While Panathinaikos and Olympiakos strolled to easy wins on Saturday for the fourth round of games of the A1, Aris had to dig deep to defeat bottom side Ilisiakos in Athens, while Panionios scored their first win at Panellinios.
Aris defeated Ilisiakos 87-82 in overtime (73-73 at the end of regulation time) to claim their third win in four games but had to overcome a stubborn home side that probably deserved more than what they got in the end.
The Zografou side, which had led 41-35 at half-time, also have complaints from the referees.
Panionios had to wait until the fourth round to grab a victory, but did so in style as they beat Panellinios 67-59 at Lamia.
This performance along with the previous one, the narrow home loss to Olympiakos, show that the team are improving under new coach Giorgos Bartzokas.
Panathinaikos were troubled only in the first period at Kolossos as the Rhodes club ended the first 10 minutes leading 23-17.
Yet when the Greens stepped up their game the hosts had no answer and predictably succumbed to an 83-53 loss.
Olympiakos played their second home match behind closed doors but had no problems with newly-promoted Ikaros Kallitheas, winning 86-64.
AEK were no match for PAOK at the Pylaia court in Thessaloniki. The hosts triumphed 92-70, with the home crowd rushing out at the end to get to the Toumba Stadium where their football team hosted AEK, too.
Finally Kavala continued its string of impressive performances dismissing visiting Maroussi 79-58 for their third win, sitting pretty at the third spot of the A1 table.
Milt Palacio scored 24 points and had six assists for the winners.
Peristeri and Iraklis are meeting on Monday.