Reds and Greens blow their lead to lose on the road
Both Panathinaikos and Olympiakos suffered defeats on the road on Thursday for the Euroleague, probably not doing themselves any justice for their efforts in Belgrade and Monaco respectively.
The Greens went down 92-87 at Partizan in overtime, after wasting a 10-point led in the last few minutes of regulation.
Panathinaikos fought hard for most of the game in Belgrade, and looked good for picking up victory when it led 78-71 with a couple of minutes left. However Partizan, directed by Panathinaikos legendary coach Zeljko Obradovic, equalized 78-78 to take the game to overtime, where the Serbs were clearly superior to win by five in the end.
Kendrick Nunn made 19 points, former Partizan player Mathias Lessort 16 and Jerian Grant another 14.
Olympiakos slumped to an 85-77 defeat at Monaco, as it was once again unable to contain prolific Mike James (24 points on the night).
The Greek champions led 39-38 at half-time and 65-60 seven minutes from the end, but could not defend their lead in the end, with Monaco seemingly scoring at will in the last few minutes and leaving no chance to Olympiakos.
Isaiah Canaan led the Reds’ scoring chart with 20, from Thomas Walkup (16) and Alec Peters (15).
Panathinaikos and Olympiakos are tied on a 6-5 record.