Reds conquer Barcelona, Greens lose to Maccabi
Olympiakos has taken the lead in its Euroleague playoff battle with Barcelona scoring a road win on Wednesday in Game 1, while Panathinaikos has conceded home advantage to Maccabi Tel Aviv losing in Athens on Tuesday.
The Reds beat Barcelona 77-75 and have taken the upper hand in the best-of-five playoffs that lead to Berlin’s Final Four next month.
Olympiakos dominated its host in Spain, leading for almost the entire game and going ahead by up to 13 points (60-47) late in the third quarter.
Barcelona tried to fight back, but that was not enough to take this precious win away from the Greek champion, that is now 1-0 ahead in the series.
Nigel Williams-Goss made 15 points and Isaiah Canaan added 14 on the night.
Panathinaikos wasted from Game 1 the home advantage it had been working hard all season for, losing 91-87 at the Olympic Sports Hall to a determined Maccabi.
The Greens showed significant problems in defense that the Israeli team exploited in the second half to overturn its 12-point deficit (56-44) and win clearly in the end.
With fewer rebounds (33 against 37) and twice as many turnovers (12 against six) as its rival, Panathinaikos could hardly expect a better result.
Kostas Sloukas had a remarkable 13 assists plus 12 points, while Mathias Lessort scored 22 points but missed seven out of his 11 free throws.
On Thursday Panathinaikos hosts Maccabi again for Game 2, a day before Olympiakos visits Barcelona.
