Greek triumphs in Euroleague
Olympiakos and Panathinaikos scored precious wins to consolidate themselves in the play-off positions of the Euroleague with 12 out of 30 games played in the regular season.
The Reds won 88-75 at Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday after a solid game during which they grew stronger as the match went along.
Their prolific game in attack pegged the Lithuanians down and took the Reds’ record to 8-4 and to joint second at the table.
They had Matt Lojeski and Costas Papanikolaou score 16 points each.
However they will lose forward Giorgos Printezis for the next few weeks due to injury, while captain Vassilis Spanoulis has also taken a knock and may miss Sunday’s league game at PAOK. Olympiakos is also looking for a replacement for injured guard Daniel Hackett who will miss the next six months.
Panathinaikos once again welcomed former coach Zeljko Obradovic (and his Fenerbahce team) at the Olympic Sports Hall and won 81-70 in a very convincing fashion on Friday.
The team of Xavi Pascual – one wonders what he might be thinking hearing the Greens’ fans chant Obradovic’s name instead of his – led from start to finish with a great all-around game that remarkably had only three turnovers and 19 assists.
Nick Calathes stood out with 16 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and five steals, leading his team to its seventh win in 12 games.
In the FIBA Champions League AEK thrashed visiting Proximus Spirou 89-69, PAOK lost 78-77 at Muratbey Usak and Aris triumphed 92-78 at Bakken Bears.
