Gave in at the end, losing the title
Olympiacos fought, but failed to fulfill its goal. They lost game 5 at the OAKA to Panathinaikos 82-87 and with it, the title of the Greek League Champions.
Playing good in the back court and with solid perimeter percentages, the 'red & whites' got to build a +11 lead from the start (2-13 by 3'). The hosts reacted, passed the ball inside the post and closed in to 2 points (running a partial 11-2 score). With Alec Peters running the offense, our team maintained the lead (26-31 at 13'), but inexcusably relaxed its pace on both ends of the floor. Defensive lapses and bad decision making when in offense, allowed Panathinaikos to 'run' a partial 24-6 and gain a +11 lead (48-37). Finally, with a dunk and an accompanying foul (although he did not make good on his free-throw), Nikola Milutinov made the score 48-39, which was the one marking the end of the first half.
In the second half, the 'red & whites' made a strong start and with a partial 11-2 tied the score at 50-50 (24'). From there on, the game became a derby, with our team finding score from the perimeter and getting ahead 61-64 at 29'. However, the connection to the bucket was consequently lost, which Panathinaikos exploited on and with a partial 14-2 got ahead by 9p. (74-66 at 35'). Nigel Williams-Goss, Alec Peters and Kostas Papanikolaou got to strike from the three-point line and closed into one point (81-80) at 39'.
An airball by Nunn followed at 34'' before the end, while with 11.7'' on the clock, Goss failed to score with a jumper from a 5-meters distance. Walkup sent Hernangomez to the free-throw line immediately after that, but he claimed to had been hurt and was replaced by Mitoglou. Panathinaikos' forward made both free throws, making the score 83-80. From the same position, Goss closed into 83-82 and Nunn made the score 85-82, 7.1'' before the final buzzer. When trying to put the ball back on the court from the sidelines (since coach Bartzokas had called a time-out before that), Goss committed a 5'' violation and practically wasted any hope Olympiacos might have had for sending the game to overtime. The final 87-82 was written by Grigonis who made 2/2 free-throws.
The quarters: 20-22, 48-39, 65-64, 87-82.
