Olympiakos stays alive to take the title down to the wire
Olympiakos has leveled again the series for the Greek basketball title after its 92-76 win in Piraeus on Thursday, and the crown will go to the winner of the last game of the best-of-five series, to take place at Panathinaikos’s home court on Sunday.
Game 4 put an end to the four-match losing streak of Olympiakos at the hands of Panathinaikos at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. The Reds were on top throughout the match and fended off successfully all comeback efforts by the Greens, who had some of their stars such as Nick Calathes and Chris Singleton on a poor night.
The early 27-16 lead of Olympiakos was reduced to 28-24, but the hosts sped away again to lead 48-36 at half-time.
The visitors crawled back into the game thanks to six successful triples at the start of the second half to cut their deficit to just two points (57-55), only for the Reds to recover once again and consolidate their lead that was never again disputed on the night.
The match was also dominated by fouls, with 66 given for the two teams in total.
Jamel McLean was the top scorer for Olympiakos with 20 points and Brian Roberts added another 16, while Mike James made 20 points for Panathinaikos (15 of them in the third quarter) and Matt Lojeski had 16.
The decisive Game 5 tips off at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening at the Olympic Sports Hall.
