Greens fall from grace

Reigning Euroleague champion Panathinaikos was condemned to a home loss by Serbian challengers Partizan at OAKA.

The Greek side looked lacklustre in offence with few options and fewer scorers.

Olympiakos in contrast produced a dynamic display to see off Caja Laboral in Vitoria, Spain.

Maroussi suffered a defeat on the road to Barcelona in its first ever Top 16 match.

Panathinaikos   59   Partizan (SRB)   64

Partizan stunned hosts Panathinaikos at OAKA, finishing the game on a 2-13 run, winning 59-64 on Wednesday.

The Serbian champs limited the Euroleague champs to just 17 second-half points to start Group E with a big upset.

Despite being without star centre Aleks Maric, Partizan found other heroes, like Lawrence Roberts, who recorded his first Euroleague double double in helping Partizan out-rebound the Greens 31-41, and Petar Bozic and Jan Vesely, who both scored season highs.

After taking the lead midway through the first quarter, Panathinaikos remained ahead Dusan Kecman, a Euroleague champ last season with the Greens, drilled a three-pointer to put his team on top 57-59.

The game came down to the final minute, when Bozic came up with a clutch offensive rebound and made a three-pointer to put his team ahead by 3 and Vassilis Spanoulis, an 89.2% free throw shooter this season entering the game, missed twice with 12.9 seconds to play. Vesely iced the game from the line at the other end as Partizan celebrated a major victory.

Vesely finished with 13 points and Bozic 12. Roberts amassed 12 points and 10 rebounds and Aleksandar Rasic netted 10. Slavko Vranes was big in the middle with 8 rebounds and 4 blocks, giving him 13 rejections in his last three games.

Spanoulis finished with 14 points and 5 assists and Dimitris Diamantidis added 11 in defeat.

Partizan hosts Regal FC Barcelona next week, while Panathinaikos faces Maroussi.

A less than impressed Zeljko Obradovic (PAO head coach) said after the match, “Before the game I said that Partizan is very dangerous and they know how to play. That the first thing we should take care of was our defence and rebounds, since Partizan had an average of 11 offensive boards in the regular season. They had 3 in the first half and 11 in the second half and that was our biggest problem. In addition, we played one of the worst offensive games ever. We were 5 of 15 on two-point shots, 1 of 12 three-point shots and 4 of 8 free throws after halftime. We lost the Top 16 opening game, but there are five more and we will keep on fighting until the end.”

Caja Laboral (SPA)   85  Olympiakos   89

A seesawing and thrilling encounter kicked off the Top 16 in Group H on Thursday as Olympiakos outlasted Caja Laboral 85-89 on the road in Vitoria, Spain.

The victory by the Reds tied them with Khimki for first place in Group H, a match that the Reds will remember for keeping at bay one Caja Laboral comeback after another.

Olympiakos seized double-digit leads in three different quarters and Caja Laboral erased all but the last of them.