Olympiakos beat Greek champion Panathinaikos 55-45 in their opening game for the Greek Basketball League this week in a match that was played behind closed doors.

Both teams were error-prone, and their shooting rates were unusually low, showing round one jitters.

If anything this was a forgettable game that seemed more like a good preseason friendly. In fact both teams played much better games in the actual preseason this year.

At least this result keeps the league alive, as Olympiakos can look towards beating Panathinaikos when the two teams meet again later this season in Athens, so as to snatch the top spot in the regular season, barring a surprise loss to any of the other teams in the A1.

The Reds had the upper hand for most of the game thanks to a slightly better shooting rate from the three-point line, while the front line of Panathinaikos was clearly out of shape.

Matt Lojeski, the American-Belgian shooting guard, stood out among the Olympiakos players as he scored a total of 14 points including some precious baskets when Panathinaikos was putting more pressure on the Reds. In 19 minutes he made 5/5 free throws, 1/1 two-pointers and 3/3 three-pointers.

Panathinaikos’s Dimitris Diamantidis was the derby’s top scorer with 16 points.

Source: Kathimerini