Greens let win slip in Turkey, but Reds triumph in Israel
Panathinaikos wasted a great chance for a win in Istanbul to see, a top-four finish slip away, but Olympiakos got to within one win from the top of the Euroleague table with its victory in Tel Aviv.
The Greek Cup holder went down 77-72 at Darussafaka on Friday as it was betrayed by its poor decisions in attack in the last few minutes of the game, as well as the long spells when it went absent without a leave.
Panathinaikos kept giving away its leads, as its 33-26 advantage turned into a 48-36 deficit through a partial score of 22-3 in the Turks’ favor that spanned either side of half-time. It did the same with its six-point lead of 61-55 and its last lead (72-70) after which Darussafaka scored seven unanswered points to win the game.
The Greens, who had Chris Singleton stand out with his 23 points and six rebounds, are now joint fifth on 13 wins from 24 games.
Olympiakos, on the other hand, made his superiority over Maccabi count on Thursday winning 82-71 in Israel for its 17th win. It stands third on the table.
The Piraeus team led from start to finish over a depleted Maccabi, unaffected by the absence of captain Vassilis Spanoulis.
It got 16 points from Erick Green and 15 points each from Giorgos Printezis and Matt Lojeski.
In the first-leg games of the play-offs at the Champions League Aris drew 67-67 with Villeurbanne, PAOK defeated Tenerife 66-63 and AEK edged out Monaco 69-68. All three games took place in Greece and the second legs are scheduled for next week.
