrines (12),
Referees: Mehdi Diffallah (FRA), Gytis Vilius (LIT) and Michele Rossi (ITA). Eliminados: Vesely (min. 38).
Incidents: matchday 31 of the Euoroliga played at the OAKA pavilion in Athens.
