The Reds sweep the Greens to win their 11th title
Olympiakos earned its 11th Greek basketball title on Sunday beating Panathinaikos 93-74 in Game 3 of the finals to sweep its opponent 3-0 in the best-of-five series and return to the throne after two years as second.
Even if Panathinaikos this time had forward Esteban Batista on court, Olympiakos was not to be denied victory in front of a capacity crowd at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus.
After a balanced first quarter, Olympiakos broke free in the second to build a lead that reached up to 12 points (51-39) at half-time, led by a breathtaking Vassilis Spanoulis, scorer of 23 points on the night.
Error-prone Panathinaikos (with 17 turnovers against seven by Olympiakos) had no chance of coming back in the game after cutting the distance to five points early in the third period (51-46), with the hosts’ lead growing to 20 points (69-49) five minutes later, and to 23 points just before the end.
After the end of the game hundreds of Olympiakos fans stormed the court and celebrated with the players and officials of the club, in what must have been one of the most peaceful final series between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos ever.
On Saturday PAOK took the upper hand in the battle for the this spot as it downed crosstown rival Aris 62-51 in Game 3 of the best-of-five series. Game 4 will be at Aris’s home court on Tuesday.
