Panathinaikos knocked off its main rival in Group D by beating CSKA Moscow 74-60 at the Athens Olympic Indoor Hall (OAKA) in the Greek capital on Thursday night.
Barely two weeks in and the Euroleague season has had a massive upset as Brose Baskets downed visiting Olympiakos 73-61 on Wednesday in Bamberg, Germany.
Panathinaikos 74 – CSKA Moscow (Rus) 60
Panathinaikos knocked off its main rival in Group D by beating CSKA Moscow 74-60 at the Athens Olympic Indoor Hall (OAKA) in the Greek capital on Thursday night.
The Greek champs improved to 2-0 before visiting Union Olimpija in Week 3.
Drew Nicholas paced the Greens with 18 points and Romain Sato added 17.
The game was close throughout the first half and into the third quarter, but Nicholas came alive with 5 points in an 11-1 run that put Panathinaikos ahead for good.
CSKA made a run to get within 5 in the fourth quarter, but Panathinaikos was up to the challenge and scored on three straight possessions to put the game away.
Panathinaikos head coach Zeljko Obradovic said: “It was a difficult and important game against a team that has played eight consecutive years in the Euroleague Final Four and they are one of the favourites to make it again. We showed two different performances, because in the first half we missed a lot of open shots, while in the second half the game was different, especially in three-point shots.
“But even in the first half thanks to our aggressive defence and the offensive boards we had 14 more shots than CSKA. I am satisfied with our defence, because we realized that we had to make the most in the transition game. In offence they have big guys, so it was very crucial for our perimeter players to be aggressive.”
Brose Baskets (Ger) 73 – Olympiakos 61
Olympiakos suffered a shock defeat in their first away match for this year’s Euroleague, going down to Brose Baskets Bamberg 73-61 in Germany on Wednesday night.
Visiting what arguably is the weakest club of their group, the Greeks were nowhere near their usual performances and trailed the hosts throughout the match.
Brose withstood a 0-10 takeover run by Olympiakos right after halftime to come back and win going away thanks to its own 16-4 run bridging the final two quarters.
Point guard Brian Roberts inspired the winners with 23 points, including 3 of 5 three-point shooting, to go with 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
Kyle Hines followed with 14 points, while Gavel Anton had 11 and Casey Jacobsen 10.
Brose won despite Olympiakos hitting 11 more free throws because the Reds could not shoot accurately from long-range in the face of the strong defence from the hosts.
The Reds kept launching, but made 6 of 28 three-point attempts.
Theo Papaloukas had 13 points for Olympiakos, Milos Teodosic and Vassilis Spanoulis 11 each.
Olympiakos coach Dusan Ivkovic congratulated his opposition.
“I think that Brose Baksets absolutely deserved this victory. Our problem is controlling the game.
“Brose was very good defensively, and at the end of the game we shot and missed so many threes, that was the big problem.
“One positive part was that our captain, Papaloukas, created some points in the second half, but not enough. We didn’t play clever, so Brose deserved this win.”
Olympiakos guard Milos Tedosic blamed the side beginning. “We didn’t start out the game how we wanted. We just didn’t play good tonight.
“We have to continue to work hard and improve in all areas of the game. But I believe that this is just one loss. Now we all have to step back up.
“We didn’t play offensively how we know how to. But we still have time to improve our game. We always have to give 100%.
“In the Euroleague there are never any easy games. We have to work very, very hard and stay calm and stay together.”