After the victories against Milan and Zalgiris, comes the ninth stop in eleven away games for Ivanovic’s team. Edwards’ 24 points are not enough, Nunn (21) is decisive
Virtus stops in Athens: Panathinaikos beats Vu Nere 84-71, it is Bologna’s first defeat of 2026 in the Euroleague, after the two consecutive successes against Milan and Zalgiris. Diouf’s return is not enough to stem the size of Holmes, who comes close to a double double with 16 points and 9 rebounds: Nunn then takes care of it (21 points) with an extraordinary second half to crush a Virtus who appeared out of the game for almost the entire second half of the match. What hurts Bologna the most – for whom Edwards’ 24 points were not enough – are the poor percentages from beyond the arc (9/29 from 3) and above all the turnovers (16 in total), which triggered the Greeks’ sprint.
the match
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Virtus takes the field with the right aggressiveness, repeatedly attacking the Greek area in penetration and entering the bonus after just 5′ of the match. What’s missing is a little cynicism. Despite the terrible start of Ataman’s men, who scored just 4 points in the first 5′ (with 1/7 from the field), Bologna didn’t take advantage of it to accelerate straight away. And as soon as they have the opportunity, the greens of Athens punish: the 9-0 run in the last 3′ of the first quarter puts Panathinaikos ahead 23-13. The Greeks seem to remain in control thanks to the hot hands of Osman (10 points in the first 13′), but Hackett’s experience and Pajola’s energy help the Vu Nere regain ground, returning to -4 (31-27) halfway through the second period. Edwards also goes up in shots, in the last seconds of the first half Bologna finds themselves just one possession away (36-33), but the triple from Nunn – who had not particularly appeared in the evening up to that point – pushes the Black Vu back: at half-time the hosts remain ahead 39-33.
collapse of virtue
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Upon returning from the locker room, Ivanovic lines up Morgan and Edwards together: the idea is to run and exploit the momentum seen at the end of the first half. Yet, it is the Greens of Athens who produce more on the counterattack, taking advantage of Virtus’ bloody turnovers (at 9 in the 23rd minute). By now Nunn has fully entered the game and scores the 9-0 run which brings Pana back to a double-digit lead (48-37). The small Juventus quintet does not seem to bring the right dividends and suffers terribly from the size of Holmes, who grinds out points under the basket and from the foul line. In the last quarter Taylor tries to give a shock from the arc, but the push brought by the number 11 is interrupted 3′ from the siren due to the technical foul called against Edwards: after the two free throws scored by Holmes, Panathinaikos runs away definitively on +16 (76-60) and never looks back. The Greeks put the whistles they received two nights ago against Milan behind them and won 84-71 against a Virtus team that didn’t seem to take the field in the second half.
Panathinaikos: Nunn 21, Holmes 16, Osman 11
Virtus: Edwards 24, Morgan 12, Akele 10
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