Zalgiris has no chances in Athens 0

Panathinaikos Athens righted its ship in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague by racing past Zalgiris 91-56 to snap a two-game losing streak in Group C.

Miroslav Raduljica’s 18 points paced five players in double figures for Panathinaikos, which improved to 2-3 and stayed perfect at home. Panathinaikos made 11 of 19 three-pointers (57%) with James Feldeine nailing 5 for all of his 15 points. Vladimir Jankovic added 12 points and both Nick Calathes and Ognjen Kuzmic chipped in 11 points.

Ian Vougioukas collected 15 points and 7 rebounds in a losing effort for Zalgiris, which dropped to 2-3 with its first road loss of the season. Brock Motum added 10 points off the bench.

First quarter: Panathinaikos starts hot

Both coaches made changes to their lineups with James Gist and Kuzmic starting for Antonis Fotsis and Raduljica alongside Jankovic, Calathes and Feldeine for Panathinaikos. Zalgiris started with Olivier Hanlan for Renaldas Seibutis with Mantas Kalneitis, Paulius Jankunas, Vougioukas and Edgars Ulanovas. Vougioukas opened the scoring with a free throw. Feldeine got the hosts on the score board with a three-pointer. Zalgiris struggled with its shooting early while Panathinaikos moved ahead 7-1 on scores from Kuzmic and Jankovic. Zalgiris’s first basket was a Hanlan layup after a Vougioukas steal to make it 7-3. Feldeine knocked down his second three-pointer before Vougioukas followed up his own miss. Raduljica came into the game and dominated play, first finding Jankovic for an easy basket and then scoring in the lane. Hanlan knocked down a three-pointer as Zalgiris tried to stay close but Calathes’s layup opened a double-digit lead at 19-8. Motum nailed a three-pointer and Robertas Javtokas scored inside to keep the gap at 21-13. But Raduljica hit an inside score and Dimitris Diamantidis found Kuzmic for a layup and a 27-13 Panathinaikos lead after 10 minutes.

Second quarter: Panathinaikos with 12-1 close to first half

Sasha Pavlovic opened the second quarter with a three-pointer from the left side to push the margin to 30-13. Lukas Lekavicius responded with a three ball of his own before Raduljica came up with a follow-up dunk for a 32-16 lead. Zalgiris followed with its best phase of the first half with 8 straight points as Vougioukas scored two baskets and Edgars Ulanovas hit a three-pointer on the shot-clock buzzer to pull the guests within 32-24. Ulanovas had a chance to get it closer but Gist raced back to block his fastbreak layup attempt. Feldeine followed with a three-pointer and Calathes converted on the break to make it 37-24. Ulanovas stopped the bleeding temporarily with a free throw but Raduljica converted 2 of 2 and Calathes scored again on the break before Dimitris Diamantidis had a three-point play to give the hosts a 44-25 lead at intermission.

Third quarter: Three-pointers just keep falling

Jankunas opened the second half with a put-back basket but was answered by a Kuzmic reverse layup. Gist’s free throws made it 48-27. Feldeine and Calathes both knocked down three-pointers and the advantage swelled to 54-31. Vougioukas scored his second basket of the quarter but the Greens were on a roll, with Raduljica grabbing the ball and going coast to coast for a layup plus one and a 57-33 cushion. After a Jankunas put-back, Pavlovic nailed a long ball and Kuzmic hit a jump hook and Panathinaikos had opened a 30-point margin at 65-35. Siim-Sander Vene and Lekavicius scored for the guests but Diamantidis buried a three-pointer and Vasilis Charalampopolous came up with a big block on Lekavicius and then a dunk for a 70-41 score after three quarters.

Fourth quarter: Panathinaikos never let up

Motum hit the first basket of the fourth quarter but Zalgiris could not get any defensive stops as Raduljica scored, Jankovic nailed a three and Gist converted free throws for a 77-43 margin. Vougioukas made two foul shots and Motum got out on the break for a dunk. But even though Vene’s basket trimmed the deficit to 77-49, Panathinaikos did not cool down with Jankovic and Feldeine both hitting three-pointers and 17-year-old Michalis Lountzis scored his first points of the season for the hosts down the stretch.