By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos Athens beat Olympiacos Piraeus 80 – 68 at home in Game 1 of the best-of-five Greek League Finals between the two archrivals.
Jerian Grant led Panathinaikos with 17 points on 4 out of 5 triples while hounding Evan Fournier on the other end for most of the game and overall providing a lot of assistance on defense. Kendrick Nunn provided 14 points on 5 – 13 shots while dishing out six assists and Omer Yurtseven scored 12.
Grant also pulled off a tough and key 3-point play to make it 71 – 61 with 4:30 to play. Kostas Sloukas added five unanswered points for Panathinaikos that retained a double-digit advantage down the stretch.
Olympiacos trailed for the entire game after the mid of second period. With the visiting side up 22 – 25, Panathinaikos made an 8-0 run and then closed halftime with a 42 – 34 advantage.
Panathinaikos held a steady lead and increased the margin to 12, 56 – 44 in the third quarter. Olympiacos never managed to become any threatening and collapsed in the last minutes.
Sasha Vezenkov stood out from Olympiacos with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Moustapha Fall had 15 points plus seven boards while Fournier finished with 12 points on 4-12 from the field, five assists and four rebounds.
Olympiacos had huge problems shooting the ball, finishing with 7 out of 26 from the perimeter. In the meantime, Panathinaikos found solutions from several players off the bench who contributed 34 points.
Game 2 will take place at Olympiacos Sunday (1/6). The Reds could be minus guard Luca Vildoza who exited the game in the second half with an apparent calf injury while they are already without injured guard Nigel Williams-Goss.