The Panathinaikos head coach has his side with home court advantage in the Euroleague Basketball playoffs. Now, Ergin Ataman has to show his side is ready for the next
The story of Euroleague Basketball can’t be written without the rivalry of Panathinaikos and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Ergin Ataman has another chapter in mind, one where his rejuvenated Greens prove they are back irrespective of the opponent.
A lot of history
The history of this competition from the start of the century through those first dozen years was defined by Panathinaikois. More often than not, one of them was lifting the trophy at season’s end.
The thing is, their last meeting with these kinds of stakes was all the way back in the 2011/12 Euroleague Basketball season. Ergin Ataman has been a key contributor to the competition’s narrative in the years since.
He led Galatasary to it, and Turkey’s, first ever Eurocup title in 2016. His move to Anadolu Efes sparked one of the most fun teams we’ve ever witnessed. There was the run to the championship game in 2019, the lost title of the cancelled campaign the following season, then back to back championships.
In Athens, with Panathinaikos, he has already built another thoroughly entertaining and impressive side in short order. Few coaches win this championship as it is. Fewer still can claim to have done it with more than one club. Ataman is building a legacy.
He’s the face to watch
The big storyline being pushed once the meeting was locked in has been Wade Baldwin IV vs Kendrick Nunn. Both guys are really good and really important. I’ve written about Nunn before this season.
There’s Kostas Sloukas, Lorenzo Brown, and Mathias Lessort all ready to dominate the narrative too. Still, when I look at this match-up, it’s impossible not to look at Ergin Ataman. From the ashes of ‘Cool Efes’ he came to a Panathinaikos side that spent most of the past decade outside of contention in Euroleague Basketball.
There is belief and expectation among Panathinaikos fans and players under the Ergin Ataman revolution
All he did was guide the side to second place in the regular season. That included a signature dominant win over Real Madrid, the table toppers. Panathinaikos lost both their games to Olympiacos in the competition, but picked up the Greek Cup title in between.
Getting to Berlin is a big deal for Panathinaikos fans. It’s an absolute must for Ataman. He wants to show that the turnaround can happen to this degree in the first year of the new plan.
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Different places
The context of what Ergin Ataman has done is important here. Maccabi Tel Aviv have been holding steady as a side at the lower end of the playoff positions for a couple of seasons now. In the first ever play-in game in the competition’s history, they won handsomely over Baskonia to set up this clash.
On the other side, Panathinaikos has undergone an extraordinary overhaul. The last few seasons were lamentable for the Greens. Most PAO fans would say I’m being kind with that phrasing. This season, they have put together an extraordinary roster under Ergin Ataman.
There’s far more expectation from Panathinaikos fans than there is pressure on Oded Kattash (the Maccabi coach). That says a lot because Kattash is always under pressure. It’s an odd spot for Ataman. Win this series and Panathinaikos fans will go to Berlin believing they can win it all but won’t be surprised if they don’t. Lose the series and the season is a failure.
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Winning the series is enough
That might sound like I am writing off Maccabi Tel Aviv, far from it, but this column is about Ergin Ataman. A series win here is enough for the first season of Panathinaikos under Ataman to be considered a success.
In a single year, he will have cemented the Greens as a side back at the very top table of Euroleague Basketball. Ataman will, of course, not see things that way. Anything other than the championship and, really, the treble including the Greek championship will disappoint him.
Still, this situation right now reminds me of Fenerbahce’s first Final Four under Zeljko Obradovic. Getting over that hump of getting to the final weekend of the season was so important for that group of players. There’s more experience of success on this Panathinaikos roster. Still, getting this group to Berlin is the big goal. Do that and, no matter what happens in May, there’s something to build on.
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