Greens down Bayern, Reds lose to Barcelona
Panathinaikos defeated Bayern Munich in Athens for its maiden Euroleague win in 2023-24, while Olympiakos lost at home to a superior Barcelona.
Panathinaikos had the upper hand throughout its game against Bayern at the Olympic Sports Hall and deservedly won 78-71 for its first victory in this Euroleague season on Thursday.
The Greens are still building their team under new coach Ergin Ataman, and this is one of the performances that help the players glue together.
Led by an impressive Mathias Lessort, Panathinaikos led by up to 14 points (mainly thanks to a 23-11 first-quarter advantage) and reacted when the German visitors came within striking distance in the last few minutes, ensuring they’d get to a 1-1 record so far.
Lessort notched up 16 points and Jerian Grant added another 14 for the Greens.
Barcelona was always going to be a tough visitor to entertain for Olympiakos, and eventually won 77-68 in Piraeus on Friday.
The Catalans made the most of their amazing triple scoring rate (58% against the Reds’ 28%), advancing by up to 15 points in the first half (35-20), but Olympiakos recovered the end of the second quarter and went ahead 52-50 for the first time halfway through the third period.
Yet just as the Greek champion built a seven-point advantage in the final quarter (66-59), Barcelona launched a 13-point rally for a 72-66 score that Olympiakos could not overturn.
Thomas Walkup scored 14 and Alec Peters 11, with the Reds also on 1-1.
