Panathinaikos BC AKTOR defeated Real Madrid 87–77 on the road, in a game for Round 11 of the EuroLeague regular season. T.J. Shorts was the top scorer for the Greens with 19 points.

The game was balanced in its opening minutes, with the two teams tied at 7–7 in the 3rd minute, before Panathinaikos BC AKTOR went ahead 12–9 a minute later. In the 6th minute, the Greens extended the lead to 17–9, and by the 7th minute they had built a double-digit margin (19–9), with the hosts reducing it to 19–13 in the 8th.

The first quarter ended 22–16 in favor of the Greens, who made it 30–22 in the 13th minute. Real Madrid cut the lead to 30–26 in the 14th, but by the 16th minute the Greens were ahead again by nine (38–29), and a minute later they restored the double-digit difference (43–32). In the 18th minute, Panathinaikos BC AKTOR pulled ahead 47–34, going into halftime with a 52–38 lead.

The Greens pushed the score to 56–40 in the 21st minute and reached a +19 margin (59–40) in the 22nd. Real Madrid reduced it to 59–54 in the 23rd minute and to 61–50 in the 25th, while by the 27th minute the score was 67–54. In the 29th minute, the Greens extended their lead to 73–56, closing the third quarter at 73–59.

Panathinaikos BC AKTOR made it 77–59 in the 33rd minute, but by the 35th minute the hosts had trimmed the difference to 79–66. Their reaction proved short-lived, however, as the Greens never lost their double-digit edge until the end, departing the Spanish capital triumphant with the final score 87–77.

Quarters: 16–22, 38–52, 59–73, 77–87.

Real Madrid (Scariolo): Lyles 7 (1), Abalde 8 (2), Campazzo 4, Okeke 3 (1), Hezonja 5 (1), Maledon 6, Deck 4, Garuba, Tavares 20, Llull, Feliz 16 (2), Len 4.
Panathinaikos BC AKTOR (Ataman): Shorts 19 (1), Kalaitzakis, Osman 13 (3), Sloukas 15 (1), Rogkavopoulos 7 (1), Samodurov, Grant, Nunn 8 (2), Faried 16, Grigonis, Hernangomez 5 (1), Mitoglou 4.

Ataman: “A great win for us”

Panathinaikos BC AKTOR head coach Ergin Ataman stated in the press conference following the road game against Real Madrid:

“It’s a great win for us. Real Madrid is a great team, and this is their first home loss in the EuroLeague. We started the game very smart defensively, we protected the paint. We played aggressive defense on Campazzo so he couldn’t easily pass the ball to Tavares. Offensively, it was one of our best away games, because when you play on the road against teams like Real and you have 17 assists and 4 turnovers, you’re playing excellent basketball.

We used Shorts very well, he had an excellent game. We controlled the game with Sloukas. One of the keys was Faried again. For this team, in the last two games he has been like ‘medicine’, because we had no centers after the injuries.

Before the double-week, I met with Shorts and told him that I had said publicly I wasn’t happy with his performance, and I asked him if he was happy. He said no. He wasn’t happy. We talked. He played very well in Paris and tonight he had one of his best games with Panathinaikos BC AKTOR. He’s an excellent player and he needs to understand our systems — and the other players need to understand Shorts. He made a huge contribution; I’m 90% satisfied with him after this game.

If you check Faried’s career, it’s incredible in the NBA. He even played against Turkey with Team USA, the ‘Dream Team’, with Curry, Harden, Davis. After that, in the last 4–5 years he disappeared. He was at CSKA Moscow, then he played in Taiwan, China, Puerto Rico. I didn’t expect him to come in and contribute like this right away. Not only in basketball terms — he has an amazing character. He’s very positive and he helps the team. Everyone respects him, and he gave us exactly what we needed. In these two games, he replaced Lessort — he played like Lessort. He’s very important for us. He likes this and he showed that he is a player of this level. We understood it, and the players understood it too.”