Panathinaikos started the Top 16 in style by holding on for an 83-76 victory over reigning Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv on Tuesday at Olympic Sports Center Athens. The Greens came back from a double-digit third quarter deficit to tie it at 68-68 on an A.J. Slaughter triple midway through the fourth quarter.
Strong defense, a big jumper by Slaughter and a clutch bank shot by Dimitris Diamantidis caused the visitors to throw in the towel before the final buzzer. Esteban Batista paced the Panathinaikos attack with 16 points, Slaughter scored 8 of his 15 in the fourth quarter and James Gist scored 10 of his 15 from the free throw line.
DeMarcus Nelson added 12 points and 5 assists and Diamantidis posted 11 and 7. Nate Linhart, who started in place of injured bwin December MVP Devin Smith, and Brian Randle scored 18 points each for Maccabi, while Alex Tyus posted 14 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks and Jeremy Pargo dished 9 assists.
Score in each period: 15-19, 39-43, 60-64, 83-76
| Time | Pts | 2FG | 3FG | FT | Rebounds | As | St | TO | Blocks | Fouls | |||||
| O | D | T | Fv | Ag | Rv | Cm | |||||||||
| A..J. Slaughter | 29:47 | 15 | 3/6 | 3/5 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Vladimir Jankovic | 22:31 | 7 | 1/5 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Antonis Fotsis | 11:49 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| DeMarcus Nelson | 23:28 | 12 | 3/6 | 1/1 | 3/4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Loukas Mavrokefalidis | 15:3 | 7 | 2/6 | 0/2 | 3/6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Dimitris Diamantidis | 34:24 | 11 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1/1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| James Gist | 28:11 | 15 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 10/12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Esteban Batista | 24:57 | 16 | 6/9 | 0/0 | 4/4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Janis Blums | 9:50 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals | 200:0 | 83 | 18/39 | 8/19 | 23/29 | 7 | 21 | 28 | 19 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 25 |
| Average | 46.2% | 42.1% | 79.3% | ||||||||||||
PHOTOS
