Trouble on the road for Greeks in Euroleague

The first Euroleague trips outside Greece proved too difficult for the country’s two representatives, as Olympiakos went down 65-53 at Milano on Tuesday, while Panathinaikos suffered an 83-69 reverse at Fenerbahce.

Armani contained Olympiakos’ shooting guards and inflicted the Greek champion’s second defeat in three games so far in Europe.

Olympiakos had serious problems in offense, with some players missing and others underperforming, in what coach Giorgos Bartzokas has already qualified as a difficult spell for his team.

After three tight quarters, with Olympiakos leading 32-31 at half-time and trailing 44-41 after Q3, Armani opened its lead to nine (56-47) two minutes from the end, leaving the Greeks with no chance.

Nikola Milutinov notched up 15 points and Thomas Walkup had 11 for the Reds.

In Istanbul, a disastrous first period condemned Panathinaikos to a bad loss, against a team that featured its former deputy coach, its former captain and its former center. 

Trying to come back from the 27-9 first-quarter score was always going to be difficult in Turkey for the Greens, and their low scoring in the first half was not exactly in their favor (43-28 at half-time).

The difference shot up to 25 points (72-47) early in the last quarter, after which the damage limitation of Panathinaikos halved the distance, for a more respectable 14-point loss.

In this second loss of the Greens in three games Mathias Lessort made 19 points and Kyle Guy 13.