The first game of the second half of the EuroLeague regular season presents the highest level of difficulty: Olimpia travels to Athens to face a Panathinaikos team that has played in the last two Final Fours, won the 2024 Final Four, will host the 2026 Final Four, and is built to win it all. Moreover, they will be highly motivated after last week’s defeat in the Athens derby and will be eager to avenge the defeat suffered by Olimpia in Milan a few weeks earlier (with eight three-pointers from Armoni Brooks). Olimpia enters this game motivated to regain its EuroLeague rhythm, but at the moment it cannot add any of its core players because Leandro Bolmaro is not yet ready to return, and Coach Poeta will have to rely on the same players who have carried the team on their shoulders for over a month now, with performances that inevitably cannot always be top-notch (Shavon Shields is with the team in Athens but he is questionable since some overloading needed to be treated prudently). Olimpia is especially challenged to improve its defensive performance after allowing 99 points to Dubai and 97 to Bologna in its last two road games. The first game against Panathinaikos was won by playing an emotionally spectacular game, getting pace and efficiency from everyone. To stay in the game in OAKA the same spirit will be needed. Josh Nebo is 11-of-12 from the field over his last two games and appears to be the hottest player, which is good news considering Panathinaikos’ extraordinary array of big men. The numbers suggest that the potential difference in Olimpia’s favor is three-point shooting (38.6 percent vs. 34.3 percent), but a defensive assault is expected from the opening possessions. And the approach will determine Olimpia’s chances against a team that is 6-3 on its home court.
NOTES – Panathinaikos Athens- Olimpia Milano is scheduled to be played on Tuesday, January 6th in OAKA, Athens, at 20:15, Italian Time.
REFEREES – Damir Javor (Croatia), Gytis Vilius (Lithuania), Marcin Kowalski (Poland).
COACH PEPPE POETA- “We face a great team, built to win it all and deeply motivated. We played probably our best game of the year against them just a few weeks ago and we will try to get as close as possible to that level again, despite the roster emergency that is still hard to overcome.”
PANATHINAIKOS OUTLOOK – Panathinaikos is a team built to win the title after winning it in 2024 and reaching the semifinals in 2025. The roster has immense depth at every position, so even injuries have been managed without too many problems and the team’s record is evidence of how legitimate Panathinaikos’ ambitions are. Coach Ergin Ataman constantly changes the starting line-up, alongside the irreplaceable Kendrick Nunn, who is averaging 19.2 points and 3.5 assists per game. Nunn is an incredibly talented guard, shooting 59.3 percent from two and 38.6 percent from three. He has 193 NBA appearances under his belt and averaged 12.3 points per game. Around him, the guards are TJ Shorts, last year’s MVP in Paris, who is staying 17.3 minutes on the court, averaging 8.6 points, and 3.4 assists per game; Kostas Sloukas, who rarely starts but averages 21.2 minutes per game, scoring 10.3 points and 5.6 assists per night, impressive numbers considering his playing time; Jerian Grant, who is a defensive specialist in the department, even though his 6.5 points per game are the result of 41.3 percent three-point shooting (he also averages 3.2 assists per game). At small forward, Turkish player Cedi Osman boasts 476 NBA games and 9.3 points per game. This year, he’s averaging 14.1 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, and a 46.3 percent three-point shooting accuracy. Panathinaikos also has Marius Grigonis at the position but has seen limited playing time after a long injury layoff, and Nikos Rogkavopoulos (4.3 points per game), who was acquired from Baskonia in the summer. Sharing the minutes at power forward are the Spaniard Juancho Hernangomez, another player with 339 NBA games played, in his third season at Panathinaikos with 8.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game (2.4 offensive), and Dinos Mitoglou (6.4 points, 3.6 rebounds per game, 56.2 percent two-point shooting). At the center position, Panathinaikos has had the biggest problems: Matthias Lessort has not yet returned, so the starter is Richaun Holmes (489 NBA games), who, however, due to injury, has only been used sparingly averaging 7.7 points (70.0 percent from two) and 3.7 rebounds, including 2.4 offensive ones. Turkish Omer Yurtseven, who spent three years in Miami with 113 appearances, is averaging 8.2 points (on 66.7 percent shooting from the field) and 4.5 rebounds per game. Finally, the latest signing Kenneth Faried, who spent last year in Reggio Emilia but had 472 NBA appearances through 2019, is averaging 8.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, 3.7 grabbed under the offensive board. When necessary, Panathinaikos uses defensive specialist Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, who is also a Greek international, and also the emerging center Alexandros Samodurov, born in 2005.
THE PANATHINAIKOS CONNECTION – Jerian Grant spent in Milan the 2021/22 season, helping the team win the Italian Cup and the Italian championship. While in the Italian Cup, he was barely used, his impact was huge during the playoffs. He appeared in 36 Italian league games, 11 in the playoffs. In the EuroLeague, he had 26 games, and 42 points scored. Dinos Mitoglou, over the same season, played 13 EuroLeague games with 99 points scored for Olimpia before his season was interrupted by a suspension. Lorenzo Brown has spent one season for Panathinaikos, the last one, with 238 points scored over 38 games.
