Olympiakos and Panathinaikos conceded precious ground at the latter half of the Euroleague double week, suffering home defeats that may cost them places in the top four of the table.
Olympiakos suffered its third loss in a row, and the second home defeat in succession, going down 80-77 to Monaco of Greece coach Vassilis Spanoulis.
The Reds were betrayed on Thursday by their free-throw shooting, first and foremost, as they missed 14 (19/33) to surrender the advantage to the visitors when it mattered most, while the 4/20 rate in triples did not help either.
Monaco was clinical when it had to and made the most of the openings that Mike James (11 points, 12 assists) created in the Greek team’s defense.
Sasha Vezenkov made 21 points and Alec Peters added 15 for Olympiakos, that is now on a 22-10 record allowing Fenerbahce to snatch the top spot away.
Panathinaikos tried to perform another miraculous comeback, but eventually Paris held on to victory with a 101-98 score in Athens on Friday.
Paris took advantage of the Greens’ terrible defense in the first three quarters of the game at the Olympic Sports Hall, after which it opened a 17-point gap (86-69).
Two days after undoing Maccabi’s 15-point advantage, Panathinaikos attempted to do it again, got within one point (99-98) five seconds from the buzzer, and even had one last shot to force overtime, though this was not its night.
Kendrick Nunn offered 22 points and Kostas Sloukas 20, but that did not prevent the holders’ 12th loss in 32 games.