Basketball rivals to play delayed game tonight
After being beaten by Olympiakos at home last week in its opening best-of-three final series match, defending Greek basketball champion Panathinaikos will need to pull out all the stops for tonight’s second game away to keep alive its hopes for a fifth successive Greek title. Panathinaikos, which had been crowned European champion for the third time in the club’s history just days before the opening domestic encounter, lost 89-80 to Olympiakos. «We can rectify the situation, even though it’s going to be an extremely difficult game. I believe we manage better under difficult conditions,» said Panathinaikos forward Johnny Rogers. Tonight’s game had originally been scheduled for Saturday. But the home team’s failure to deliver 3,500 tickets to Panathinaikos on time for distribution to fans prompted the club to lodge a complaint and have the game postponed by two days. According to the local competition’s regulations, Olympiakos was supposed to have delivered 3,500 tickets to the visiting side on Friday, a day ahead of competition. Their eventual arrival to Panathinaikos on Saturday morning left the club with just a few hours to dispose of the tickets and ensure the support of 3,500 fans at Olympiakos’s home ground, the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Faliron. The Romanians leveled with George Ogararu off a free kick from Ioan Munteanu in the 56th.
