Olympiakos has now all but sealed a play-off spot in the Euroleague after its road win at Bayern Munich on Friday, while Panathinaikos slumped to two more defeats this week.
The Reds relied on their attack to outplay their hosts in Germany and win 98-88 for their 16th win in 25 games. The home advantage in the playoffs, i.e. a top-four finish in the regular season, is also within reach.
Munich was always going to be a difficult place to visit, but Olympiakos showed concentration and efficiency throughout the game, and despite trailing 29-28 after Q1 and 53-50 at half-time it rallied ahead in the second half to claim victory with ease in the end.
Tyler Dorsey played a spectacular game on the night, scoring 25 points to pace the Reds and confirm he is ready to take a step higher in his career.
Meanwhile, Panathinaikos suffered two home losses in a few days, but they were quite different from one another.
On Tuesday it went down 96-83 to Zalgiris Kaunas in a match that seemed lost from the very first quarter (29-10), with the visitors stretching their advantage to 23 points (37-14) halfway through the second.
Nemanja Nedovic’s 23 points were not enough for depleted Panathinaikos that lost to the bottom team of the Euroleague.
Then on Friday the Greens played a completely different game against Armani Milano, but still lost by the narrowest of margins (76-75). They lost their early lead, but managed to recover from a 12-point deficit (69-57) to go level (75-75) with just seconds on the clock. They were left ruing their lost rebounds and some poor referee calls.
Nedovic made 19 points and Giorgos Papagiannis combined 11 points with seven rebounds for the Greens, who are now on a 7-19 record.
George Georgakopoulos