Triumph for PAO, home loss for the Reds
The week produced one win and two losses for Greek teams in Europe, with Olympiakos and Aris losing at home to Russian visitors while Panathinaikos thrashed Emporio Armani Milano in Italy.
Holder Panathinaikos is once again looking good to retain its Euroleague crown as it enjoyed an emphatic 78-57 victory at Milan on Thursday.
The Greens had an impressive performance in defense in the first half, leading 43-23 at halftime, and stretched their lead to as many as 29 points in the second half (62-33) before taking their collective foot off the pedal.
Boosted by the vocal support of 300 Panathinaikos fans, the visitors had David Logan as their top scorer with 12 points.
Milano?s Greeks, Antonis Fotsis (10 points) and Yiannis Bourousis (six points),
proved unable to do anything to change their team’s fate on the night.
A poor third period condemned Olympiakos to an eight-point loss at home to CSKA Moscow on Wednesday. Olympiakos was leading 44-40 at halftime against one of Europe’s strogest teams, but a partial 22-14 score in the third period turned the tide in favor of the visitors before some 7,000 fans.
Martynas Gecevicius was the top scorer for Olympiakos with 14 points, while Kyle Hines and Pero Antic scored 13 apiece.
Olympiakos?s new signings put on contrasting performances: While Acie Law seems able to help the Reds considerably, center Joey Dempsey appears to be more of a liability than an asset for coach Dusan Ivkovic.
In the Eurocup on Tuesday, Aris entered the second group stage with a home loss to group favorite Khimki. The Russians won 73-48.
