By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos Athens celebrated (again) winning the 2024 EuroLeague championship in sold-out OAKA arena and then proceeded to beat Aris Thessaloniki 89 – 71 to tip off the Greek League semifinals.
The championship banner was raised at the sky of OAKA with the presence of 18,000 fans attending the ceremony. In a manner similar to the Panathinaikos‘ other six EuroLeague titles, the banner showed an iconic image from the Final – this time a photo of coach Ergin Ataman and Final Four MVP Kostas Sloukas lifting the trophy together.
An extra energized Panathinaikos team stormed into the game to go up 28 – 13 in the first quarter and then led by double figures for the vast majority of the game, except for a moment near the end of the third period.
Kendrick Nunn had 16 points and six assists while Olek Balcerowski scored 15 points for Panathinaikos. Dinos Mitoglou added 14 points plus five rebounds.
Silvio de Soouza led Aris with 15 points. His team host Game 2 of the best-of-three series Sunday.