Home wins for Greens and Reds in Euroleague
Olympiakos and Panathinaikos scored rather comfortable home wins at the end of a busy week in the Euroleague, as the Reds downed Alba Berlin on Thursday and the Greens saw off Villeurbanne on Friday.
A strong finish in the game against Alba sufficed for Olympiakos to snatch victory with an 86-76 score on Thursday at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus.
For the first three quarters the two teams were neck and neck, but after a 61-59 score for the Reds with 10 minutes to go the Greeks upped their pace and eventually won by a clear 10 points, with an impressive 25 assists.
Sasha Vezenkov was once again Olympiakos’ best player, scoring 24 points and collecting six rebounds, while Kostas Sloukas had a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists.
Olympiakos is on a 7-3 record, and Panathinaikos improved to 4-6 with its 77-58 result against ASVEL at the Olympic Sports Hall.
The Greens’ defense choked the visitors, letting in no more than 37 points in the first 30 minutes, to lead 66-37.
They confirmed their slow but steady improvement as the season goes along, and it was only some loosening up in the last quarter that returned the distance to 19 points in the end.
Leading Panathinaikos to its second win in a row, within 48 hours, was Dwayne Bacon with 25 points; his arrival in Athens has significantly improved the Greens’ game.
