By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos beat Lavrio 102 – 83 to retain the top spot in the Greek League standings but saw star guard Nemanja Nedovic exiting the game with an injury.
With 6:43 to play, Nedovic took a jump shot for three and awkwardly landed on youngster Alexandros Nikolaidis’ foot, hurting his ankle. He left the floor limping while Nikolaidis, who didn’t give Nedovic the necessary room to land, was called with an unsportsmanlike foul.
“I just saw the video…if you are late and coming from the side of the shooter you have no business being in his body, you get the fu-k out of there because you’re late already and you cannot do much about it,” Nedovic tweeted with a capture of the play’s beginning. He then wrote: “I don’t care who the defender is or how old he is, you just don’t do that. Yes, it can happen but it also could not happen and should not happen. End of story.”
A bit afterward, Nedovic made another tweet, wanting to clear out that he wasn’t accusing Nikolaidis (who is playing with Lavrio on loan from Olympiacos – Panathinaikos‘ archrival) of intentionally hurting him. “First of all I had no idea the kid is an Oly player, I just found out,” Nedovic wrote. “Second, if you’re making this a Pao-Oly thing your IQ is below 0, and no point in arguing. Third, I’m not accusing anybody, that’s why I said I don’t care who the defender is, of course, he didn’t do it on purpose.”
Nedovic, who has been in top form recently, had 15 points and seven assists before he got injured. Jeremy Evans scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds while Howard Sant-Roos added 19 points for Panathinaikos.
Petros Geromihalos led Lavrio with 16 points. Vassilis Mouratos scored 15.
In other Greek League games this week, Olympiacos Piraeus made short work of Larissa on the road behind Tyler Dorsey’s 20 points and Sasha Vezenkov’s 17 points. Reds center Moustapha Fall suffered a foot injury and it’s questionable if he’ll make the EuroLeague away game vs. Crvena Zvezda (9/12).
Greek League Round 9 Results:
Apollon Patras – PAOK Thessaloniki 95 – 91
AEK Athens – Promitheas Patras 81 – 77
Aris Thessaloniki – Peristeri 87 – 68
Kolossos Rhodes – Iraklis Thessaloniki 76 – 59
Larissa – Olympiacos Piraeus 70 – 101
Panathinaikos Athens – Lavrio 102 – 83