Yogi Ferrell's debut ruined as Nunnaly's Maccabi hold of Panathinaikos / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Seffi Magriso/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Seffi Magriso/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (3-2) scored their second straight victory at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, handing Panathinaikos OPAP Athens (1-4) their third straight loss 77-73 (19-13, 14-10, 22-17, 22-33).

Player of the Game EFF 25 James Nunnally Points 18 Accuracy 5-10 Rebounds 6 Assists 3

Nemanja Nedovic's drive capped off Panathinaikos 12-0 run to bring his team within 8 (56-64). The Greek squad continued clawing back into the game, with Ioannis Papapetrou cutting his team's deficit to four (68-72).

Papapetrou added another 3-pointer to help Panathinaikos come within three (71-74), but Scottie Wilbekin converted only one free throw, Macon answered with a two-pointer, and the lead was down to two (73-75).

But Wilbekin didn't miss at the charity stripe again, handing their home crowd a four-point victory.

James Nunnally led Maccabi with 18 points (4/6 2PT, 1/4 3PT, 7/7 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, and 25 PIR.

"Oh my god, way too dramatic," Nunnally said about the end of the game. "We were up by 15 plus. We gotta be better at finishing out games, especially at home. We need to just keep playing our game. Do what got us the lead. We stopped doing that. That’s why they came back."

Ioannis Papapetrou was great for Panathinaikos, finishing with 15 points (3/4 2PT, 3/7 3PT), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers, and 19 PIR.

Maccabi increased their lead in the second quarter. It reached double-digits with over 6 minutes remaining (28-18), and Maccabi went into halftime with a 10-point advantage (33-23).

Ante Zizic gave Maccabi their largest advantage towards the end of the third (53-34). But Daryl Macon Jr. caught fire in the final period, converting a four-point play to cut Panathinaikos' deficit to 13 (51-64).

"Today we got a very important win," Maccabi coach Sfairopoulos said post-game. "A win that we wanted a lot. They scored 33 points in the last period even though we kept them to 23 points in the first half. For sure we take away from the win how we played the first three quarters. And we need to improve the last minutes."

Zizic came back from injury, making his EuroLeague debut this season and ending with 6 points (3/5 2PT), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, and 6 PIR in 10 minutes.

Yogi Ferrell played his first EuroLeague game, scoring 3 points (0/2 2PT, 1/2 3PT), dishing 3 assists, committing 1 turnover, and finishing with 4 PIR in 10.5 minutes.

Maccabi: James Nunnally 18 (6 REB), Scottie Wilbekin 16 (7 REB, 4 AST), Derrick Williams 11, Roman Sorkin 9, Jalen Reynolds 6 (9 REB).

Panathinaikos: Daryl macon Jr. 17, Ioannis Papapetrou 16 (6 REB), Okaro White 15, Nemanja Nedovic 13, Georgios Papagiannis 6 (12 REB).

Highlights

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