Home losses for the Greeks in the Euroleague
Greece’s representatives in the Euroleague suffered narrow home losses that set them back in quite different ways.
Partizan Belgrade beat Panathinaikos 91-89 on Thursday in Athens for the fifth loss of the Greek team in six games.
Panathinaikos trailed Partizan throughout the match at the Olympic Sports Hall, but managed to cuts its arrears from 18 points (31-13) to just two, though on certain occasions when it got within striking distance it kept seeing some strange referee decisions hampering its recovery.
After a disappointing first half, when they even got jeered by their own fans, the Greens rallied in the third quarter to match the team of Zeljko Obradovic. Eventually the Serbs held on to victory but Panathinaikos protested formally to the Euroleague for the refereeing of the game.
Nate Walters and Dwayne Bacon made a very promising performance, scoring 17 points each.
At the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Friday, Olympiakos wasted a large lead to go down 83-82 at home to Valencia.
The Spanish team led only once in the game, and that was four seconds from the end, having trailed by 13 at half-time (47-34).
The Reds paid for their complacency, committing turnover after turnover in the second half to allow the visitors back into the match. Eventually the Greek champion appeared to be doing everything possible to lose the match, as it did.
Sasha Vezenkov made 20 points and Thomas Walkup added another 12.
Olympiakos is now on a 4-2 record, practically wasting the advantage from the three road wins in Spain.
