By Lefteris Moutis / moutis@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos prevailed over Panathinaikos 77-66 at OAKA and after its second victory over its “eternal rival” in the regular season, won the home advantage in the Greek playoffs. The game ended after a 25-minute break after a celebration by Spanoulis.
But once again there were fights during the Greek derby. Spanoulis scored a three, 1:30 before the end (Olympiacos was leading 77-64) and celebrated by making fun of Panathinaikos‘ fans (with a gesture that he’s not… hearing them). They threw many objects against the players of Olympiacos and a little later, a lot of Green fans left their seats and invaded in the court. The Reds left the court heading to the locker rooms while many objects were thrown against them. The game started again after 25 minutes break.
In the game, thanks to Printezis’ Spanoulis’ and Darden’s great performance, the team from Piraeus beat the Greens on road and from now on they focus only to the Euroleague Final Four.
Panathinaikos started very well the game behind Jankovic’ shots by distance and the post game by Batista (9-4, 4′). Olympiacos controlled again the game, when played harder defense and found open shots from the perimeter with Mantzaris and Printezis shining.
The Reds were keeping always the lead (25-32, 16′) though the continuously damage that Batista was making with his points and the fouls drawn for Dunston and Hunter.
Olympiacos used for a long time Agravanis as center and established a big difference on his lead (64-48, 31′) thanks to Printezis’ and Spanoulis’ points who stepped uo in the second half. Panathinaikos couldn’t react at all in the last quarter and Olympiacos won easily the game and the home advantage in the Greek playoffs, two weeks before the Euroleague Final Four.