Reds dismiss Baskonia but Greens suffer in Turkey
Olympiakos edged even closer to a top-four finish in the regular season of the Euroleague after thrashing Baskonia at home on Friday, while Panathinaikos will likely have to settle for a spot between the fifth and the eighth after suffering a bad reverse at Fenerbahce on Thursday.
The Reds demolished ambitious Baskonia 92-62 in Piraeus to shake off their loss to Panathinaikos four days earlier and stay joint second in the Euroleague with 13 wins and five defeats.
The match was particularly one-sided and it was only the decision of the Greek team to take its collective foot off the pedal in the last quarter that spared the Basques from a humiliating loss, given that after the third quarter the score was 76-43.
Olympiakos had three Greek players score 12 points each: Vassilis Spanoulis, Costas Papanikolaou and Giorgos Printezis.
The Greens, on the other hand, went down 84-63 at Fenerbahce as they appeared to have rested on their laurels from their Cup win at Olympiakos.
The Turks, driven by former Panathinaikos coach Zeljko Obradovic, led from start to finish as the visitors only had to face Mike James (25 points) and Chris Singleton (only in the first quarter); the rest of the Panathinaikos team lacked concentration and even let slip the 11-point head-to-head advantage the Greens had from their game in Athens.
The result has left Panathinaikos sixth, with 10 wins in 18 games, level on points with seventh Red Star Belgrade and eighth Darussafaka.
In the FIBA Champions League AEK triumphed 69-65 at Partizan Belgrade, Aris succumbed 64-58 at home to the Skyliners and PAOK lost 82-79 to Oldenburg in Thessaloniki.
