Bitter home losses for Reds and Greens in Euroleague

Both Olympiakos and Panathinaikos suffered bad home losses this week for the Euroleague, putting in doubt their main objective of snatching a spot in the top four of their group to advance to the play-offs.

First it was Panathinaikos that lost 74-63 to Red Star Belgrade in Athens on Thursday to seriously dent its qualification chances, as the Greens are going through a slump in their performance over the last few games.

The hosts once again lacked the energy required for a top-16 match, and the Serbs pulled away to score a relatively easy victory.

Panathinaikos, that had James Gist notch up 15 points, is now on one win in three matches.

Then on Friday Olympiakos found itself trailing to a surprisingly good Bamberg by 24 points in the third quarter at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. It performed a spectacular comeback in the last period to cut the distance up to two points, before succumbing with a 77-72 final score.

DJ Strawberry was the Greeks’ top scorer with 15 points.

The result means Olympiakos is now on two wins in three games and will desperately need more wins on the road now to cover the ground lost at home in this ever so tough group.

In the Eurocup on Tuesday PAOK scored the only Greek win this week downing Limoges 88-75, while Aris was thrashed 95-54 at Armani Milano.