Written on 31 March 2023. Posted in Games.

Both the derby and the top go to the ‘red & whites’!

Olympiacos bested Panathinaikos 81-73 and remained at the top of the Euroleague ranking, expanding his winning record over the ‘greens’ to 13-0!

Inefficient perimeter percentages and defensive gaps did not allow for Olympiacos to set the tempo. The two teams fought head to head in the first quarter, while its completion found Panathinaikos leading by 1 (16-17). The ‘greens’ got to even lead by 6 (16-22 at 11’), but the excellent co-operation between Sloukas and Black allowed for our team to run a 9-0 streak and turn the situation around (25-22 at 13’). The American center though had two fouls early in the game, Giorgos Bartzokas had to bench him to protect him and scales tipped unfavorably once again… Panathinaikos won the battle for the rebounds (21-15), moved the ball better in offense and taking advantage of our team’s terrible three-pointer percentages (0/9), regained the lead and closed the first half at +5 (33-38).

The situation was completely reversed in the second half. The ‘red & whites’ put pressure in defense, struck in the front court with Sasha Vezenkov and Moustapha Fall and with a partial 10-1 (44-39 at 23’) they got the reins of the game in their hands. Consistently relying on their defense and despite missed free throws, as well the 1/14 threes (the only three for our team was scored by Kostas Papanikolaou at 27’), Olympiacos got to lead by 9 (57-48 at 30’). Panathinaikos did not give up though… They exploited on the our team’s difficulty in scoring at the beginning of the 4^th quarter and running a partial 8-0, they made a one point game (57-56 at 32’). The game remained a derby up to 38’ (73-70), but it was at that point that Thomas Walkup and Tarik Black took it upon themselves to secure the win.