Troubles at the eastern front for Reds and Greens
Another week of twin bad losses for Greek teams in the Euroleague saw them slip further at the standings, as Olympiakos lost at Maccabi and Panathinaikos suffered at the hands of Fenerbahce in Turkey.
The Reds lost 65-64 in Tel Aviv on Thursday to a Maccabi coached by their own former coach Yiannis Sfairopoulos, as their last gasp effort to win the game through a stunning triple by Vassilis Spanoulis was left unfinished.
Maccabi had the final say in this thrilling game through Scottie Wilbekin, leaving Olympiakos only with the satisfaction of its decent defending. The Reds are now on a 12-10 record, alone on sixth.
Nigel Williams-Goss and Spanoulis were the only Olympiakos players in double figures, with 16 points each.
Panathinaikos’s positive start in Istanbul went to waste, as it registered an 85-66 reverse at the home of the Euroleague leader on Friday.
The Greens led for most of the first quarter and stayed in the game up to the 13th minute, after which they completely surrendered to their host. The final margin would have been far greater had the Fener coach and Panathinaikos legend, Zeljko Obradovic not decided to rest some of its best players during the closing stages of the match.
Sean Kilpatrick made 19 points and DeShaun Thomas another 13 for Panathinaikos.
The Greek champion lies 12th, with nine wins in 22 matches.
In the Basketball Champions League the draw for the round of 16 has brought AEK against PAOK in an all-Greek tie, while Promitheas Patras will face Tenerife from Spain.
On the last day of the group stage this week, AEK edged out Antwerp 77-76, PAOK lost 85-77 at home to Tenerife and Promitheas went down 98-91 at Virtus Bologna.
