Panathinaikos beat Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Game 2 to tie EuroLeague playoff series

By Can Erozden

Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens sank their Israeli opponents Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 95-79 in a Thursday Game 2 to even the best-of-five Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoff series.

Home team Panathinaikos' experienced playmaker guard Kostas Sloukas, 34, scored a career-high 29 points to be the game's top scorer at Athens' Oaka Altion.

Ioannis Papapetrou scored 15 points and Konstantinos Mitoglou added 14 points for the Greens.

US guard Lorenzo Brown led Maccabi Tel Aviv with 18 points. Jake Cohen and Antonius Cleveland scored 12 points each for the Israeli team.

"The series starts now," Papapetrou said after the Greens tied the series 1-1, adding that Panathinaikos deserved the win on Thursday night for playing "well and aggressive" on the court.

Meanwhile Sloukas, who displayed an amazing performance against Maccabi Tel Aviv, said the key was to "be hungry" during the match.

Ergin Ataman's Panathinaikos will visit Maccabi Tel Aviv in Game 3 at Belgrade's Aleksandar Nikolic Hall on April 30.

- Real Madrid on verge of EuroLeague Final Four

Real Madrid beat their fellow Spanish rivals Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 101-90 at Madrid's WiZink Center to be on a 2-0 lead in the playoff series, a big advantage for the Whites.

Facundo Campazzo, the Argentine guard of Real Madrid, scored 24 points against Baskonia, who were led by Vanja Marinkovic.

Serbian forward Marinkovic racked up 20 points for Baskonia.

Real Madrid are now one win away from the EuroLeague Final Four as they will head to Vitoria-Gasteiz's Buesa Arena for Game 3 on May 1.

The 2024 Final Four will be held at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin from May 24-26.