More wins for Reds and Greens in Euroleague
Greece’s Euroleague representatives started another “double week” in the tournament very well, with Olympiakos beating Red Star Belgrade at home on Tuesday and Panathinaikos triumphing at Armani Milano on Wednesday.
Despite the absences of Giorgos Printezis and Daniel Hackett, Olympiakos strolled to a 73-65 home win for its ninth victory in 13 games in the regular season.
The Reds scored 45 points in the first half (45-34 at half-time) reducing the Serbs to a second role in the match, before slowing down in the end to win by eight.
Matt Lojeski was once again the leading scorer in the game for the Greek champion, notching up 18 points.
Panathinaikos played its best game on the road to date defeating Armani 86-72 in Italy for its eighth win in 13 games so far.
The Greens scored a partial 24-8 score in the first half to pull away from their host that suffered its sixth straight loss in the Euroleague.
This time it was Mike James who led the show for Panathinaikos with 19 points as the Greeks stretched their lead up to 26 points before giving some more playing time to the bench players. James is proving a credible alternative to Nick Calathes in the Greens’ play-making.
The action does not stop in the Euroleague, as on Thursday Olympiakos travels to Bamberg while on Friday Panathinaikos entertains Baskonia.
In the FIBA Champions League AEK lost 82-68 at Besiktas, but the Thessaloniki teams won at home as PAOK downed Varese 78-69 and Aris thrashed Ironi Nahariya 85-58.
