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Panathinaikos AKTOR left Bologna victorious (77-82) and Vasiliki Karamouza writes about the rocks of the greens, but also about the luxury worker who goes by the name of Jerian Grant.
A win is a win. What with one, what with five, what with fifteen points. Its value is always the same. He offers two points and goes into the bag. Especially if we are talking about away matches, in the first half or better the first third of the season. This is because in such cases the primary goal is always the result and not the difference. Besides, it’s still too early for PCs.
So, we can well say that the work of the Panathinaikos AKTOR in Bologna on Friday night (15/11) was crowned with success. Ergin Ataman’s team beat Luka Banki’s 82-77, making it seven wins in the first ten EuroLeague games and sitting in second place in the standings, along with four other teams. These are Olympiakos, Paris (!), Barcelona and Bayern Munich (!).
Yes, Paris who won the green on French soil a month earlier on October 15 and is now on a six-game winning streak. Yes, Bayern Munich who were 5/5 at the brand new SAP Garden, beating the red and whites among others.
The rocks
But let’s go back to Panathinaikos. Stable as rocks in their performance day in and day out are Matias Lessor and Kendrick Nunn. After ten turns in Europe’s premier interclub competition the French center is sixth in scoring across the league with an average of 20.2 points, while the American guard is twelfth on the relevant list with a 17.1 PIR.
And in the match against Virtus they had a leading role. The former counted 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 errors. The second offered 20 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 4 turnovers. They were the ones who laid the foundations in the first period with 8 and 6 points respectively. They also pull the biggest paddle usually. Nan plays an average of 29’17” – and stayed at 26’34” in Bologna, since he was loaded with 4 fouls from the 26th minute -, while Lessor stays on the court for 26’22”.
The luxury worker
At the end of the night, though, it was Gerryan Grant who stole the show. And rightfully so. The former EuroCup MVP had a steal, a three-pointer, two earned fouls, three of four shots, a rebound and an assist in the last 2’22” of the game, playing the most catalytic role in securing the positive result. Even if he had go unnoticed until that moment.
“It was a very tough game, like every away game, luckily we managed. It was difficult for me today up to that point, but the manager trusted me and let me in, so that means a lot. I finally did it. I hadn’t done much until then, so I wanted to do something for my team,” he said among other things after the end of the match.
Jerian Grant enjoys Ataman’s trust because he is a worker. But luxury worker. Or otherwise unsung hero, because he rarely gets the recognition he deserves for what he does on the floor, since he is surrounded by big stars, especially in the periphery, such as Kostas Slukas and Kendrick Nunn.
But if the third-quality-guard of a team (which this year became rather fourth after the arrival of Lorenzo Brown) offered an average of 8.6 points (49.7% on two-pointers, 41.6% on three-pointers, 86.1% on shots), 2.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals for 10.9 PIR, together with dogged defense, as Grant did last year for Panathinaikos, then we are definitely talking about luxury. And Ergin Ataman knows this well.
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