More losses for Greek teams in the Euroleague

Olympiakos and Panathinaikos suffered disappointing losses this week in the Euroleague, with the Reds going down at home to Red Star Belgrade and the Greens suffering a 19-point reverse at Anadolu Efes.

The Greek champion suffered another home defeat, the third one so far, as its Serb visitors won 90-86 on Thursday in a game that Olympiakos had dominated for almost three quarters of it.

Olympiakos coach Giorgos Bartzokas said some of the referee decisions were incomprehensible, but even if that was the case Olympiakos seemed uncharacteristically feeble in defense, unable to stop prolific Luca Vildoza who led the Serbs’ comeback.

Tarik Black and Kostas Sloukas scored 14 apiece for Olympiakos that has slipped to a 9-6 record.

Panathinaikos suffered its third loss in a row, all of them on the road, this time at Anadolu Efes with an 88-69 score on Friday.

This was the Greens’ ninth loss in 15 games, and probably the most predictable of them all, playing at the champion’s home court in Istanbul. Still, its resistance to its Turkish host left a lot to be desired: Efes practically led from start to finish as the Greeks were unable to match it, curiously shooting just six free throws throughout the game.

Dwayne Bacon paced Panathinaikos with 20 points, followed by Derrick Williams with 13.

Now the two Greek teams will face off next Friday at Panathinaikos’ home court, the Olympic Sports Hall of Athens.