This next weekend, From Friday 23 to Sunday, May 25, the Euroleague Final Four will be held in Abu Dhabi. The four best teams in Europe will meet at the Arena Etihad to meet the new King of European basketball and, in Sport, we will look for the reasons why each of the sets can be reigning of the Arab Emirates.
The first will be the PANATHINAIKOS. Champions in Berlin last year, the Greek team now seeks its eighth crown in the Euroleague. A square that won after ending third in the regular phase with 22 wins and 12 losses, while then needed the fifth game, with an Oaka in boiling, to overcome the Anadolu Efes and qualify for the Final Four.
In Abu Dhabi he will run first with the Turkish Fenerbahce, in the first semifinal, a match that will be played on Friday 23 at 5:00 p.m. Spanish time. And to win, they will look for the best version of their star, Kendrick Nunn, which a few weeks ago was awarded the MVP trophy of the regular season.
Balls to Nunn
With experience in multiple NBA franchises, Kendrick Nunn arrived at the Panathinaikos in the late 2023. A Greek team with a balance of 2 wins and 4 losses, which became 6 wins and 4 losses after the arrival of the American. Little by little, his prominence was more and ended being a key piece for Ergin Ataman to win the Real Madrid and lift the Euroleague of 2024. But this year, Nunn has been overcome.
Being the top scorer of the Euroleague, tied with Carsen Edwards with an average of 20.4 points, The American reached twenty points in 18 of the 34 phase games. In addition, it only remained without reaching the ten digits three times. When the ball burns, the Panathinaikos looks for its star base and, in most cases, it is expensive.
With this level, leading his team to the Top3 of the regular phase, Kendrick Nunn was chosen in the best five of the Euroleague. Then, By a single vote of difference, MVP was chosen from this regular phase above the star of its maximum rival, Sasha Times of Olympiacos.
The most winning coach
Another reasons that Panathinaikos has to believe that it can revalidate the Euroleague title is on the bench, with Ergin Ataman. Debuting as a technician in Europe the 2002-2003 season, that year he reached the Final Four of Barcelona with Montepaschi de Siena, being third in which it was the first title of Barça. Then, came to participate in 10 consecutive Euroligas without being among the four bestbut that changed in 2019, where it began to be the man to beat.
Ergin Ataman, winner of 3 of the last 4 Euroligas / VALENTI ENRICH
That same 2019, with Anadolu Efes, he planted in the Final Four and fell in the final against CSKA of Moscow, but Ataman had already returned. After the cancellation of the next course for the pandemic, the following season, the 20/21 was its year. The rematch was taken before the Russians and, in the final, He surpassed Barça in an adjusted match to give Ephes the first Euroleague in his history. And not satisfied with that, he repeated again the year 2022winning the Real Madrid in the final.
Finally, after a bad course at the head of the Turkish team, without even entering the play-offs, Ergin Ataman left Turkey, but did not last long as a free agent. He arrived in Greece, took the reins of the Panathinaikos and took them, last year, to conquer his seventh Euroleague, the first since 2011. And having already achieved it with Efes, the clear objective of the Turkish coach is to repeat the deed with the Panathinaikos to continue making history with the green.
Veteran and talent in equal parts
With Ergin atamate on the bench and Kendrick Nunn on the track, the Greek team would already present a candidacy as a team to follow in the Euroleague. But dissecting the team, the Panathinaikos template has formed a Ideal veteran and talent mixture to play it all or nothing in a game.
Players like Jerian Grant, the eternal Kostas Sloukas or a Mathias Lessort who is trying a miraculous recovery to play in Abu Dhabi are some of the first swords that the Oaka club has. However, this year, the great story of Panathinaikos is Juancho Hernangome. With a reduced role in 2024, this year Spanish disputes more than 27 minutes per game and, its performance, justifies it. Of averaging a 5.8 valuation last year to make a 15.5 in this.
Beyond these outstanding, players like Omer Yurtseven, Constantine Mitoglou, Cedi Osman, Wenen Gabriel O Lorenzo Brown They have just formed one of the best templates in the Euroleague. And in Abu Dhabi, they will have to demonstrate on the track that they deserve to be new European champions.
