Euroleague shows not all defeats are the same
Panathinaikos and Olympiakos had two very different defeats on Thursday and Friday, as the Greens suffered a bad 31-point loss at home to CSKA Moscow, while the Reds fought hard before succumbing to leader Anadolu Efes in Turkey by 12.
CSKA beat Panathinaikos 97-66 on Thursday in Athens in what hardly seemed to be the battle between the fifth and the sixth at the table.
Panathinaikos played its worst game to date in this year’s tournament, conceding 32 points in the first and the fourth quarter, with its players completely demoralized and dejected and coach Rick Pitino unable to do anything to reverse the situation.
CSKA scored at will and ran riot at the Greens’ defense, to inflict on the Greek champion its sixth loss in the last seven Euroleague games.
In this 14th loss in 28 games, Panathinaikos had DeShaun Thomas score 12 points and Nick Calathes add 10, but with 3/13 field goals.
On Friday, Olympiakos continued to perform well, but beating Efes in Istanbul was always a tall order for the Piraeus team. Eventually it went down 91-79, but other results have gone its way to keep it in contention for a playoff spot.
Efes proved irresistible at times, scoring 51 points in the first half (51-41) and every time Olympiakos cut its distance the home team would pull away again.
Shane Larkin was unstoppable for Efes, scoring 40 points on the night including 10 triples. Olympiakos could not contain him, on what was also a poor night for Shaquielle McKissic (2/7 field goals, 0/2 free throws).
The Reds, now on a 12-16 record, had Octavius Ellis make 14 points and Dwight Buycks 11.
