Panathinaikos BC 2024 Euroleague Champions! How did they made it?

After 13 years of constant failures and misery ,Panathinaikos BC won their 7th Euroleague title in Berlin against Real Madrid.

Panathinaikos 7th euroleague trophy is special. Not only because it was the 7th title that the team has won but because of all the adversity and the difficulties they faced.

The previous season Panathinaikos finished one spot ahead of the last position in the european league.

How is it possible for a team that was at the bottom of the league last year, to winning it all the next year?

Is their success pure luck? Let's break it down!

Many many changes..

Panathinaikos 2022-2023 roster had high hopes but failed to meet the expectations

The 2022-2023 season was disastrous for Panathinaikos. Even though they had created a roster that on paper seemed to have potential, with players like Derrick Williams, Dwayne Bacon, Paris Lee and Nate Wolters, they ultimately collapsed.

So after a dissapointing 2022-2023 campaign, Panathinaikos had to make some serious changes. The roster was completely remade with only few players staying.

Head coach Dejan Radonjic was sacked and in his place came one of the best head coaches of the recent Euroleague history: Ergin Ataman. That was the first important move.

The players

Panathinaikos made some huge moves in the summer and brought some of the most highly decorated players in Euroleague. Let's see the most important of them real quick!

After creating a strong roster the team had high hopes for the start of the season.

Something's missing..

Pao set high goals for the season. Coach Ergin Ataman said in a press conference that the team will return to the Final Four this year. The first results though weren't that good. The players seemed to have no chemistry and it was visible for everyone.

Panathinaikos got humiliated by Olympiacos in the greek super cup, with a final score of 75-51. Of course it was early and the team needed some time to adjust.

The first results from the Euroleague weren't good either. PAO after the first 6 games had a record of 2-4. Some players in the team couldn't contribute to their contract standards.

Lucas Vildoza was very inconsistent, Hernangomez wasn't able to provide the outside shooting like he did for Spain in the Euro 2023 and Kostas Sloukas wasn't looking like he was worthing the 3 million per year.

Something was missing and it was obvious.

Enter Kendrick Nunn

Kendrick Nunn playing for the Miami Heat

The results weren't ideal for Panathinaikos, so they started looking at the NBA free agent market. They choosed to sign Kendrick Nunn, a 6'5 point guard with 4-year NBA experience.

Nunn wasn't just your typical role player. Nunn in his four-year career has averages of 12.1 points per game, 2.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds.

Nunn was a force in his first 2 years with the Miami Heat, averaging 15.3 points per game while helping the team reach the NBA finals in 2021.

Due to many injuries Nunn had lost his confidence and wasn't able to find a contract in USA so he had nothing to lose.

The missing piece

With Nunn on the roster, Panathinaikos was a changed team. Nunn adjusted almost immediately to the European style of play.

A pick and roll threat, a master at creating his own shot and plays, was exactly what Panathinaikos was missing. Nunn proved to be unguardable for the opponents.

Kendrick Nunn stats for the 2023-2024 Euroleague season:

16 points per game
2.7 rebounds per game
3.0 assists per game
46% Field goal
41% 3PT field goal
96% Free throw

Nunn was spectacular the whole season and his stats, combined with the teams overall success, proved that point. He also helped by taking some of the playmaking duties off of Kostas Sloukas.

Sloukas rebirth

After Nunn arrived Slouka's perfomance was better. Let's take a brief look at Slouka's stats before and after the arrival of Kendrick Nunn:

Before ( 6 games played, Euroleague only):

12.5 points per game
4.8 assists per game
43.7 overall field goal percentage

After (28 games played including playoffs):

12.9 points per game
5.8 assists per game
50.7 overall field goal percentage

The stats may not tell the whole story but Sloukas perfomance was better. Panathinaikos needed another point guard who could create his own shot and take the ball handling duties.

PAO created an amazing trio of star guards with Nunn, Sloukas and Grant who terrorized the opponents defense.

Like a well oiled-machine

After Panathinaikos found their missing piece everything started clicking for them. They finished the season in the 2nd place behind Real Madrid, with a record of 28-13.

The players had finally found how to work together. Jerian Grant was amazing with his lockdown defense expertise and his shot making while Dinos Mitoglou offered a huge scoring burst in the forward position with 13 points per game.

Mathias Lessort was a beast down low also. Even though he was one of smaller centers in the league, his amazing quickness and athletism made him a force down in the post. Heavy centers weren't able to keep up with him.

Marius Grigonis filled the role of great 3 point shot-point forward the whole season, while Hernagomez and Kalaitzakis became two of the most reliable defenders in the roster.

The team was working like a well-oiled machine. PAO entered the playoffs with home-court advantage against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Maccabi Tel-aviv

Coming in the playoffs, PAO had to face Maccabi Tel aviv, a team that had beaten him in both of their meetings. This proved a quite difficult task.

Maccabi won games 1 and 3 creating a commanding 2-1 lead. But PAO hadn't said his final words. With amazing perfomances from Sloukas, Nunn, Papapetrou, Lessort and Grant, Panathinaikos was able to win both games 4 and 5.

With their backs against the wall, PAO stayed in tact and never gave up even in game 4, with Maccabi having a 7-point lead with 6 minutes remaining.

It was an amazing perfomace. After a 13 year drought, Panathinaikos returned back to the Euroleague Final Four.

Final Four

PAO's first game was against Fenerbache BC and Sarunas Jasikevicious. It was clear that road to the final wouldn't be easy. But they made it look easy!

PAO created a 12 point lead in the first 4 minutes of the game. Even though Fener was able to come back in the 3rd quarter, with the lead being 53-50 in favor of PAO, Kalaitzakis hit a huge buzzer beating 3 at the end of the 3rd quarter which changed the momentum completely.

After that play, Fener wasn't able to come back again. PAO advanced to the final to face off against one of the best teams ever created: Real Madrid.

Euroleague Final

PAO entered the game as the underdog. Real with a roster full of stars: Walter Tavares, Facundo Campazzo, Mario Hezonja, Dzanan Musa, Sergio Llull, Vincent Poirier, Guerschon Yabusele, Fabian Causer and Rudy Fernandez seemed an impossible task.

Real won relatively easy in their final-clinching game against Olympiacos. And that's what they wanted to do against PAO. Real started the game the same way they started against Olympiacos. At the middle of the second quarter, Real had a 14 point lead 41-27.

But PAO wasn't going out without a fight. A dunk from Juancho Hernangomez to cut the lead to 12 changed the whole momentum of the game. PAO was able to cut the lead to 5 points at end of the 2nd quarter.

At the start of the 3rd, PAO was looking like a different team. Sloukas couldn't miss a shot, Nunn who had foul trouble earlier had finaly found his rythm, Lessort was feasting against Tavares and Poirier and Grant was hitting huge shots while playing lock down defense on Campazzo.

In the 4th quarter Real seemed gassed. Sloukas and Mitoglou hit some incredible shots. After creating an 8 point lead with 4 minutes remaining, PAO never looked back. After 13 years of failures and heartbreaking loses, Panathinaikos returned back to his throne.

The magic of Ergin Ataman

I haven't spoke in this article about Ataman. Ataman is maybe the number one reason why PAO won the Euroleague.

Ataman is the best coach PAO had since Zeljko Obradovic. He outplayed both Jasikevicius and Matteo in the final four. Let's look deeper at the game against Fenerbache.

There was a certain point in the game which both PAO and Fener were struggling on offense. Ataman brought in his defensive squad in this crucial moment. But why? Most coaches would have put their best offensive players if their team struggled in that end of the court.

But that's the reason Ataman is a top tier coach. He sees ahead of the game. With the defensive squad on the court, PAO broke Fenerbache even though the game was still close. After that Ataman brought in all his offensive weapons to finish them off in the 4th.

Ataman did the same with Real Madrid. He exploited every weakness they had and he outcoached Chus Mateo as well. Ataman is the mastermind of PAO, the person who created this roster and brought them on top. He is the no1 reason behind Pamathinaikos success.

Back to back?

Panathinaikos goal right know is the greek championship. It's to early to speak about the next Euroleague season. But one thing is certain. PAO wants to stay on top.

The offseason will be very interesting. The team certainly needs some player in the center and forward position. Ataman will choose the players of course and he will make the right choice.

For sure Panathinaikos will be one of the favourites if not the favourite to win it all for the next season as well. Is it to early to say that? Maybe. Only time will tell.

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