Panathinaikos has lost to Asvel Lyon, after a horrible 4th quarter
Panathinaikos has lost to Asvel Lyon, after a horrible 4th quarter
After the blow suffered by Olympiacos in Lyon, the other Greek participant in the Euroleague took some cautions. Panathinaikos came with a visible desire to fight. They controlled the game the whole time and before the last stanza, they were ahead with a comfortable margin 63-50. Then the disaster couldn’t be avoided.
The real problem of Panathinaikos was revealed by the low efficiency of some of their players. In terms of index rating, only 4 of them counted yesterday in the clash against Asvel Lyon. The spectacular DeShaun Thomas finished with amazing numbers: 22 points with 7/11 at the 2 points range, 2/2 from the arc and the same at the free-throws for a total of 29 efficiency value. He was followed by Jimmer Freddete who ended up with 18 points and Nick Calathes – 13 points. These 3 guys had 64 index rate from a total of 76 that the whole Greek powerhouse could reach against the low-cost squad of Lyon. If you add Jacob Wiley with 8 units on this category you have a total of 72 from 76!
To resume the things, Panathinaikos had 7 players that yesterday had together 4 at efficiency. Many of them did nothing on the court, except running a bit and trying to defend. The ex-NBA-er Wesley Johnson was scoreless, finishing with negative index rate. The Greek center Ioannis Papapetrou who saw almost 30 minutes on the court had -3 on efficiency. Tyrese Rice, exepting the amazing buzzer-beater of the 2nd quarter, ended up with 0 index rate! And so on!
The run-and-gun mentality was not working so well for Panathinaikos because in France all the teams are playing this style, so it cannot be an advantage to use this weapon against them. The chaos will help only chaotic teams. The Greek powerhouse has to focus more on organizing the offense. Yesterday they had 17 turnovers compared with only 13 made by Asvel Lyon. Only Calathes had 7 of them, a huge number if you want the victory.
Even if it’s the beginning of the season, changes have to be made by Panathinaikos.
Photo: Euroleague.net
Gratian Cormos
