Greens win and celebrate their Euroleague triumph
Panathinaikos and Olympiakos achieved easy wins in their opening games for the semifinal series of the A1 league as they thrashed their visitors from Thessaloniki on May 19.
Champion Panathinaikos dismantled PAOK with a 95-52 score at the Olympic Sports Hall in Maroussi to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series, showing it has recovered from its defeat to Olympiakos in the cup final on May 15.
The Greens chalked up 15 points from Romain Sato and 14 from Nick Calathes, while 23-year-old guard Michalis Yiannakidis scored 13 points for PAOK.
Panathinaikos and its fans also celebrated the acquisition of its sixth European trophy in a special event that saw the commemorative banner for its Euroleague triumph at Barcelona raised to the roof of the sports hall.
Olympiakos also strolled to an easy home win over Aris with a final score of 95-63 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus.
Milos Teodosic scored 20 points and Thodoris Papaloukas added another 13 for Olympiakos, but the big news for the Reds was Vassilis Spanoulis?s return to action.
The Greece guard played for 22 minutes and scored seven points, suggesting he may have shaken off his recent injury.
Games 2 of the two series are scheduled for May 17 in Thessaloniki.
