Greeks not traveling very well of recent in Euroleague

Thursday was a bad day for Greek teams in the Euroleague, as Olympiakos went down easily at leader Fenerbahce and Panathinaikos suffered another defeat on the road, this time at Maccabi.

Although this was a loss that was always likely, the 90-75 reverse in Istanbul will leave no one happy at the Olympiakos camp.

The Reds were always second-best in the game, and every time they tried to reduce their arrears, Fenerbahce recovered to stretch its lead over the 10-point mark, mainly thanks to their amazing shooting rate: 69 percent in two-pointers, 56 percent in triples and 100 percent in free throws.

This was a particularly poor night for the five Greeks of Olympiakos, as they only scored 20 points between them and Giorgos Printezis ended his 20 minutes on the court without a single point.

Janis Timma was the Reds’ top scorer with 14 points, followed by Janis Strelnieks with 13.

This was the eighth defeat for the Piraeus team in 20 games, leaving it in fifth.

Panathinaikos is increasingly unlikely to make the cut and reach the play-offs, as its 84-75 loss at Maccabi has left it in 12th, with just eight wins in 20.

The Greek champion largely lost the game on the rebounds and the triple shots, where the Greens were notably inferior to their hosts.

After a good first quarter (when it led 17-16) Panathinaikos played second fiddle to its Israeli host that was quite prolific in attack and advanced 40-35 at halftime and 54-39 during the third quarter.

The Greens then fought back to get to within four points (70-66) but could not get any closer, eventually losing by a greater margin than their five-point win at home at the start of the regular season.

Matt Lojeski and Nick Calathes made 14 points each for Panathinaikos.

In the Basketball Champions League, holder AEK won 90-82 at Fuenlabrada, Promitheas Patras beat Strasbourg 77-64 at home and PAOK thrashed Opava 93-43 in Thessaloniki.