Olympiacos rides to 2-0 finals lead over Panathinaikos

Olympiacos Piraeus took another big step towards the Greek A1 title with a victory over nemesis Panathinaikos Athens in Game 2 of the finals series. The 69-76 victory came in Panathinaikos’ own Olympic Indoor Hold, and with the series heading back to Piraeus on Monday, Olympiacos has a great chance of wrapping up the title.

Of course, victory in the 2015 championship would be the first for Olympiacos since 2012 and only its second since 1997. During that time Panathinaikos has dominated the Greek top flight with 15 league wins, but this season The Greens have been out of sorts at home and abroad.

In the opening quarter Panathinaikos struggled to get to the post in the face of a stringent Olympiacos defence, while the visitors looked more dynamic in attack to open a 14-21 lead through ten minutes. The hosts looked a little sharper during the second quarter and managed to play superior hoops at both ends of the hardwood. The result was a 19-17 winning run for The Greens that made it 33-38 through the long break. Panathinaikos carried its momentum into the third act, winning the period 17-16, but despite losing two quarters, Olympiacos still had the lead at the final split (50-54). In the closing frame the visitors managed to pull away on the scoreboard, although it went down to the final minute before the Piraeus giant was secure in its lead.

Georgios Printezis led the scoring for the winning effort with 17 points, while Tremmell Darden added 14 points and Vassilis Spanoulis scored 11 points.

Loukas Mavrokefalidis was hot for Panathinaikos with a game high 28 points to his name. He was followed by A.J. Slaughter with 11 points and DeMarcus Nelson with 10 points.