The first derby goes to the ‘red & whites’!
Olympiacos beat Panathinaikos at the SEF 68-66 and remained undefeated in the Basket League.
Both teams were shooting with rather poor percentages at the beginning of the game, however, Olympiacos found rhythm through his defense and relying on the offensive triplet by Canaan, Vezenkov and Fall got to build a +10 difference (24-14). Giorgos Bartzokas decided to rest his initial line up a bit, however, the players that came from the bench did not live up to the expectations of the game. Defensive gaps and bad choices in the offense allowed Papagiannis and Bacon to take center stage and run a partial 17-2 streak for Panathinaikos, that got ahead with 5p. (26-31 at 16’). Olympiacos’ coach sent the initial line up back on the floor, but they were not able to come any closer than 3p. (35-38 at 20’).
Despite the bad shooting, the ‘red & whites’ defense was what allowed them to once again get in the driver’s seat (42-40 at 25’) and with a three by Walkup they secured a +5 lead (47-42). But not even this time were they able to impose their rhythm. Panathinaikos replied with a 6-0 streak (47-48) and Sloukas made the score 49-48 with a lay-up, which closed the 3rd quarter. The image did not change in the fourth quarter. The ‘red & whites’ maintained the lead, but were not able to create a safety net. With Fall leading, our team got to +6 (65-59) one minute before the final buzzer, however, Panathinaikos came close to upsetting the game… Running a partial 7-2, including a big three under pressure by Bacon with only 4.9’’ on the clock, the guests came close to just one point (67-66). Peters made one of his two free throws, writing the final 68-66, since Bacon missed in his effort to score another three at the buzzer.
The quarters: 24-14, 35-38, 49-48, 68-66.
