Game 2 of the Greek Finals with the home teams getting the big wins. Read full review of the two games below:
P.A.O.K.- Panionios 81-63
Easy afternoon for the home team, that dominated Panionios and now they need one win to position themselves 3rd in the Greek League. The visitors started the game well, defended with passion and got in front 15-18 at the end of the 1st quarter. After that, PAOK took control of the game against a team that almost denied to play defense, they scored 25 points, and put themselves in the driver’s seat 40-33 by the end of the half.
From that point, coach Markopoulos’ team had to stay in front and prevent their opponents from closing the gap, something they achieved and after 30’ they were in front 55-48. Panionios ran out of energy and did not try to steal the win at the closing quarter. Tsairelis had 14 for PAOK, while on the other side Carter scored 16 with 5 rebounds.
Olympiacos- Panathinaikos 89-64
After a close game at OAKA stadium last time the two teams met, Olympiacos bounced back, allowed only 64 points to their rivals and equalized the Finals series to 1-1. Roles were reversed this time since the “Reds” were the ones that took control of the pace early on, met no difficulties against Panathinaikos defense and after 10’ they were in front 29-12. However this time the away side did not return to the game, since Olympiacos did not allow them to. Even when they tried to cut the lead (32-19), Petway and Spanoulis found the target from behind the arc, going to the locker rooms in front 48-29. It is worth to mention that this is the first after 6 games that Olympiacos scores over 34 points at the first half.
Not many things changed after the break, with Panathinaikos not finding the easy points they needed to make a comeback, the same time that Olympiacos was in total control of the boards, playing good defense inside the paint and scoring in crucial moments of the 3rd period. 67-46 after 30’ and the “Greens” gave up on their attempts, already focusing on the next game between them, which they must win in order to have a shot at the title. MVP was Giorgos Printezis who scored 18 points followed by Dunston, Perperoglou and Spanoulis all of them with 12p. Mavrokefalidis tried to save the day for the visitors but had no luck despite his 19 points.
