[Intime]
Olympiakos has risen to second in the Euroleague through its home win over Baskonia on Thursday and the loss of Panathinaikos at Zalgiris Kaunas on Friday.
The Reds saw off Baskonia 92-69 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium with great ease to climb to an 8-3 record.
Despite the absence of influential Sasha Vezenkov, Olympiakos was totally dominant against its Basque visitors and led comfortably after its reversed Baskonia’s 17-13 advantage midway through the first quarter. With 56 points in the first half (56-38), the Reds simply strolled to victory during the second.
Evan Fournier paced the hosts with 15 points, with Nikola Milutinov adding another 14.
Panathinaikos has dropped from second to sixth due to its 84-77 reverse at Zalgiris, in a game where it was without its coach and two players because of national team commitments.
The Euroleague champion made a terrible start to the game against free-scoring Zalgiris that led 44-26 late in the second quarter. The Greeks regrouped, however, to end the first half only seven points behind (49-42) and even briefly went ahead (59-57) in the third quarter.
Zalgiris were on a very good night, though, and secured victory without problems in the end, with two of its players recording new Euroleague career highs in points.
For Panathinaikos, that slumped to a 7-4 record, Kendrick Nunn scored 19 points and Omer Yurtseven 16.