Red surge, Green decline
The visits of Greek teams to Russia this week could have hardly had any more differences between them, as Olympiakos triumphed at UNICS, while Panathinaikos suffered at the hands of CSKA.
The Reds have improved to 9-4 record, after beating UNICS 87-84 in overtime at Kazan on Friday. The win consolidated the Piraeus team in the top four of the table being its second consecutive on the road.
The matched was balanced throughout. Olympiakos led by two at half-time (42-40), but the lead kept changing hands until the end of regulation, with the hosts sending the game to overtime with a triple 12 seconds from the end.
The story was not repeated in the during second of overtime, as Mario Hezonja missed at his last-ditch effort and Olympiakos held on to victory.
Sasha Vezenkov was selected as the week’s MVP, with 22 points and seven rebounds.
Panathinaikos, on the other hand, slumped to a 3-10 record after suffering a 97-77 drabbing at CSKA Moscow on Thursday.
CSKA was dominant from start to finish, with the Greek defense going AWOL in a game it was always going to be hard to win for the champion.
Okaro White stood out for the Greens with 19 points, while Giorgos Papagiannis had 14 points and nine rebounds.
