In this YouTube video, Elijah Bryant and a panel of commentators recap Game 5 of the EuroLeague quarter‑final series between Anadolu Efes and Panathinaikos at the OAKA arena in Athens. The series is tied 2‑2, making the winner advance to the Final Four. The discussion weaves live play‑by‑play narration with Bryant’s personal reflections after each quarter. Key moments highlighted include Jetty Osman’s early dominance, Nunn’s three‑point shooting, Bryant’s defensive stops, a crucial block‑and‑layup, and a late‑game three‑pointer that sealed the win. Bryant emphasizes the importance of defensive stops, rebounding, emotional control, and energy management, describing how he deliberately contains his emotions to conserve stamina but also lets out bursts of excitement to motivate himself and his teammates. The commentators also praise the electric atmosphere of the OAKA, the passionate Greek fan base, and the series’ dramatic swings. The video concludes with Bryant inviting viewers to a deeper “Players Corner” analysis, expressing gratitude for the season, and outlining the team’s next focus on the Turkish League while reflecting on the overall EuroLeague experience and the respect for Panathinaikos and its supporters.
Chapters
One win away. We stole one last time in Athens, and they did the same in our home court in Istanbul. It all comes down to this. We are tied 2-2 with last year's champs and coming back to Athens to play in one of the toughest and loudest stadiums in the world.
And when I say loud, I mean loud. What's up, Chernobyl fans? I'm so happy.
Go, game time!
Let's go!
Can you see me? Yeah, like, what is vision like?
Acropolis right here.
Acropolis.
Oh, I almost fell off.
Oh. I can say, dear Heavenly Father, the next day, thank you for all the blessings.
Thank you for everything that you have blessed us with. Thank you for our family. Game 5 is on, and every game is an experiment. This one's a tough one to go through. We're just one win away from a spot in the Final Four. This time I want to take you inside my mindset, and after each quarter I'll break down exactly how I experienced the game.
4 games on the court, we've seen large comebacks, controversial end-of-game calls, a shackled MVP, a resurgence of an all-time great, superstar shots, and winning margins of only 4-3, 4-3, Now Game 5 in front of these 19,000 fans here at the OAKA to decide it all. Osmani, coast-to-coast kick, outside shot. Elijah Bryant picks up in Game 5 where he left off in Game 4. Another coast-to-coast burst, transition opportunity so important in this series. The defense, he's in isolation with Osmani, nails the 3 over the top of him. Logan, and he finds the open shooter in Doja, side skip, 3-point Shot hits the bottom of the net, and this plays right into the hands of Jetty Osman.
He just ran that right down his throat. There's nothing that Larkin could do.
Nunn's waiting in the wings to come back in. Osman, has he got enough left? Of course he has. The force is with Jetty.
The first quarter obviously was the Jetty show. He was playing extremely well, and you might say, why was he playing so well? Well, our main focus was obviously Nunn and Sloukas, and I feel like we had been doing that the whole series, and Jedi just got loose and played his best basketball at the end of the season. I mean, I think his career high was like 20-something, and he ended up having like 28 in a game. So sometimes you look back and say, you stop Nunn, he stops Lucas, and Jedi beats you. You tip your hat. What can you do? And then I know first shot I hit, uh, the 3, you see there's no reaction because I'm trying to stay in the moment as much as possible, and also understanding that I don't want to waste any energy. But that changes in the second quarter.
Here's Nunn. Can he finally hit one? Yes, he can. Gabriel inside, getting airborne in Athens. Rancho back to none, falling down. They want a whistle. Instead they get the 3 to beat the buzzer. So far, back in, out it goes. 3-point shot for Efes is good.
Every time a pass is made, there's someone there.
Elijah Bryant from downtown reduces the arrears to 16. Grant penetrates the paint, looking to kick out of a crowd. Lucas denied by Bryant.
Oh, what a pass, dude!
Elijah Bryant gets his reward defense and then running the floor. 5 quick-fire points and he's all fired up. Wyatt backing in against this smaller Panathinaikos lineup and putting it in.
There it goes back to Schmitz.
He's bypassed Larkin. Little fake, 3-point shot from the corner.
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just focus on getting defensive stops and rebounds.
If we can do that, we'll be right where we need to be.
Thank you.
Now we get to the second quarter and still Jetty is playing really well and none hits hits a 3, and we had limited him to not hitting a lot of 3s this series, but he finally hits one, gets open. And another thing is keeping Gabriel off the glass was just like— in my head I'm thinking, you try so hard on defense to get a stop, and you get a stop and they get an offensive rebound. Erkan played really big for us to come in and kind of switch the momentum up and give us some energy on defense and hit a big-time shot. But mindset, it's tough because you look at the score and you're down by 20, but you understand it's a Game 5, there's momentum, at some point it's going to switch. So I remember one play I got the block And then I got the layup. I started screaming. And like I said before, I try to contain my emotions to save energy. But at that time, I feel like I needed to express myself, not only for my team, for myself, to get myself, you know, going, fighting. Like, this is it. This is Game 5. So going into halftime, like, we were going, trending up to get ourselves a chance to be in the ball game. Oh, and if you want to see a more in-depth breakdown of this Game 5, go check out the Players Corner. I'll do a whole video talking about my minutes during the game. And if you have questions, please comment below.
On the Players Corner.
Final 3 seconds now. Schmidt, who's an excellent shooter for a big man, and he shows it and FS from 23 down. And within 3 possessions, look out as he is fouled on his flight path. And the quick pass down the floor, the turn and pull up the trigger for Durant. Grant, he almost down the baseline. Schmidt in the corner, can he hit another one? Yes, he can. Osman again for the second time. The lightning and the thunder from Darius Thompson, who forces the tough shot. Grant can't bank it in. They get it back. Dinos Mitoglou from downtown.
That's a dagger, raising the roof.
The man who hit—
so getting in the quarter 3, I think we were down by 9. Roland hits 2 threes, so you're starting to feel the pressure push towards them when you're coming back as a team on the opposing team. If you blow a 20-point lead and the team comes close late in the game, the pressure's on you because you have like kind of already accepted, oh, we won, and the other team's kind of accepted, oh, we're in a battle here, we might have lost. But once you get back, it's kind of like you're playing with house money. So we fight back, Roland hits 2 threes. Like I said before, in the player's corner, I gotta do a better job of late shot clock, regardless if I'm late, of closing out regardless of who it is, shooter, non-shooter. Because I think there's a stat that says just by raising your hand, you can decrease the percentage by 20%. Correct me if I'm wrong. But again, I remember one of the plays we finally got a defense to stop. They get a rebound, Matoglu hits the 3, and that's just like a dagger because we're exerting so much energy to get back.
Bryant, the 3-point shot off. They've dried up for him. Only 2 of 7 on the outside now, but Efes get another go and they land another blow. PJ Dozier. Now the Lakers through the season averaging nearly 88 points a game. Efes 86. 6 points a game. Osman brings the underarm harm and ties his career high at a point when Efes needed one. Now they need their captain.
That's the way to do it.
Larkin getting free and hitting it one more time. Schmidt off. Efes will go down swinging. They've been swinging all series. Elijah Bryant knocks it down, 27 seconds remaining.
Thompson.
The return of the king, back to the Final Four, perhaps back to the promised land, potentially back-to-back for the first time in this club's illustrious history. The defending champions end the dream of the last back-to-back team.
Well, here we are.
What a freaking series. I mean, couldn't ask for better fans, both sides. And huge amount of respect for Panathinaikos and the fans and the players. And honestly, I wish them nothing but the best in the Final Four. Maybe, you never know, we'll have two Greek teams and another Greek team will win for the second year in a row. But at the end of the day, all you can ask for is great competition, great series. Everyone that played stayed healthy, which is a blessing. We'll have a few days to rest and relax, so my family and I Stayed a few days in Athens just to kind of celebrate the season we had and, um, the gratitude we had for this season. And at the end of the day, our EuroLeague season came to an end, but we still have a lot of important games in Turkish League. So that's what we'll focus on now moving forward. Again, I appreciate all the support thus far this season, and remember, faith plus consistency is the formula of
