Greens and Reds catch Spanish flu on their travels

The Greek basketball giants succumbed to their Spanish hosts in the second set of Euroleague games for the week, as Olympiakos succumbed to holder Real Madrid on Thursday and Panathinaikos went down at Barcelona on Friday.

The Reds suffered a 94-78 defeat in Madrid, in a game they did not really need to win against a team likely to snatch one of the top two places in the regular season.

Olympiakos challenged Real in the first half through its offense, as its defense had major problems with the on-fire shooters of the Spanish team, which scored 54 points in the first 20 minutes (54-46).

The hosts only got to stretch their lead further in the second half over an Olympiakos that badly missed injured Nikola Milutinov, despite the efforts by Giorgos Bogris to replace him in the Reds’ front line.

Zach LeDay had 15 points for the Piraeus team and Nigel Williams-Goss added another 13.

The Reds are on an 11-7 record, dropping to the fifth spot.

Panathinaikos battled longer and harder at Barcelona, but eventually fell to a 79-68 defeat.

Unlike other games on the road this season, the Greens rivaled their host effectively in this game and even led by three early in the second half (39-42).

A 14-0 partial had Barcelona advance by 11, Panathinaikos responded leveling the score at 56-56, but then the Catalans pulled away for good, taking advantage of the problems Panathinaikos continues to have in the paint.

The match was lost on the rebounds, with Barcelona having 39 against Panathinaikos’s 19. A new forward appears to be a necessary addition to the Greens’ roster.

Ioannis Papapetrou made 17 points and was the top scorer for Rick Pitino’s team, that is now on an 8-10 record, in tenth.