[InTime Sports]
Olympiakos and Panathinaikos scored significant victories at home at the start of one more double week in the Euroleague on Tuesday, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv and Baskonia respectively.
The Reds beat their Israeli visitors 100-93 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, with the match being far less tight than what the final score suggests.
The Greek champion was particularly impressive in rebounds (40 against 25), and stretched its lead up to 25 points at the start of the second half (61-36), before easing in the rest of the game to save some strength for the rest of the week.
Sasha Vezenkov stood out with 28 points, while Nikola MIlutinov made 13 points and nine rebounds.
The result takes the Reds’ record to 14-8.
This is almost identical to the 14-9 record that Panathinaikos has reached after defeating Baskonia 93-74 at the Telekom Center Athens.
In the absence of injured Kendrick Nunn, the Greens came from poor performances in Europe and the Greek league that rocked the club, but on Tuesday the result was never in doubt, as the hosts led 48-31 at half-time.
Coach Ergin Ataman saw some of his Greek players excel, as Vassilis Toliopoulos had a Euroleague-career-high of 21 points plus five assists, while Kostas Sloukas seconded him with 15 points.
On a separate level, a large banner by Panathinaikos fans referred to the railway tragedy in Spain reading: “From Greece to Spain, we share your pain.”