With Lesor returning to action after a serious injury, Panathinaikos, which had lost four straight, beat Zalgiris 92-88 for the 31st round of the Euroleague.
The French center was in the starting five and provided scoring solutions at the start of the game, with the Greens leading 7-2. But then Zalgiris rallied and managed to close the first quarter at +3 (24-27).
In the second, though, Ergin Ataman’s team worked better on both offense and defense and with Osman and Nunn scoring, managed to pull ahead and be up 4 (44-40) at the end of the first half.
In the third quarter, the “cloverleaf” was even better and with Osman and Nunn continuing undaunted, they even got to +9 (55-46), but the Lithuanians did not get carried away but, on the contrary, went on an 8-0 run and closed the gap to one point (55-54).
Panathinaikos, however, remained calm, found the solutions, got away again (63-54) and entered the last quarter from +6 (65-59), where they looked ready for victory. At 36 minutes the score was 82-68 and Telecom Center Athens was… on fire, but Zalgiris managed to come back.
The Lithuanians converted a 3-14 partial score to turn 82-68 into 85-82, but Juancho made a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left to make it 88-82 and Panathinaikos finally got the win 92-88.
The quarters: 24-27, 44-40, 65-59, 92-88
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