Overtime win for Greens, bad loss for Reds
This time Panathinaikos ended up on the winning side after overtime as the Greens needed 45 minutes to beat visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday, while Olympiakos went down at Galatasaray on Friday in a loss that was not anticipated.
Panathinaikos won 83-75, its fourth win in six matches, as Maccabi came back from 16 points down in the second half to take the match to overtime (67-67).
Unlike a week earlier in Turkey, Panathinaikos upped its game in the extra five minutes and having James Gist and Chris Singleton at the helm it won easily in the end to please its thousands of fans at the Olympic Sports Hall.
Singleton scored a Euroleague career record of 26 points, Nick Calathes another 13, but Gist’s contribution (12 points in total) at the end of regulation time and in overtime was decisive.
Istanbul is proving too tough for Greek teams to visit, as one week after Panathinaikos's loss to Efes Anadolu, Olympiakos succumbed to outsider Galatasaray for its third reverse in six games.
The Reds stormed into the game and led by 14 points, but its defense let the team down with the Turks advancing by four at half-time (38-34) and retaining the lead right up to the end, when Alex Tyus spectacularly blocked the last-gap effort by Giorgos Printezis.
Vangelis Mantzaris scored five triples for a total of 19 points, followed by Printezis with 17.
In the Basketball Champions League AEK thrashed Dinamo Sassari 78-58, and Aris beat Banvit 84-78 with new signing Vladimir Jankovic chosen as the week’s Most Valuable Player in the competition, while PAOK lost 67-61 at home to Villeurbanne.
