Maccabi Tel Aviv clipped Panathinaikos 91-87 as Bonzie Colson and Lorenzo Brown led a heroic fourth-quarter comeback to hand the yellow-and-blue a 1-0 quarterfinal series lead at the OAKA Arena late Tuesday night.
Game 2 will be back in Athens on Thursday as Maccabi will look to take a commanding 2-0 lead and send the best-of-five series to its Belgrade home-away-from-home due to the war back for Game 3, and Game 4 if necessary.
In the opener, Oded Katash’s squad grabbed an early lead as Jake Cohen paced Maccabi, however Kostas Sloukas, Luca Vildoza and Kendrick Nunn gave Ergin Ataman’s Greek team a 50-42 halftime advantage.
Mathias Lessort and Wade Baldwin scored for their respective sides in the third quarter as Panathinaikos stayed in front 70-63, but Baldwin came up with a leg injury in the fourth quarter as he helped Maccabi cut down the lead. Still, Colson and Brown quickly picked up the slack with points from the outside and inside to give Tel Aviv lead, while Josh Nebo hit a pair of crucial free throws to ice the game and steal Game 1 on the road.
It’s unknown if Baldwin will play on Thursday due to the injury. While the player himself said that he will be ready to go for Game 2, the team is questioning if he will be able to take part in the festivities.
Colson scored 18 points, Brown added 16 points and Baldwin chipped in with 15 points in the win. Lessort scored 22 points, Sloukas put in 12 points and Jerian Grant scored 11 points for Pana in the loss.
Triumph, adversity, and determination
“I think we were down eight points at halftime and we were a little bit confused defensively,” Katash began his postgame comments. “We came back to our game plan and we hit some big shots on big possessions on offense. But it was everything defensively as we showed character and I am very proud.
“I hope Wade Baldwin’s injury is not that bad. The last possession and last minute always come down to big plays by big players on both sides. They missed their shot and we made it, but I am proud that we stuck in there and we stayed focused and believed. I am really happy.”
Panathinaikos took the loss in stride.
“I believe that we didn’t deserve to win,” Ataman said. “We missed 10 free throws, we made a lot of turnovers and in the last two minutes. Everybody – players, staff and the club – who tried to make a festival before the game [didn’t help] ... “The referees with two ridiculous calls and a 3-point shot for Baldwin.
"I complained that it’s not fair to give that 3-point shot … everything went against us and we lost the game and lost the advantage and destroyed seven months of work that we made in the regular season. If we do not go to the Final Four, I will not be at Panathinaikos next year.”
Colson, the game’s MVP, spoke about the victory.
“I wanted to play my game and we just fought until the end, but it was a group effort and at halftime we spoke about what got us to this point and we did that. Everybody stepped up and it’s one down. We stuck to what we do, playing good defense and hitting good shots when we need to and just staying together as we showed our resiliency. We just have to keep it up.”
Back to the on-court action, Konstantinos Mitoglou and Nunn scored for Panathinaikos as Baldwin and Brown did the same for Maccabi Tel Aviv while Jake Cohen had the hot hand for a pair of baskets to give the yellow-and-blue and early 9-7 lead midway through the first quarter.
Nunn scored in the paint, Cohen drilled one from deep, and Sloukas came in for a layup off the wing as the frantic end-to-end pace continued.
Maccabi kept up the pressure as Nebo dunked, to which Marius Grigonis dialed up from long distance, as did Brown. Baldwin hit a trio of free throws, Grigonis and Sloukas went from deep, Jasiel Rivero scored inside, Grigonis again went for a corner 3-ball, Lessort put down a monster dunk to close out the frame, but Maccabi held a 26-25 lead after 10 minutes of action.
Grant opened the second quarter with an off-balance jumper and Tamir Blatt went from deep, but Vildoza did the same for Pana and Lessort put in a deuce to keep things close. Grant scored while Nebo jammed, but a pair of triples from Vildoza gave the hosts a 43-32 lead with five minutes left in the half.
Colson put in a 3-point play as Nunn picked up his third foul, Juancho Hernangomez and Nebo traded baskets and Lessort dunked as Ataman’s squad took a 50-42 advantage into halftime.
Baldwin scored to begin the third quarter for Maccabi, while Sloukas scored off a Brown turnover. But Colson went from deep and Brown scored to cut the Pana lead to 60-54 midway through the frame.
Tel Aviv’s Antonius Cleveland checked in with a 3-point play, Rivero put in a James Webb miss, and Lessort and Webb traded dunks. But Pana retained control as Panagiotis Kalaitzakis hit his free throws to keep the host side in front 70-63 after 30 minutes.
However, Baldwin got the fourth quarter off and running with a 3-point play for Maccabi and added a pair from the charity stripe, and Colson drilled in a 3-pointer to make things super tight almost immediately.
Lessort and Baldwin traded buckets, Rivero and Lessort did the same. Then Tel Aviv got a boost with Colson and Brown hitting from beyond the arc to snatch a 81-77 lead with 5:56 remaining in regulation time.
Things went down to the wire as Grant came back with points for Pana, while Colson scored in the paint, and Blatt fed Nebo for an alley-oop.
The hosts refused to fold, however, as Grant knocked down a huge corner 3-ball and Nunn scored to tie the game up at 87-87 with 56 seconds left.
But Maccabi was up for the task as Brown came in for a layup, Sloukas threw the ball away on the penultimate Panathinaikos offensive possession and Nebo drained a pair of free throws to close out the narrow win.
“We stuck with it,” said Nebo. “We know that in playoff basketball, the game isn’t going to be won in the first quarter, and we had to be resilient. If they go up, we have to keep playing and we can’t get too high or too low. We stuck to the game plan and believed in one another and we found a way to win the game. In a game like this, you have to find a way and even though we’re tired we had to dig down deep as this is the most important part of the season.”