Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to Panathinaikos 99-85 at the OAKA Arena in Athens as their Euroleague record dropped to 2-5 on the season as they now will look to get back on track with a date against Red Star Belgrade on Thursday night in what will be a “home away from home” game in the Serbian capital. The yellow-and-blue controlled the pace of play throughout the first half with terrific performances by Jimmy Clark and TJ Leaf coming off of the bench to keep Maccabi in front 49-47 at halftime. But in the fourth quarter with the scored knotted up at 71-71, the greens went on a 12-0 run thanks to Kostas Sloukas, Omer Yurtseven, Kendrick Nunn and Cedi Osman with Maccabi’s lack of depth was on full display as they succumbed to the 14-point defeat.

Jaylen Hoard scored 15 points, Clark added 14 points and Leaf scored 12 points while Nunn scored 22 points, Osman put in 20 points and Yurtseven scored 16 points in the win.

“We were in the game mainly because we found ways to score in the first half,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash began. “But even at halftime I felt that, offensively, the way we played was worth a bit more than just a two-point lead. Throughout the game we had problems with rebounding and aggressiveness as dealing with their size wasn’t easy. They got a lot of easy points in transition and they went to the line because at times we attacked the wrong way and turned the ball over. They grabbed significantly more rebounds than us, we had twice as many turnovers and here you simply can’t win a game like that against such an offensive team. We can definitely improve in that aspect.”

“Nunn found his shots in the second half and Cedi played very well, as did Yurtseven, especially on the offensive rebounds,” Panathinaikos Head Coach Ergin Atman said “We played great defense in the last quarter and that allowed us to find fast break points. We weren’t perfect, but we held them to a mere 36 points in the second half while playing smart offense at the other end.”

Jimmy Clark spoke about the defeat, “I just feel like at the end we didn’t get enough stops as a team in a row. I feel like it all starts and ends with defense so if you could a few stops at the end I think you would come out with the W. They executed more than we did and that’s something we got to work on. Defense and execution and we’ll be the team that we want to be.”

TJ Leaf also commented on the contest, “I think we battled and at the end of the third quarter and the fourth quarter it kind of got away from us, they picked up the pressure a little bit and we got beaten on the offensive glass. It’s just some small things. I thought we played a good game for the first 2.5-3 first quarters, and then we just let it get away from us, so it’s definitely a learning experience. There is a lot of confidence coming from that game. It’s just one of those ones you got to learn from it but move on quick cause we got a big game Thursday. We can’t really afford it to drop. We got to take what we learn and go for a big win on Thursday.”