By George Georgakopoulos

Fenerbahce Ulker got the better of Panathinaikos on Thursday for the Euroleague, as the Turkish team defeated its Greek opponent 73-64 in Istanbul in a rather subdued game for the Greens.

Panathinaikos’s second loss in four group games came after a dismal performance in attack, as it had a 30 percent rate in three-pointers (six out of 20) and 23 errors.

Its supremacy in rebounds was not enough to turn things around, although the fact that it contained the margin of defeat from 19 points (at 52-33) to just nine in the end will soften the blow for coach Argyris Pedoulakis on his name day.

Fenerbahce played a composed game and shut out forward Sofoklis Schortsanitis who managed to score no more than seven points throughout the game.

Even on his bad night, Dimitris Diamantidis scored 12 points with two three-pointers, while Jonas Maciulis notched up 14.

The game served to illustrate once again the high degree of the Greens' dependence on Diamantidis and Schortsanitis, without whom it is virtually impossible for them to beat a competitive opponent.