UN spectacular second quarter, which partially made it 31-11 , and The 29 points of the formidable Kostas Sloukas were enough for Panathinaikos To send Maccabi in the second round of the EuroLeague quarterfinals (95-79) He tied the series, to the best of five and with the field advantage of Israel after imposing in the first match played at the Athenian Oka.
The staging is similar to what happened on Tuesday at the same stage. Maccabi, despite the absence of the injured Wade BaldwinDon’t be intimidated by the atmosphere in the stands, plant Kara led Jake Cohen, the author of ten of the first fourteen points of his team. The Greeks tried , but they lacked the skill to counter those Oded Qatash, Who went to the first half eight up (20-28, min 10).
The scene changes radically in the second act. Slokas , with three consecutive three-pointers and fifteen points in the first half, The board turned over and stimulated his own, from which to go six down (30-36), They continued to dominate by Twelve in the first half After a part sequence of 21-3 it was translated into 51-39 with which the first part ended.
The dynamics was maintained at the beginning of the second half. The Greeks continued to open the gap until they got 18 advantages Points thanks to the success of slukas, who continued to connect and contributed another seven points in the third quarter. The Maccabees endured the cold and did not give up. With good direction and points of Lorenzo Brown, they made a final rush that tightened the score and allowed him to survive until the last ten minutes (71-60, 30 minutes).
Because guided by Cleveland and inspired by Cuban Gacel Rivero, Maccabi He came to put himself on target eight minutes from the end (71-68) after a 0-12 sequence in his favor returned the emotion to the clash and forced Arjen Ataman to stop the match. Even then the troops of the Israelis arrived, who could no longer stop the victorious stalemate in Panathinaikos led by Slokas and Papapetrou Let them go to win and manage until the playoffs.