Panathinaikos will have a very difficult game against Anadolu Efes
Panathinaikos will have a very difficult game against Anadolu Efes
Panathinaikos will meet Anadolu Efes in the start of Euroleague round 6, two days after their matches from round 5. The Greek team has some problems with a total of 3 defeats and their heavy schedule won’t let them any time to rest. On the other hand, for Anadolu, everything looks solid, with 4 victories and one defeat against Barcelona. Let’s see a preview of this game.
In the last game, Panathinaikos had another long trip to Russia and lost the game against Khimki Moscow with 103-86. Their lack of energy in both ends made them lose the game, with the Russian team finishing with 56% shots made from the field, with 15 out of 29 shots made from the distance. Also, what drags them down was the rebounds battle. They were destroyed in this category, finishing with only 19 rebounds to Anadolu’s 40. Despite that, they had a chance to win the game based on Anadolu’s 17 turnovers, but their lack of precision made them shoot the ball only at 45%. It seems that fatigue had already caught Panathinaikos players and they would love the have more rest before this big game, but the schedule will continue to be heavy for them, with another match, in the national league, in 3 days. The main contributors in the game were Jimmer Fredette with 16 points and 3 assists, Nick Calathes with 10 points and 11 assists and DeShaun Thomas with 10 points. All those three players finished the game with 4 threes made out of 13 attempts.
For Anadolu the future is bright. They are now in a 5-wins run and everything seems to be on their side. In the last game, they easily beat Crvena Zvezda 85-70, in a game where nobody played more than 26 minutes, which means they will be fresh and ready for this big visit in Athens. Despite awfull shooting night for Shane Larkin who finished with 2-10 from the field, they got the win thanks to a stellar performance from Vasilije Micic who finished with 26 points and 5 assists. They also got some help from Crvena who finished with only 5 shots made from distance out of 23 attempts. Anadolu’s morale is sky high and I expect a big game from Shane Larkin because he has to revenge that performance and record another big game.
The only advantage for Panathinaikos is that they’re playing at home in front of their wonderful and loud fans. Despite that, everything is against them in my opinion. They are tired, as we saw against Khimki, they lack focus on both ends and their shooting wasn’t too good, especially from their star players. I expect and balanced duel, but I will go with Anadolu in this one.
Photo: Euroleague.net
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
