Rise of Panathinaikos: What's been working for them lately? / News - Basketnews.com

BasketNews expert Augustas Suliauskas takes a look at the recent Panathinaikos Athens successful stretch, analyzing how Dejan Radonjic adjusted to Dwayne Bacon's strengths and created the winning formula.

Credit: Vangelis Stolis Credit Vangelis Stolis

Despite Tuesday's 3-point loss to Valencia in Spain,Panathinaikos Athenshave recently made significant progress in their game.

The start of the season was rough - the Greeks struggled without their primary point guardNate Woltersand managed to win only 1 game out of 5. Then came the famous addition ofDwayne Bacon, and with the return of Walters, Panathinaikos secured 5 victories in 8 contests.

In these last 8 games, we are getting to see the complete picture of how the team from Athens will look throughout this season. A lot of isolation basketball, showtime transition dunks, and sometimes unpredictable outcomes of their games.

Looking purely at the statistical columns, we see a huge difference between the periods with and without Bacon and Walters.

In the first 5 EuroLeague rounds, Panathinaikos were scoring only 100.3 points per 100 possessions (15th place), while later, this number went up to 112.6 points per 100 possessions (10th place).

Their defense remained average and unchanged, but the jump in offense heavily influenced their net rating, which went from 2nd worst to 8th best.

But how exactly did Panathinaikos involve Bacon and Walters? If it's mainly the isolation plays, is it simply Bacon's greatness or smart tactics byDejan Radonjic?

Let's look at the tape to see what has been working for Panathinaikos in their winning period with video examples.

Sign up for our premium membership and access exclusive content Subscribe