Basket League: Missing your star player costs dearly

Many Greek basketball teams rely excessively on a single player, building their game around him, and tend to fall apart in his absence. That was evident in the losses Attica teams Ionikos and Lavrio suffered over the weekend.

Ionikos sports this season’s top scorer, US guard Eugene German. In the Nikaia team’s home game against Larissa on Saturday he was once again the leading marksman notching up 20 points up to the third period. Then he got into an argument with his coach Curro Segura who benched him for the rest of the game. Larissa grabbed the opportunity and won 89-84 for its third win in a row.

Lavrio has got a bigger problem: Last season’s league finalist has not managed to find adequate replacement for another US guard, Tyson Carter, who left the club just before Christmas to join Zenit in Russia. His absence was particularly felt at the 75-52 home reverse to Peristeri on Sunday, with Lavrio slipping away from the top four.

There were no such problems for Olympiakos, that defeated host Kolossos 87-69 on Rhodes on Sunday with relative ease.

AEK scored a much-needed home win over PAOK, with a 72-67 score, while Aris downed Apollon Patras 70-56.

The match of Panathinaikos against Iraklis, scheduled for Monday, and that of Ionikos vs PAOK, set for Wednesday have been postponed due to the weather confitions.