Mac Tel Aviv takes 2-1 series lead on Pana

Maccabi Tel Aviv slipped by Panathinaikos 85-83 late Tuesday night as Lorenzo Brown hit the game-winning free-throws to give the yellow-and-blue a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-5 Euroleague quarterfinal clash.

With the win, Oded Katash’s squad will have a chance to wrap up the series and punch its ticket to the Final Four with a victory in Game 4, slated for Thursday night.

Over 1,000 fans traveled to Belgrade for Maccabi’s home-away-from-home game at Pionir Arena in Serbia due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, in order to provide the club with a true home game atmosphere which they had lacked all season.

The yellow-and-blue came flying out of the gate with Bonzie Colson scoring at will to give the hosts a 23-11 lead after the first quarter.

Katash’s crew continued to find points aplenty as Josh Nebo started to heat up inside. However, Ioannis Papapetrou and Kendrick Nunn kept Panathinaikos hanging around, though still down 46-37 at halftime.

Nebo took control of the third quarter, but Papapetrou and Mathias Lessort again kept Ergin Ataman’s team in the game. However, a late triple by Lorenzo Brown kept Maccabi ahead 67-56 heading into the final frame.

Nunn and Papapetrou again went to work for Pana and cut the Maccabi lead down to 78-70 with 5:01 remaining in regulation time. Then Nebo dunked before Papapetrou and Nunn went from beyond the arc, Lessort put in a rebound and Nunn went from deep again and all of a sudden it was a nailbiter.

Lessort then split his free throws to tie the game up at 83-83 with 42 seconds left.

However, with under three seconds left in the game, Jerian Grant fouled Brown – who cold-bloodedly hit his shots from the charity stripe, while Nunn missed a last-gasp effort to win the game as Maccabi came away with the razor thin victory to take a 2-1 series lead.

Players react

“Wow! Overall we deserved to win this game. We had the right energy,” Katash said. “I am really proud of the players.

We’re excited and happy to be here. We have two days to recover, make sure we don’t have the same scenario as this game and we have to come out with the same energy.”

“We missed the jump balls and didn’t take it,” lamented Panathinaikos’s Ataman. “We made a stupid foul with two seconds left and we missed a game-winning shot. Maccabi won and it’s 2-1. The game is 40 minutes long and we had the last shot to win the game, so I am satisfied. We didn’t play well, especially in the first half, and we need to start the game better. We didn’t play good basketball to start the game.”

Nebo scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Brown added 16 points and eight assists while Colson chipped in with 13 points in the win. Nunn scored 25 points, Papapetrou scored 17 points and Lessort scored 14 points in the loss.